[00:00] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, today we honor the liturgy of St. Clare of Assisi, whom we call Holy Mother St. Clare. And this title is given to St. Clare, and there's only, I think, two other saints that have that title, Holy Mother. I think it's St. Teresa of Avila and St. Bridget of Sweden that have that title, Holy Mother.

[00:33] But St. Clare, of course, is called the little plant of St. Francis, and as our Blessed Mother is considered the most perfect follower of her Son, Jesus Christ, so St. Clare is the most perfect disciple and follower of St. Francis of Assisi. She came from a very noble, wealthy family, and was inspired by St. Francis' example of poverty and his total abandonment to God, and living his life and trusting in God's divine providence, but living that life in serving God through prayer, penance, and sacrifice

[01:08] for the conversion and salvation of souls. And so St. Clare was inspired to live this life in following the footsteps of St. Francis, and it was through her that the second order was founded, the Poor Clares, by St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis founded three orders, the first order, the Friars, the second order, the Poor Clares, and the third order, for laity who wanted to live this life in their own home environment in imitation of some of the aspects of St. Francis that they could adapt to their

[01:43] vocation. But St. Clare is an extraordinary saint for us to reflect upon in her giving up all that she had to follow Christ and to belong to Christ as His spouse, and living that life heroically as the founders of the Poor Clares with St. Francis of Assisi. There are several beautiful stories of St. Clare, but two of my favorite are stories that reflect the great importance of St. Clare's life.

[02:19] First, St. Clare spent much time, she was ill much of the time and bedridden much of the time through her vocation, but this didn't hamper her spirit. She offered this up willingly to Christ. But there was one occasion, it was Christmas Eve, that she really wanted to go to Mass for the Midnight Mass, to be present for the Midnight Mass, and she was so ill she couldn't leave her bed. And a great miracle happened in which she recounts that the wall, it's as if the walls

[02:53] of the convent opened and she could look into the chapel where the Mass was being celebrated and was able to participate and attend the Mass through that miracle. And it's for this reason, this miracle, that St. Clare is the patroness of television, because she saw the Mass for the first time miraculously from her bed, which she couldn't attain physically. And of course, if we remember Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN, she was a Poor Clare,

[03:25] and she was inspired by this example of St. Clare, and founded, of course, EWTN, which promotes the Catholic Mass and so many Catholic devotions and so forth. So St. Clare is actually the patroness of television because of this miracle in which she could not attend Mass, Christmas Eve, the Midnight Mass, but she was, our Lord miraculously let her see it from her room, from her bed. The second miracle shows St. Clare's great love for the Holy Eucharist and her great

[03:58] devotion to the Eucharist. Now the city of Assisi was about to be besieged by the Saracens, who were Muslims from Northern Africa and from Turkey. They were going to attack the city of Assisi. And their first attack was the monastery of San Damiano, where the sisters were. They had planned to scale the walls and do horrendous things to the nuns, and to do terrible

[04:29] things to the nuns. St. Clare, there was no one to defend the nuns, St. Clare went to the Blessed Sacrament. She said, "Lord, we have no one to defend us." And she heard a voice come from the tabernacle say, "I'll always defend you and your sisters." So St. Clare took the monstrance out of the tabernacle, and she went to the door of the convent, and a brilliant, brilliant light flashed from the host of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Saracens were so filled with fear, they left in fear, and not only did they leave

[05:03] the nuns alone, but they fled and did not attack the city of Assisi. So St. Clare is saved by this miracle, the city of Assisi as well. This is just one of the, and if you look at images of St. Clare, most of the images of St. Clare have her holding the monstrance for this reason, for this miracle, in which our Eucharistic Lord defended the nuns and protected them from great harm with this dazzling light that came forth from the host.

[05:35] From St. Clare of Assisi, we can, from her writing, she reminds us not to allow the things of this world take first place in our heart, to seek to be detached from the things of this world, but that we may cling to Christ, and that Christ may be the source of our joy, our inspiration, and our devotion. In the Gospel today, we see that our Lord is calling us to share in His divine life, to be intimately united to Him, using the symbols of the branch of the vine, and that we must cling to Christ and be united to Him, and through this union produce fruit abundantly

[06:12] namely our sanctification and our transformation to become Christ-like, and our Lord reminds us so beautifully in this Gospel to live in His love, and we live in His love by observing the commandments, so may St. Clare help us today to truly seek that the greatest joy that we have in this world is union with Christ, that union which is to last for all eternity in the divine vision of God in heaven. May she help us to put a proper value on the things of this world, and that we see

[06:45] that our true treasure is not here, but in our union with Christ, Christ Jesus our Lord. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.