Aug 10 2007
Saint Clare of Assisi
It was 1999 and before I had my second visit to Assisi. Erin and Sean were dating and we all had decided to visit the Franciscan exhibit at the Met in Manhattan. Because of Puerto Rican Pride Day, we found it difficult to get to the Met. Once we did, we had little time to see the exhibit but long enough to make me ache for Assisi.
Erin and Sean teased me about my Franciscan sentiments so much so that they found me a glow-in-the-dark St. Clare statue for my television set. It had been designed with the t.v. in mind, since she is the patron saint of t.v.
You may be wondering why she is tha patron saint of t.v. Evidently, when Clare was too ill to attend Mass, she saw visions of it on her cell wall. Hence she is the patroness of clairvoyance, t.v., and other sundry items.
Perhaps, however, my favorite contemporary depiction of St. Clare was found in Danny Boyle’s Millions. In it she says to young Damian: “You can do what you want in heaven. What matters is what you do on earth.”
Boyle captures Clare in a captivating way that encapsulates the Franciscan idea of re-building the Church. Ilia Delio’s book, Franciscan Prayer, uses Clare’s threefold way of prayer: gaze, consider, contemplate. Boyle takes Clare’s method of prayer and turns it on its head. It suggests to me that we must gaze, consider, contemplate on the Christ here on earth.
