Feast of St. Clare

Section: 
prayers

August 11

Environment:

Bible, picture or statue of St. Clare, grapes, wheat or any symbols of Eucharist, real flowers, wool, spools, or any symbols of spinning, small, beautiful altar linens
 
Hymn Suggestions:

Canticle of the Sun (Haugen)
Clare’s Blessing (Roberts)
Only This I Want (Schutte)
 
Psalm/Canticle Suggestions:

113; 122; 127; 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-10
 
Antiphons:

  1. We are greatly bound to bless and praise God and to be strengthened more and more to do good in the Lord. (Testament of Clare, 22)
  2. Loving one another with the love of Christ, may you demonstrate without in your deeds the love you have within so that, compelled by such an example, the sisters may always grow in the love of God and in mutual charity.  (Testament of Clare, 59-60)
  3. I bless you during my life and after my death, as I am able, out of all the blessings, with which the Father of mercies has blessed and will bless His sons and daughters in heaven and on earth and a spiritual father and mother have blessed and will bless their spiritual sons and daughters.  (Blessing of St. Clare 11-13)
Reading 1:   Song of Songs 6:2; 8:6-7
 
Response:

Always be lovers of God and your souls and those of all your sisters. And may you always be eager to observe what you have promised the Lord. (Blessing of St. Clare, 14)
 
Reading 2:

Be very joyful and glad, filled with a remarkable happiness and a spiritual joy!  [Progress] from good to better, from virtue to virtue, so that He Whom You serve with the total desire of Your soul may bestow on You the reward for which You so long.  (Blessing of St. Clare, 21, 32)
 
Response:

Always be lovers of God and your souls and those of all your sisters. And may you always be eager to observe what you have promised the Lord. (Blessing of St. Clare, 14) 
 
Gospel Canticle Antiphon:

Clare, through contemplation, poverty, and loving service, offered her life to her Beloved Lord.
 
Intercessions:

Response: Lover of our souls, hear us.
For followers of Clare throughout the world, that we become true lovers of prayer, we pray...
For those who follow the example of Clare within cloistered communities, we pray...
For followers of Clare and Francis who have made the world their cloister, we pray...
For those who imitate Clare's love for poverty through simple lifestyle, we pray...
For the living and deceased Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, Franciscan Sisters of Ringwood, and sisters of the heritage congregations, we pray...
 
Our Father
 
Closing Prayer:

O God, through the preaching of Francis, your daughter Clare, a woman of noble birth, embraced a life of total poverty. Trusting solely on the generosity of others and holy providence, she and her followers found happiness in austerity. Bless all throughout the world who have embraced her spirit. May they continue to be a sign of your loving care and may all who follow your gospel know the gift of true simplicity and poverty of mind and heart. We ask this in the name of the poor Christ who first showed us the way. Amen.


Excerpts from Clare of Assisi: The Lady. Revised edition and translation by Regis J. Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap. New York: New City Press, 2006. Used with permission.

 

Closing Prayer from People’s Companion to the Breviary © 1997 by The Carmelites of Indianapolis. Used with permission.