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POWER POINTS: GOD AT WORK THROUGH WOMEN LEADERS YESTERDAY AND TODAY
by Leecy Barnett
Clare Of Assisi
...'One thing you lack,' He said. 'Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' MARK 10:21 (NIV)
What if you were to take this command to the rich, young ruler literally? What if you sold everything you owned, gave the proceeds to the poor, and simply followed Jesus? Clare of Assisi did just that. She gave up her rich family’s hopes and dreams for her, began to follow Jesus and never looked back.
Clare was born in the Italian city of Assisi in 1194. This was a time of great civil and religious change. When Clare was just four years old the Rocca Maggiore castle, seat of Assisi’s government, was destroyed by a riot, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the papal governor. This unrest spread to “attacks on the native nobility as well: many of them lost their palaces and towers in the city and their castles in the country. By the end of 1199, the dispossessed Assisian nobles had begun streaming into other cities.”1 Clare’s family was forced into exile in nearby
Perugia. Because her father and brother were often off fighting to win back their home, the women of the family were forced to rely on God to protect them.
After six years or so, Clare and her family were able to return to Assisi. It was about this time that a young man from another wealthy Assisi family began to reevaluate his empty lavish lifestyle. Christ’s command to the Rich Young Ruler spoke directly to him. He also felt called to follow Jesus’ instructions to the apostles, "Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.” (Luke 9:3 NIV). So Francis renounced his position, possessions and inheritance, and began to simply follow Jesus.
Francis’ preaching was causing a stir in Assisi. Many who were spiritually curious, including Clare, went to listen to him. By this time Clare was 17 and her family was hoping that she would soon become engaged to a rich nobleman who would enhance the family’s status. But Clare decided to follow Francis’ example and gave up everything to follow Christ. She later wrote of this decision, “What a great laudable exchange: to leave the things of time for those of eternity, to choose the things of heaven for the goods of earth, to receive the hundred-fold in place of one, and to possess a blessed and eternal life.”2
Clare began to recruit other women from all parts of society to join her to form a community dedicated to Christ. This group which became the Poor Ladies (today known as the Poor Clares) was dedicated to prayer and fasting and had a ministry of healing the sick as well. This community embraced poverty as a means to follow Christ and His earthly example. In the instructions she wrote for the sisterhood, Clare exhorted, “Let the sisters not appropriate anything, neither a house nor a place nor anything at all; instead, as pilgrims and strangers in this world who serve the Lord in poverty and humility, let them confidently send for alms. Nor should they be ashamed, since the Lord made himself poor in this world for us. This is the summit of the highest poverty which has established you, my dearest sisters, heiresses and queens of the kingdom of heaven; it has made you poor in the things of this world but exalted you in virtue. Let this be your portion which leads into the land of the living. Clinging totally to this, my most beloved sisters, for the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ...”3
Clare’s commitment to following Christ no matter what the cost challenges me to rethink my attitude toward money and processions. Have I been captured by the 21st Century materialistic mindset? Do I trust in my riches rather than God for my security? I need to take to heart the Apostle Paul’s admonition:
Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. 1 TIMOTHY 6:6-8, (NLT)
Riley, P. V. (1974). Francis’ Assisi: Its political and social history, 1175-1225. Franciscan Studies, 34, 393–424. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44080320
St. Clare. (1234). Letter 1 to Agnes of Prague. https://www.frere-rufin.com/pages/en/claire/ecrits-sainte-claire/lettres-ecrits-sainte-claire/a-agnes-de-prague-1
St. Clare. (1253). Rule. https://www.frere-rufin.com/pages/en/claire/ecrits-sainte-claire/legislation-ecrits-sainte-claire/regle-ecrits-sainte-claire
