One of heaven's lights

In his Encyclical Letter Spe salvi, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI wisely recalls:

Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way?
Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in
which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life
are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly,
Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of
history. But to reach him we also need lights close by—people who shine with his
light and so guide us along our way (49).

Today Holy Mother Church celebrates one such light: Saint Clare of Assisi.

On 16 July 1194 Favorino and Ortolana welcomed their eldest daughter into the world, giving her the name Chiara, Clare.

In his First Life of Saint Clare's spiritual father, Saint Francis of Assisi, he spoke of the foundress of the Poor Clares with great admiration when he wrote of the church of San Damiano:

This was the place where lady Clare, a native of th city of Assisi, most precious and strong stone, was the foundation for the other stones that were laid over her. In fact, having been converted to the Lord through the Saint's [Francis'] encouragement following the beginning of the Order of the Friars Minor, she was the source of spiritual gain for many and was an example to countless people. She was noble by birth but even more noble in grace, virgin in body and purest of spirit, young in age but old in judgment, constant in her resolve and burning with the enthusiasm of divine love, rich in wisdom and humility, Clare by name, brighter in her life, brightest in virtue.

Erected above her was the noble edifice of those most precious pearls whose praises cannot be sung by men but only by God, because limited human thought cannot suffice to conceive of it, nor is meager human language enough to repeat it (1.VIII, 18-19).

"Clare by name, brighter in her life." Here Celano plays a pun on her name, a name which means "light," "radiance."

Let each of us, then, ask Lady Clare to shine her light upon us, to light up the path that leads to Christ, that we, with her, may come to bask in the radiance of the Lord's own faith.

St. Francis of Assisi church in Teutopolis - 4 miles away - has a beautiful stained glass window depicted the Poverello receiving Saint Clare as a nun. I don't seem to have it here in the rectory, so I'll post it in the morning.

Here, Saint Clare of Assisi is depicted in St. Anthony of Padua church in Effingham holding the Eucharist in a monstrance shaped like a lantern: