St. Clare Mt 19, 27-29

Today, on the day of remembrance of Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), we listen to an excerpt from the Gospel of John in connection with the Last Supper, when Jesus says goodbye to his loved ones who are about to leave, it points to a new way to cling to it. He physically leaves, but we can stay with him mystically and sacramentally. In such a short snippet, we are amazed by the recurring expression. It is not a matter of maintaining communion, but of maintaining directly the deep intimacy of mutual life with Jesus, as happens, after all, with the guilty tribe and branches. Pope Francis commented on the same excerpt: „Jesus is a vine and through it – similar to the sap of a tree – God’s love itself, the Holy Spirit, passes to the branches“.

We accept the fullness of the Holy Spirit when we „we are in net“ or „we remain in net“. This is a concentrated summary of the life of St. Clare: God, expressed by the combination of branches and vines, describes Clare in his fourth letter to St. Agnes of Bohemia, where he explains, as she herself experiences this connection: „His affection moves, His contemplation encourages, His generosity fulfills, His sweetness complements, His memory pleasantly enlightens, His fragrance will revive the dead, and His presence blesses all the inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem“. The Gospel suggests an ascent to the very heart of life in God: „Remaining begins by being a community, a presence, an inferiority; then it becomes a movement of love, agape, a saturation; and it ends with the shared fruits of this rarity: they belong to the vine, but they manifest, grow and ripen in the branches. Everything points to perseverance in this fire of life: „Now stay“ (Jan 15.9) in my love.