God likes the sacrifice of life.

Saint Susanna was the sister of Pope Caius, who was pope from 283-296. Modest tradition says of her that she was very beautiful and sensible. When she became a Christian, she had no fear during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian to fulfill her duty as a Christian, and even to help other Christians. For this she was beheaded in Rome in 295. She was not in a monastery, yet she knew her place, and what it meant to give even her life for Christ in silence.

Peter said to Christ: “Behold, we have left everything and followed you” (Mt 19:27).
When Peter asked this question, he was just a beginner in the school of Jesus. Peter had seen and heard during Jesus’ school what he could not see and hear elsewhere or with anyone. However, he had a different idea of the Messiah than what was actually in Jesus’ plan. Jesus did not come into the world as the leaders of the nation imagined and as the teachers of the nation taught. The nation at that time was under the domination of the Romans, whom the nation hated. Therefore, over time, the false notion arose that the Messiah would come as a deliverer from the yoke of Rome. Jesus, however, came with a greater gift. He came into the world to redeem and save the world, that is, to take away the consequences for the first sin, and to open to believers-and to those who will believe in Him-heaven and give them a state of blessedness. In this spirit we understand also the words of the Lord Jesus, which explain the greatness of the sacrifice of the man who decides to follow Christ completely. For it is no small thing to renounce brothers, sisters, field, house, parents… Jesus makes a promise to those who can renounce themselves for his name’s sake that they will gain eternal life.

Even though for many the words of Jesus have become stale and no longer say what they contain, because man is free and can be swept away by the deceit of the world, yet there are enough today who have believed these words of Jesus and have been able to fulfill them to the letter.

Among such are the Poor Clares. Their founder is St. Clare. She came from Assisi and was born in 1194. Her parents had a plan for her. She was very beautiful. But at that time, Francis, also a native of Assisi, began to lead a special kind of life in Assisi and its surroundings. Clare believed the purity of the words of the Gospel about poverty and total fidelity to Jesus. On Palm Sunday in 1212, she renounced the world with several other girls. Francis cut off their hair as a sign that they wanted to belong to Christ alone. They received a kind of veil and here begins the spiritual branch of St. Francis. A few years later, Clare is followed by her sister Agnes. In 1215, Pope Innocent III called this spiritual family the Poor Clares. At least one incident from the life of St. Clare. When Assisi was threatened with destruction by the Saracens, Clare took the monstrance from the monastery and went out to meet the army. The lightning that came out of the monstrance in clear weather at the time turned the army back, and so Clare saved the city. She died on 11 August 1253. The work of her sisters was not in idleness. Contemplative prayer, conscious sacrifice, renunciation of modern times, comforts, pleasures, and the taking of vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and total surrender to God – all this is not a thing insignificant with God.

Even today we witness that the spiritual strength and graces that these communities impart are the riches of the Church.
Just as we can appreciate material concern, we should not neglect spiritual concern. Parents work manually so that the family lacks nothing materially, but good believing parents also work spiritually. They pray for their children. And so it is with the mission of the priest and all those who selflessly give themselves to God as a sacrifice – a sacrifice for the sins of the world. We realize that such a life is at least as necessary today as an active life, if not more so.