“We must suffer in silence till death for the love of Jesus. Always, when we suffer, we must have recourse not to the creature but to Jesus in the eucharist, in the Tabernacle; for He says to us: ‘Come to Me all you who are burdened and I will refresh you.’” – Sister Clara, a Capuchin Poor Clare of Coyoacán, Mexico

Poor Clare, and the woman to whom Clare addressed most of her Letters. It was on June 12, 1234, [the Bohemian princess Agnes] abandoned the world and entered the monastery she had founded… “In Prague, the entire city was involved in the event. A large cortege extended along the roads, with the royal family at the end, while people hastened on both sides of the route. Cardinal Gaetano presided over the rite, which was celebrated with great solemnity. When she donned the humble sackcloth of rough and mended wool of the Damianites, the richness of the vestments and ceremonies did nothing more than manifest the contrast between what Agnes, rich in human and spiritual experience, put behind her in her 29th year. Among the people, however, a festive air prevailed at the wedding of the princess with the King of Kings; thus, while the bride began her life as a Poor Sister, all of the citizens, rich and poor, celebrated for one year.” -- Sister Chiara Giovanna Cremaschi O.S.C. Poor Clare historian (The Bohemian people still regard Agnes as one of their chief patrons.)

“The Eucharist draws you daily into the mystery of love, nuptial love, “the redemptive act of Christ the Bridegroom towards the Church the Bride”.56 Consequently, the tradition of prolonging the celebration of Mass with eucharistic adoration is praiseworthy; it is a privileged moment to digest spiritually the bread of the word broken during the celebration, and to persevere in thanksgiving.” -- Pope Francis, Vultum Dei Quaerere #22 - (Document for Contemplative Nuns)

“In the Eucharist, the eyes of the heart recognize Jesus. Saint John Paul II tells us that to contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize Him wherever He manifests Himself, in His many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of His body and His blood. The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; she is fed by him and by him she is enlightened.” -- Pope Francis, Vultum Dei Quaerere #22 - (Document for Contemplative Nuns)

The Poor Clares of Lusaka, Zambia, wrote that the Ang’oni people have a beautiful way of expressing their belief that death does not end the duties and power of a chief, especially if he is the founder of a clan or even a village. After his death he is buried sitting, as fits his ranks; and a burden is placed on his head, as Africans usually carry heavy loads on their heads. This makes clear that even in death this chief is in charge of the tribe. In Lusaka we have been given a beautiful chalice carved by a priest living in Malawi who is also a talented sculptor. The foot on the chalice represents Christ as a buried Ng’oni king. He holds the cup of the chalice on his head with his stigmatized hands, because, being the founder of Christianity and the king of the universe, He still carried all the burdens of mankind in the chalice of His Blood.”

March 6, 1447 was the death of St. Colette of Corbie, the great reformer of the French Poor Clares. Her biographer wrote of her: “I always saw and perceived that she was a true lover of holy poverty in all things and for all things, even in the oratories in which she usually remained during the day, where she heard holy Mass and received the Body of our Lord.” A ragged traveler arrived at the Poor Clare Colettine monastery in Nazareth on this day in 1897, and asked to keep adoration in the chapel. The Extern Sister who allowed him into the chapel was suspicious of his ragged appearance, and hid herself in a corner so that she could keep an eye on him. The man stayed with the Sisters for a time, serving as a handyman and gardener, and also served the Poor Clares in Jerusalem. He began working for them on March 6th. These two monasteries are pleased that the Church now calls their maintenance man “Saint Charles de Foucauld”.

- “Saint Peter said: ‘Misit Deus Filium suum benedicente vobis – God hath sent his Son to bless you.’ This adorable Son has come filled with love for you and with a most ardent desire to pour out His blessings on those who love Him as their father. It is chiefly in the divine Sacrament that He showers His blessings upon those who open the way to his grace.” - St. Peter Eymard

“During these Masses, when it came time for the elevation of the precious Body of our Lord, Colette would adore with a profound humility and great reverence and awe … weeping so abundantly and so compassionately that it seemed she must completely melt in weeping and in tears and in crying and sighing so loudly and agonizingly that those within and without who heard her were filled with compassion and astonishment. And of His majesty and mighty grandeur and excellence and worthy glorious presence she had so wondrous a sense and understanding that many times those who were present thought truly that our Lord was manifesting and showing Himself to her by a special grace in a form and manner that was, as it pleased Him, either glorious or humiliated and sorrowing, visible to her alone. After this adoration oftentimes her heart would remain so very ardent and inflamed with the most perfect love of God, and her spirit so elevated and perfectly united to Him, that it seemed she was as if wholly transfigured in Him and ravished above nature, and all her natural senses would cease from the use of their function.” - Life of St. Colette, #108./61, by Fr. Pierre du Vaux

“When God through Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt (which he did on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which always begins in March – this was the first Jewish Passover), Moses arranged on God’s behalf that the people in every house should eat a roast lamb and cover the doorframes and lintel of the house with the lamb’s blood. In this way they were protected against the avenging angel. Moses then led God’s people out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and he fed them for forty years with heavenly bread. All these signs and figures have prefigured the Blessed Sacrament.” -Jan van Ruysbroeck, A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness, written for a Poor Clare

The Eucharist is the sacrament par excellence of encounter with the person of Jesus; it “contains the entire spiritual wealth of the Church, that is, Christ himself”. - Pope Francis, Vultum Dei Quaerere #22 - (Document for Contemplative Nuns)

“In the same way that Melchisedek, the priest of Salem, offered up bread and wine as a type and figure of the Eucharist, so too Christ, our high priest, in His sacrifice took bread and wine in His holy and venerable hands, looked up to His Father in heaven, blessed the bread and said, ‘Take and eat, this is My Body.’ Then he took the cup of wine, blessed it and said, ‘Drink this, all of you, for this is My Blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you.’” -Jan van Ruysbroeck, A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness, written for a Poor Clare

. “For us, the Passover meal means Jesus Himself, whom we eat in the holy Eucharist, just as the Apostles did with Jesus in the Last Supper in the Upper Room. In the Blessed Sacrament each one receives our Lord’s body as his eternal nourishment…” -Jan van Ruysbroeck, A Mirror of Eternal Blessedness, written for a Poor Clare

“So lavishly dost Thou give Thyself that there is no moment when Thy Holy Church is not receiving Thee in the Bread of Life, and each Communion is for all and all for each, uniting us to Thee, and uniting us to each other by our union with Thee.” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, page 75

- “The Life of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist is a Life of Glory and a Hidden Life; it is a Life of Sacrifice, of Grace, of Humility and of Operation; it is a Life of Consummation and a Life of Love, and it is open to the soul who receives Him in Holy Communion to share this Life under all its aspects…” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, page 69

We enter into a few days of Retreat, as we prepare for our Renewal of Vows on March 18th. This is a time of extra prayer, solitude, and Eucharistic adoration. “This Life of Love is open to the soul who receives Him in Holy Communion to share this Life under all its aspects, more closely than a bride shares the life of the bridegroom, for the union is spiritual. The Divine Lover offers it to her. He invites her to live His Life, and to the loving soul who recognizes His invitation, her existence becomes a marvelous romance, marvelously pure, for He who woos her is the Word of God and in Heaven!” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, p. 69

- “We find ourselves at the very heart of the Paschal Mystery, which completely reveals the spousal love of God. Christ is the Bridegroom, because 'he has given himself': his body has been 'given', his blood has been 'poured out' (cf. Lk 22:19-20). In this way, he 'loved them to the end' (Jn 13:1). The 'sincere gift', contained in the sacrifice of the Cross, gives definitive prominence to the spousal meaning of God's love. As the Redeemer of the world, Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our Redemption. It is the Sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride”. - Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem (15 August 1988), 26

“Hear ye all, lovers of God, the holy merits Of the man blessed in Christ, Patrick the bishop… He is the King’s herald, inviting the faithful to the wedding feast. He wears a wedding garment, rich and fine, He drinks supernal wine from celestial cups, And gives to God’s people the spiritual cup to imbibe.” -Saint Secundinus, contemporary of St. Patrick

St. Clare ran away from home to join St. Francis on this day in 1212. It was the feast of Palm Sunday. Poor Clares always celebrate this day as the beginning of the Order. We renew our Vows today in a ceremony where each Sister wears the Crown of Thorns she received on the day of her Solemn Vows.

✠ Fourth Sunday of Lent. Benediction 4:30 p.m. “The contemplative soul stands, as it were, on the edge of the Present, looking out into that which is everlasting. Time is summed up for her in the Now which she holds, and Eternity to which she looks forward, and in both she encounters God… Yea, and each Holy Communion has been foreseen by Thee, O God. This Host was consecrated for this soul! O sweetness beyond all thought.! O Divine Intimacy! Before the Day-Star, His Labor, His Passion, His Death! Christ in the Blessed Sacrament! Christ's Union to the soul!” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, p. 175

“O Word of God incarnate! Thou art Man as well as God! How near to us, O gift of God! How near to us, O Christ in the Eucharist! ‘Whom seek ye?’ ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ ‘I am He.’” - Songs in the Night, by a Poor Clare Colettine, p. 126

The sacrificial nature of the Mass, solemnly defended by the Council of Trent, because it accords with the universal tradition of the Church, was once more stated by the Second Vatican Council, which pronounced these clear words about the Mass: ‘At the Last Supper, Our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood, by which the Sacrifice of his Cross is perpetuated until he comes again; and till then he entrusts the memorial of his Death and Resurrection to his beloved spouse, the Church’ - GIRM #2

“Thou are here, God and Man in the Blessed Sacrament, and here in the Bread of Life, the Father glorifies Thee, and the glory which He gives Thee, Thou givest to those who receive Thee, making them one with Thee.” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, p.79

“Jesus Christ, High Priest of the New and Eternal Covenant, taking human nature, introduced into this earthly exile that hymn which is sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven. He attaches to himself the entire community of mankind and has them join him in singing his divine song of praise. For he continues his priestly work through his Church. The Church, by celebrating the Eucharist and by other means, especially the celebration of the divine office, is ceaselessly engaged in praising the Lord and interceding for the salvation of the entire world...” - Sacrosanctum Concilium, 83-85.

- “Naturally, [B. Maria Angela’s] love for the Eucharist was nothing more than the concrete result of her ardent and passionate desire to resemble the Spouse and to cling to Him, especially in His Passion. With features characteristic of her time … she kept vigil in the night following once again the path of Jesus in the various stations of His Calvary, judgment, condemnation, and crucifixion... But she did not limit herself to this; she lived every gesture and posture as an expression of love for the Son of God who made Himself man in order to be my most sweet Brother.” - Sister Chiara Giovanna Cremaschi O.S.C. Poor Clare historian

“In the Blessed Sacrament Christ is hidden twice over. He is hidden in His Incomprehensible Godhead and this Hiddenness is again hidden from the sight of man under the Form of Bread, and it is granted to the contemplative soul to participate in this twofold hiddenness. Christ comes to her thus concealed in order that, through her union with Him, she may dwell amongst men, in the world but not of it. He reposes in her as once He reposed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin…” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, page 82

A Tuscan Poor Clare had an uncle in the Franciscan Order who wrote for his niece a beautiful book called Meditations on the Life of Christ. At one time it was one of most widely read books then in print. He wanted his niece to picture Jesus returning to table after washing the Apostles’ feet, and “He exhorted them to follow His example. Here meditate on this evening when He set us an example of charity when He consecrated His Body and Blood.” (LXIII:282)

Blessed Columba Marmion, the saintly Benedictine Abbot who became friends with the Poor Clares of Cork, wrote to them: “At Mass, I put you all in my heart every morning; and as I pass through the veil of the Holy of Holies – the Sacred Humanity of Jesus crushed and wounded for us – into the Presence of Our Great God, I take you with me and present you to the Father as brides of His Son, who so love Him that they despise all earthly things, and that in their heart of hearts they ever sing, ‘my God and my all.’” - Letter of May 1, 1922

The medieval Franciscan Friar who wrote Meditations on the Life of Christ, for his Poor Clare niece, counselled: “Now keep in mind… when Jesus said, ‘Do this in memory of Me.’ This is the memorial that, when received as food and meditated on, inflames the soul with love.” (LXXIII)

Then the Priest shows the faithful the Eucharistic Bread, holding it over the paten or over the chalice, and invites them to the banquet of Christ; and along with the faithful, he then makes an act of humility, using the prescribed words from the Gospels.- GIRM #84

“Send forth Thy Light and Thy truth! They have conducted and brought the loving soul to Thy holy hill of Calvary and to Thy tabernacle where Thou dwellest in the Sacred Host. (Ps. Xlii.). “For Christ crucified on Calvary and Christ offered in the Holy Mass are one and the same sacrifice, and till the Eternal Day break and the shadows of earth retire, the contemplative soul will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense (Song of Songs c. iv:6) to meet Him in sacrifice and worship. These are the Mountains of God.” - Songs in the Night, A Poor Clare Colettine, p. 87