[Kneel] P: Lord Jesus, stay with us! For evening draws near: All: We adore You, most holy Lord Jesus Christ, here and in all Your churches which are in the whole world, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
P. Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. (Mk. 6:31)
All: The Lord will be with me on my journey, giving me bread to eat and clothing to wear.
(Gn.28:20)
P: At the little monastery of San Damiano the Lady Clare cast the anchor of her soul in a secure site, and did not waver because of its smallness, nor did she fear its isolation.
All: In that little house of penance the virgin Clare enclosed herself for love of her heavenly Spouse.
(Life of St. Clare #10)
P: Here on a path of penance she sowed the seeds of perfect justice, and showed her footprints to her followers by her own manner of walking.
(ibid, #15)
All:Let us grasp the sublimity of our calling and the holiness to which we are called!
(St. Colette)
P: May you with swift pace, light step, and unswerving feet go forward securely, joyfully, and swiftly on the path of prudent happiness in the pursuit of that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you;
(St. Clare – Second Letter)
All: so that you, too, may walk worthy of the Lord.
(Col. 1:10)
READING [Sit]
(1 Kings 19:4-8. Other Scripture Readings may be used.)
Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, but the angel of the Lord came back… “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.” Elijah got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.
PERIOD OF SILENT PRAYER HOMILY [Kneel] P: Consider that, by means of the Eucharist, Jesus gives Himself entirely as food and as Viaticum.
(St. Bonaventure)
All: For Christ is united to the soul as to a spouse, and so she ought to have Him with her always.
(ibid)
P: Let us be very careful that if we have set out on the path of the Lord, we do not at any time turn away from it through our own fault or neglect.
(St. Clare – Testament)
All: The Lord will be with me on my journey, giving me bread to eat and clothing to wear.
(Gn.28:20)
P: I, therefore, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called.
(Eph. 4:1)
All: How blessed are those to whom it has been given to walk that way and to persevere to the end.
(St. Clare – Testament)
P: I beg you by my humble prayers in the mercy of Christ, to be strengthened in His holy service, and to progress from good to better, from virtue to virtue, that He whom you serve with the total desire of your soul may bestow on you the reward for which you so long.
(St. Clare – First Letter)
All: Blessed indeed are those to whom it is given to walk on through it and persevere to the end!
(St. Clare - Testament)
P: For this reason, I bend my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the Lord Who has given a good beginning, will also give final perseverance. (ibid)
All: Amen! Amen! Without ever turning back.
(St. Colette)
Final prayer :
[Kneel] P: O Mother Saint Clare,*
P. and All: your holy life radiates its light to guide us on the way to Christ. Teach us to love Him as you did. O beloved saint, teach us to believe, as you did, that in the Blessed Eucharist we find Jesus, who dwells here in our midst.
You now follow the Lamb wherever He goes: speak to Him of our troubled spirit. Ask Him to heal us, body and soul, and to wash away our sins in His precious Blood.
(Pause for silent reflection and petition)
P: O handmaid of Christ,*
P. and All: look with compassion on all who call on you for help. Remember the needs of our family, our loved ones, and all those for whom we pray. Defend us from everything that would endanger our Holy Catholic Faith, especially in these times of confusion, scandal and division. Give us unity and peace in the Church and in society. We ask that our pleas will become a canticle of petition ascending from your pure heart to the Heart of Jesus, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.