Poverty of our souls.
This week we celebrated St. Clare. St. Clare was an astounding woman who lived in the late 12th and early 13th century and was a contemporary of St. Francis.
She was hugely inspired by St. Francis and his vow of poverty and she started a community of nuns that became the Poor Clares.
The Poor Clares were radical in their day – they adopted a vow of poverty that was incredibly severe. What’s fascinating is that this Rule remains so severe in contrast to todays world – it was radical then and continues to be radical today.
St. Clare had noted that religious houses of the day had a tendency to become more lax. To allow themselves more and more freedoms from the Rules they had originally created. Clare felt that a strict adherence to a Rule is what would allow herself – and the women who followed her – to understand Jesus better – and that understanding would enable them to be more caring in the world around them.
This remains true to this day. St. Clare offers us an example of poverty – not just in the material sense but perhaps more importantly in the spiritual sense.
If we understand that we are spiritually poor – that we are on a long, hard journey to understand Jesus better – then we can keep ourselves to a higher standard, a higher rule – a stricter Rule of Life.
In understanding that we are spiritually poor we can stop ourselves relaxing so much that we loose the importance of the good works we care called to do and the prayer we are called to offer.
Guard well against a desire to become more lax.
Fr. Matthew
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Don’t forget there is Thursday Fun and Fellowship this coming Thursday. This is proving to be a really lovely evening with a great group of people. 7pm – 8:30pm. Board games, conversation and refreshments.
We’re going to move tea & coffee after mass to the rear of church in the cafe area. The tea & coffee rota isn’t getting much love at the moment so if you feel able to help please do get in touch. You’ll be able to learn how to use the espresso machine and it would be an enormous help and your gift to extending to fellowship and love of St. Anselm’s.
There is Sunday School NEXT WEEK at 11:30am-12:30pm. Please invite and encourage your children to come.
We are looking for volunteers to help serve food on the 2nd Thursday of each month and to learn how to operate the coffee bike. If you’d be interested in helping please speak to Fr. Matthew.