THE SONS GIVE ALL AND NOT A MEASURE


SAINT CLARE, VIRGIN

Deut 10:12-22; Ps 147:12-15,19-20; Mt 17:22-27

The Sons do not Pay Tax

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. The statement from the book of Hebrews is central to our spiritual journey. Faith is a spiritual gift we must receive to walk in communion with God. It sets us on the path leading into the mysteries of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man. We could consider it the passport into the City of God, the new Jerusalem. If it is impossible to please God without faith, it follows that every sin has its root in unbelief. Faith is a spiritual seed we sow in our life with a simple act, the accent of our will to the word of God, which germinates into a spiritual life that we must live and grow daily. By the simple assent of the will or act of faith, we sow the word of God in our hearts, minds, and wills. The word of God grows through our continual act of faith and assent of our wills into a spiritual dwelling or tent that replaces our mortal or perishable tents. Our faith is a continuous sacrifice in this sense, for it offers our mortal life to Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, who receives the sacrifice and transforms it into His mystical body, the heavenly Jerusalem. These sacrifices are the payment or token we make for our heavenly citizenship.

The simple, yet holistic, requirement for communion with God is what Moses explains to the children of Israel. “Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only this: to fear the Lord your God, to follow all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and laws of the Lord that for your good I lay down for you today.” Our sacrifices are made only in imitation of God, who sacrifices or dedicates himself to us for our good and salvation. Because the word of God is the self-sacrifice of God to us, the reception of the word of God in faith evokes the same sacrifice from us. According to Moses, if the Lord our God chose us among all people, we have no option but to worship him. “It is the Lord your God you must fear and serve; you must cling to him; in his name take your oaths.” Our lives must be oaths taken in the name and presence of God. The continuity required by the sacrifice of faith can only be achieved or perfected when our hearts are aflame with the love of God. Their love for the Lamb and his Father characterises the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. Thus, the mystical name of the City of God is the Bride of the Lamb of God. Faith is the foundation of the city, and love is its life.

The same love, the Holy Spirit, made the whole of the life of the Son of Man a sacrifice to God. The culmination of the life of the Son of Man on the cross of Calvary was the necessary end of his consecration, through faith and love, to the Father. Jesus kept reminding the disciples of the essence of faith in the Father. “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men; they will put him to death, and on the third day he will be raised to life again.” Like them, we are always saddened when we focus on what we are to sacrifice for the life and love of the Lamb and the Father. But we should focus more on Jesus Christ, who receives these sacrifices and offers them, in union with his, to the Father for our salvation and those of our brothers and sisters. Saint Clare was motivated by this pure faith and love for God, and she made a sacrifice of her life when she encountered the Seraphic Father, Saint Francis. She was born at Assis in 1193/4. She came under the influence of Saint Francis at an early age. She left home at the age of 18, and guided by Francis, she started a community that grew into the Order of the Poor Clares. She also attracted her sister and widowed mother into the community. She and her members embraced radical poverty, owning practically nothing for the love of Jesus Christ. She died at Assisi in 1253. We see in her radical poverty the real meaning of Christ’s words to Peter, that the sons of the king are exempt from taxation because they give all to their father and not just a measure. Like Saint Clare, faith and love of Jesus Christ invite us to offer all to Christ, who offered himself for our salvation.

Let us pray: O God, who in your led Saint Clare to a love of poverty, grant, through intercession, that, following Christ in poverty of spirit, we may merit to contemplate you one day in the heavenly Kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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