Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:28-31.
Peter began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and (the) last will be first."
Commentary of the day : Thomas of Celano
Leaving all to follow him
For forty years, to use the analogy made by Saint Paul (1Cor 9,24), Clare had now run the race in the stadium of very great poverty. She was drawing close to the goal of her heavenly vocation and to the reward promised to the victor... Divine Providence hastened to fulfil what it had in mind for Clare: Christ desired to bring his little, poor one into his royal palace at the close of her pilgrimage. She, on her part, longed with all the impulse of her desire... to behold, reigning on high in his glory, the Christ whose poverty she had imitated on earth...
All her daughters had gathered around their mother's bed... Then, speaking to herself, Claire said to her soul: «Go in all safety; you have a good guide for the road. Go, for he who created you has also sanctified you. He has always kept you and loved you with tender love as a mother loves her child. Blessed are you, O Lord, who have created me!» One of the Sisters asked her to whom she was talking. Clare answered: «To my blessed soul.» Her guide for the journey was not far off. Indeed, turning towards one of her daughters, she said: «Do you see what I can see? - The King of glory!»...
Blessed be her departure from this vale of sorrow, a departure that was for her the entry into the life of blessedness! As a reward for her fasts here below she now knows the joy that reigns at the table of the saints. In exchange for her rags and ashes she has entered into possession of the blessedness of the heavenly Kingdom where she is clothed in the robe of eternal glory.
All her daughters had gathered around their mother's bed... Then, speaking to herself, Claire said to her soul: «Go in all safety; you have a good guide for the road. Go, for he who created you has also sanctified you. He has always kept you and loved you with tender love as a mother loves her child. Blessed are you, O Lord, who have created me!» One of the Sisters asked her to whom she was talking. Clare answered: «To my blessed soul.» Her guide for the journey was not far off. Indeed, turning towards one of her daughters, she said: «Do you see what I can see? - The King of glory!»...
Blessed be her departure from this vale of sorrow, a departure that was for her the entry into the life of blessedness! As a reward for her fasts here below she now knows the joy that reigns at the table of the saints. In exchange for her rags and ashes she has entered into possession of the blessedness of the heavenly Kingdom where she is clothed in the robe of eternal glory.
