Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.
Beside the rare visits of her mentor Francis of Assisi, Saint Clare was visited by many famous and influential people, especially Popes Innocent IV and Gregory IX. The latter had also visited her as a cardinal of the Church, when he was known as Ugolino. Visitors, rich and poor, famous and unknown, often visited Clare from Assisi and nearby villages. However, in her Rule she urged her sisters not to spend too much time in the convent parlor, entertaining family, friends, and guests. Their prayer was more needed and more important.
After entering San Damiano at the age of eighteen, she never left the convent. Remembered as a nun, she could also be called an anchorite. She saw no need to leave and preferred to "remain in me" by a life of silence, simplicity, and constant prayer. In that regard she forms a contrast to many of today's spiritual writers who continually travel to speaking engagements while publishing an endless series of books. A fellow monk once said of Thomas Merton that he wrote very well of solitude for a man who never knew it.
Many people today suffer FOMO, the Fear Of Missing Out. Important events seem to happen continually to us, and those we love, and in the world around us. Everything demands our attention and anyone who hasn't heard the latest, seen the latest, read the latest and formed an intelligent opinion about the latest must be withdrawing into irrelevance -- and there's nothing worse than irrelevance!
"Gaze on Him!" Saint Clare urged her sisters, as they knelt before the only image in the convent, the San Damiano Cross.
Dante Alighieri
