Feast of Saint Clare

Good morning. Living deliberately and simply, this for my wife, Linda, and I has been a major part of what our marriage of thirty years has been about. Lots of folks spend considerable amounts of dollars and hours on planning their wedding, yet give little toward planning their life together. We made a deliberate choice years ago to live on just my income, or at least to have Linda be here full-time for the children, and for the most part we have lived by that choice. By deliberate we have essentially approached it from the stance of our good friend Henry David Thoreau. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." It isn’t always easy. As you might imagine, living on the salary of a social worker working for the Church doesn’t place us in a high tax bracket. Yet, it has worked well for us and as a result we have the best four children anyone could ask for; and in the end, it doesn’t get any better than that. Recently, we had discussion regarding the internet and television and how all that fit with our living deliberately and living simply. Linda feels that the internet, especially social networking such as Facebook is a distraction which essentially offers little toward fulfilling our lives, and I must agree that she is right. On the other hand, my involvement with social networking and my Blog is a very deliberate part of my life, in that I use it to engage myself in daily reflection and prayer toward maintaining a balance and direction to the deliberate life we have mapped-out for ourselves. For the most part it is how I keep myself focused upon the deliberate path we have set for ourselves. One of the deliberate things we do and which I recommend for all married couples is finding ways to stay focused upon the here and now and avoid dwelling upon past disappointments or mistakes. This can be so damaging to a relationship. This is particularly important in response to today’s Gospel and in the area of forgiveness. Jesus tells us we must forgive from our heart. Forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts we can give to both the person we love as well as to ourselves. Our Saint for today, Saint Clare offers us a wonderful glimpse of how to love and forgive in the example of our Lord. When we forgive, we love and when we love God is in the mix. When we forgive we start all over as we have learned to do over the course of our thirty years together. We begin each day deliberately making a choice to start anew. Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Saint Clare.