Louisville Process Theology Network

Franciscan Prayer II

Nov 05, 2008

Page 65. Although Francis?’ way of prayer, with its underlying theology of the Word, offered a new path of divine-human relationship in the world, it is Clare of Assisi who described the spiritual journey as one that leads to transformation.

Page 67. Clare lays out her path to God in a fourfold manner that can be likened to the monastic ?‘lecto divina.?’ She advises Agnes (of Prague) to gaze upon the crucified Spouse (Jesus) and by gaze she means seeing and considering and loving God who comes to us in Christ?… as she writes, gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him, as you desire to imitate Him.

?… Gazing upon the crucified Christ leads us to friendship with Him, to begin to feel what he suffered and to be able to suffer with him, in his rejection by others.

?… Consideration of the crucified Christ is to lead one to consider one?’s own participation in His sufferings. How are we crucified? ?…Do we crucify others?

?… Consideration of the crucified Christ should then lead us, like for Clare, to contemplation, to dwell in the mystery of God within us and to become one with Christ in this dwelling. Contemplation is the means for discovering the truly human without disguise. Clare describes the crucified Christ as a ?‘mirror?’, a reflection of ourselves. The mirror of the Crucified tells us how we are most like God in this world through suffering, poverty, and humility, and what we can do to God in this world.

?… Although Clare sought unity with God through contemplation, union is not the goal of relationship with God; rather, the goal is imitation. ?…We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation.

?… The goal of prayer, therefore, is to become transformed into the image of Christ.

Page 69. For Clare and Francis, prayer is not a flight from the world in pursuit of a transcendent God; rather it centers on the mystical body of Christ and our participation in this mystery.?”