Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin
Who are the people in your life, or the saints to whom you look, whose legacy you admire? Who are the people who have helped to shape your life? How are you shaping others, and how do you hope to be remembered? Today is a great day to reflect upon our legacy. I pray we each might be inspired to walk in greater intentionality around our calling and the way we live our lives.
In today’s first reading we have Moses’ death and burial. Our Word tells us, “Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He had no equal in all the signs and wonders the Lord sent him to perform . . .” That’s quite a legacy, isn’t it?! Few of us will attain such notoriety. It’s often the simple lives well lived, however, that leave a lasting impact. My Dad was a university professor – he taught clinical pharmacology to veterinary students at Kansas State University. Dad was deeply beloved by his students. Over the many decades, he developed lasting friendships with countless numbers of them. In the classroom, he was fair and just, and exhibited a passionate commitment to learning, growth, and development. Dad was like a “rock star” among each veterinary class; everyone loved Dr. Dan. At his funeral, former students came from far and wide to pay their respects and to share how much he’d meant to them. Hundreds, who couldn’t attend the funeral sent condolences along with testimonies of how greatly dad had impacted their lives for the good. Dad’s genuine love and care for people, his ongoing investment in their development and success, and his personal integrity are all part of his incredible legacy. His was a life well lived, and it’s one that we can emulate. Whatever our vocation, job, ministry, state in life, let us make it all about loving and serving others.
I believe that our legacy is fundamentally not so much what we do, but who we are. People may be remembered for their good deeds, but those who make the greatest impact are those whose being is authentic and rooted in God’s love. Out of that grounded being flow the kind of good deeds that make a lasting impact. Our psalm response sings out, “Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!” It’s a fiery soul that sets the earth ablaze with God’s love through friendship, kindness, and charity. We are called to be imitators of Christ. We can only genuinely and authentically do that when we have the mind of Christ and his heart. Today is the Memorial of Saint Clare of Assisi. She said, "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, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God’s compassionate love for others." I find much wisdom in those few sentences; very worthy of reflection.
We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become . . . So, if we are to be people whose lives shape others, people who leave a lasting legacy, then it all begins with who we love and how we are being shaped. If I love myself more than others, I become a selfish person. If I love (with an unhealthy focus) worldly people and things, I will become worldly. If I love the Lord and yield to his formative and transformative shaping, then my life becomes one that can shape and influence by the power of God’s love. My prayer today is God, help me to love you more unreservedly. Transform me by your love. Help me, by your grace, to become the image of the Beloved. God, bless my brothers and sisters with the graces they need today to become the image of the Beloved, each in their own way. Thank you, Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Elizabeth Wourms