Automatic translation from Italian, under review.
Between August 8 and 12 the Novitiate community spent a time of retreat in the places of Clare and Francis. Our two austere friends helped us to deepen our specific choice of Love, revealing to us their own: to become poor in order to discover and embrace true wealth, which is God.
The Basilica of Saint Francis; the Basilica of Saint Clare; the church and convent of San Damiano, the place where, at the most painful moment of his illness, Francis felt he had to praise God with the Canticle of the Creatures; the Sanctuary of the Renunciation (Santuario della Spogliazione), where we were able to pause in prayer before the very young Carlo Acutis; the Eremo delle Carceri; the paternal home of Saint Francis and that of Saint Clare; the Cathedral of San Rufino and finally the Porziuncola at Santa Maria degli Angeli marked our itinerary in discovering the close bond between poverty and beauty.
Special thanks go to the Monastery of Saint Joseph of the Benedictines, which welcomed us with love, and to the Mother Abbess, Mother Cecilia, who made us feel at home.
Among the other unexpected surprises, on August 11 we were able to take part in the solemn celebration for the feast of Saint Clare in her “home,” together with the Poor Clares, her daughters, the friars and many faithful from all over the world; there we even received a special blessing from His Eminence Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who presided at the Holy Mass. At the end we bade farewell to Saint Clare one last time in the crypt, entrusting to her our journey and that of all who desire to follow Jesus, leaving everything else for Him.
Federica