Priorities!

Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin
Readings for Friday
Biographical Information about St. Clare

Reflection:

Before I begin my “Official” reflection I thought I’d share something from the sailor side of the Deacon-Sailor. I have been aware of the old saying; “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night, sailors delight.” for most of my life, but until today I did not know where it came from. This morning while reading the Gospel in front of the passage we hear from St. Matthew I accidentally found the passage below.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came and, to test him, asked him to show them a sign
from heaven.

He said to them in reply, "In the evening you say,
'Tomorrow will be fair, for the sky is red'; and, in the morning, 'Today will be
stormy, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to judge the
appearance of the sky, but you cannot judge the signs of the times." (Mt. 16
1-3)

Holy cow, I knew the Lord was a sailor, I just did not know how much he really knew about weather. (For any non-sailors out there, knowing the weather is as necessary for a sailor as a tailor knowing cloth or a farmer knowing the earth.) It does not really have anything to do with either today’s scripture or St. Clare of Assisi whose memorial we celebrate today. I just thought it was interesting that the nautical saying is scriptural.

Today we are given both scripture and an example that scream a theme at us saying; “Get your priorities straight!” It is something we all need to hear because, unless we have reached a very high plain of spirituality, we are tempted on a daily basis to focus our energy on things that give us only pleasure and do not bring glory to God our Father. By our passions we will be known.

In the case of St. Clare, her passion was (and is) the Lord. She was brought up in the lap of luxury, being of noble decent and could have lead a life of leisure as part of the Spanish nobility. Instead she chose not only to leave that life (Whoever wishes to come after me must deny their self...), but she took the vow of poverty to a new level (…take up their cross, and follow me.) founding the order of Poor Clares. Her passion for the Lord dominated her life and she achieved, in the eyes of the Church, true discipleship in the Communion of Saints.

The Lord makes a pretty good case for asking us to reorder our priorities. He asks the rhetorical question; “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Or give up part of what I give to the Church to buy a new boat? (did I write that in my out loud voice?) As I said earlier, by our passions, people know us. If we want to figure out where our priorities are all we need to do is ask a good friend and, if they are truthful, they will tell us what they believe our life’s passions are. If one of the top three is not the Lord, then we really need to do some shifting. (That does not me the Lord should be number 3; He should be number one. It’s just that others should see Him in the top three in our life.)

St. Clare gives us a lot to think about today. As for me, I will try to be very conscious today of why I do the things I do. If they are for me, to make me look good, to make me money, to enhance my standing, I did them for the wrong reason. If I do what I do for the greater glory of God, I’m on the right track. Priorities, very hard. Pax