A contemplative vocation is the work of the Holy Spirit.
“The Spirit breathes where He will,” and upon those whom He bestows the singular grace of a religious vocation, He pledges His unfailing aid. “I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their bodies, and I will give them a heart of flesh.” -Ezech 11:19
In this age of disillusionment and cynicism, in a day of affluent minorities and starving majorities, a world of frantic communications, yet so little unity, it is to the interior dimension in man, to the lights of the Spirit which play there, to the radical dream which led Francis and Clare to respond in poverty and in joy to the Gospel call, that the world now appeals.
Is it incredulous that, in the face of peril and disbelief, the Poor Clare should still be witnessing to joy? And yet is this not the greatest gift one can bring to our age? Is not this burning testimony to Him who said, “I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no man shall take from you,” -John 16:22, the only remedy for the woes of the world?
It is through Jesus that the world has been redeemed; it is through Jesus that the world will be restored. It is for Jesus’ coming that the Poor Clare watches and prays; it is to prepare the hearts of men for His coming that she fasts and abstains, works and loves, in faith and hope.
It is a call to holiness – a response to the words of Scripture: “Before the world was made the Father chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless and to live through love in His presence.” – Ephesians 1:4
It is a response which no person by herself could ever make; her disposition, her strength, her love, all come from the infinite resource of holiness – the Holy Spirit.