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“Let Him Who Glories, Glory in the Lord”

Reflection for the Feast of St. Clare, Virgin

Today’s Epistle and Gospel are wedded in their theme: the total consecration of the soul to Christ the Bridegroom, in purity, vigilance, and holy longing.

The Epistle (2 Cor 10:17–18; 11:1–2)

“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord… For I have espoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

St. Paul speaks with a jealous love—not for himself, but for Christ. The glory of the Apostle is not in his own works, his own austerities, or even the souls he has gathered, but in Christ alone. “It is the Lord Who commends, not he who commends himself” (cf. 2 Cor 10:18).

St. John Chrysostom notes here:

“Paul does not seek that they should be his disciples, but Christ’s. He betroths them, not to himself, but to Another—he acts the part of the friend of the Bridegroom.”

In the consecrated virgin, this spiritual espousal becomes literal. St. Clare, following her father in Christ, St. Francis, gloried not in noble lineage or earthly beauty—though she had both—but in her hidden union with the King of Heaven.

The Gospel (Matt 25:1–13)
The ten virgins stand as an image of the soul awaiting the return of the Lord. Five were wise, their lamps ready; five were foolish, negligent in preparing oil.

St. Augustine, reading this parable, says the oil signifies charity:

“The lamps are the hearts of the faithful, the oil is the sweetness of good works, nourished by love. Without love, even the outward form of holiness flickers and dies.”

St. Clare kept her lamp trimmed through vigilant poverty, silence, and fasting; but her oil was charity—burning brightly in her love for Christ and her sisters. When the cry came at midnight—Ecce sponsus venit—her life was already an answer.

For Us
This feast reminds us that spiritual virginity—whether in vowed life or in the purity of a faithful Christian heart—is not merely abstaining from impurity, but living in constant readiness for the Bridegroom’s coming. Our oil must be replenished daily: prayer that unites us to His will, works of mercy done in His name, and a heart detached from passing glory.

As St. Gregory the Great teaches:

“The lamp of faith receives its light from the oil of charity; unless we love, we cannot believe as we ought.”

St. Clare invites us to gaze upon Christ in the Blessed Sacrament—her constant practice—and to let His light fill our soul, so that when the door is shut, we may be found inside, rejoicing at the marriage feast.

O glorious St. Clare, who kept thy lamp ever burning, obtain for us a pure heart and vigilant charity, that we may enter with the Bridegroom when He comes.

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