ADVENT WITH MOTHER CLARA

At times, there are hidden lives, which mark an epoch and leave a trail light behind them, of such intensity that it projects forever the luminosity of Goodness and beauty. They become a sure way for all those who discover the firmness of their steps in the footsteps of the Gospel. It is fitting to highlight here a name and a life: Sr. Maria Clara do Menino Jesus. To spread her extra – ordinary humanity, her unlimited love for the poor, the children and the abandoned, her heroic virtues, her humility, prayer, sacrifice… is to set up the light of this exceptional life on the candle stand of our time. Sr. Maria Clara, better known as Mother Clara, is one of these lights that cannot remain “under a bushel.” We intend to sketch the profile of this life, which becomes Hospitality in the service of the Gospel, opens paths of life in the fulfilment of God’s will. Her decisive steps on her journey to sanctity tell us that it is possible to make the Word alive; so that it does not remain a dead letter. Hope emerged from the soil Mother Maria Clara trod upon. She sowed it and made it bloom. She welcomed life, grace and the Gospel and made of the footsteps of Jesus, the firm ground for her steps. By denying herself the earthly splendour, she climbed the high mountain of the Beatitudes and followed the path that projects hope; she made is her onward journey. By choosing to live in poverty and hoping for everything from God, she points out to a future of imperishable riches. By crying over the ills, alleviating them, suppressing hunger and misery and by healing their wounds, she restores human dignity destined to an incorruptible heritage. By remaining silent over offences and calumnies, she becomes a luminous sign of the Goodness of God, who is always ready to forgive. This advent waiting for Jesus to be born in our lives , she revealed the hope of eternal peace… by suffering persecution that was inflicted on her, she lifts high the banner of fidelity. Hope dictated by faith, cemented the self – giving love;  The promise of a better world was present, in the formation of the Sisters for a mission;  There was hope for a more humane society, that is sympathetic and believes in eternal values, by assuming the care and education of the children and the formation of the youth;  She has the zeal to harmonise spirit and matter, in order to restore the redeeming meaning of suffering; by healing the wounds and alleviating pain.  She respected the dignity of the person, reserved for final resurrection; by sheltering the elderly.