Daily Devotion 11th August

Perhaps Paul did too. He knew a thing or two about the hard knocks of life. In his second letter to the Corinthians he lays it all out. He has endured overwork, imprisonment, flogging, stoning, getting lost at sea, dangers everywhere and from anyone, hunger, sleeplessness, cold, anxiety and threat of death (ch. 11). He tells the Corinthians this because they too have treated him badly. Having visited there to address false apostles, he finds himself rejected and publicly humiliated. His visit ends in failure. And so he writes to them to tell them about all he has suffered but also to let them know that he is not broken by it.

Clare of Assisi, whose saint’s day it is today, likewise was no stranger to suffering. Living a life of contemplation and prayer, she chose poverty and service to others, at great personal cost. For the last 27 years of her life, she suffered ill health.  And yet, in all of it she kept her resolve and blessed God.

As did Paul. We are afflicted in every way, he said, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

Both Paul and Clare of Assisi knew that it was by the grace of God that they could endure whatever came their way. Through their vulnerability God’s light, love and mercy could shine.