Tuesday 11 August 2026
St Clare
Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:4. How sweet to my taste is your promise – Ps 118(119):14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131. Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14.
Love and duty
Today is the feast day of Saint Clare of Assisi, the sister moon to brother sun Saint Francis, whom she followed all her life. Like Francis, she vowed her life to simplicity and poverty and God’s good works. She came from a wealthy family. Needlework and laundering were part of her domestic skill set. She is the patron saint of quilters and those who work in laundry services, as she and the Poor Clares made and cleaned the linens used on the altar. I think of the lifetimes of laundry that millions of women have undertaken, quietly doing a load, hand-washing, darning or mending, attending to clothes and bedding and other household items. Chores done out of love and duty. Let us say a prayer today for all those who work in dry-cleaning, those who wash our clothes so we can look our best, those who launder with love.
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