Seeking Through Contemplation To Be Transformed-Poor Clares OSC (Order of St Clare) Australia

Seeking Through Contemplation To Be Transformed

Guided by the Holy Spirit we welcome you into our sisterhood;

with God’s help we will journey with you

in our continued discernment of your request for transfer

and we pray

that we all may be open to the Lord’s new designs for our life,

shaping us anew to be ‘a clear light for the whole world,

seeking through contemplation to be transformed

so that we too may reflect as in a mirror the brightness of the Lord.’

(response to the Sisters requesting transfer)

The blessing

Sisters M. Paul and May

On the 4^th February 2002 five Sisters from the Congregation of the Sisters of St Clare arrived from Ireland to transfer to the Waverley Poor Clares, Australia. Although this is a beginning it is also the end of a long discernment on the part of these sisters who have been searching their way forward for some years.

The journey began in 1991 with no thought of transfer at that stage. It was then that four sisters were granted permission to give greater expression to the contemplative dimension of the Clare Charism. For the next eight years the sisters in varying locations, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, explored the possibilities of the Clare charism for today. One option which they felt urged to explore was the marrying of the Clare Charism with Francis’ Rule for Hermitages.

The genius of Francis’ Rule for Hermitages is that it couples fraternity with solitude. This seemed a way whereby the contemplative dimension of the charism could find expression.

At the same time, the Waverley Poor Clares were also searching for a clearer expression of the contemplative dimension of the charism. The Chapter of 1997 mandated that a community of sisters would be established to explore this vision. This community has been established at Riverstone, N.S.W. since 2001.

What is this vision? It is this call to solitude, in the companionship of others that is the vocation of the Poor Clares. Some sisters have a garden hermitage where she spends the first hours of her day in solitude with God. It is her vocation to rise each morning and abandon all things in search of the One she loves. Often God brings her into compassionate emptiness where she becomes one with the suffering world. In every age, Christ needs men and women who are willing to enter this redemptive space.

Back to our story…

By 1999, it was apparent to the Irish Sisters, living at Monasterevin, that their Congregation was not wanting to actively further this particular expression of the Charism. The Sisters of Monasterevin who over the years, found mutual support in the Waverley group, felt the Spirit urging them to link more officially with them. After exploring a variety of options, the transfer of jurisdiction seemed the most appropriate answer. The first move of requesting transfer was made in March 1999; however, it was not until February 4 this year that the transfer was officially granted to Sisters May Mahon, Margaret McGill, Rose McSherry, Briege O’Hare and Joan O’Hare.

Transfer Liturgy Scene