MEDITATING ON THE POWER OF THE INNER LIGHT AT SAN DAMIANO

By Brenda Brisch, Retreat Leader

​We were meditating in the San Damiano Cloister where St. Claire lived her whole life.  There is the door, still standing from centuries ago, where the Saracens were about to invade the convent.  As soon as Claire heard the troops arriving, she ran to her chapel and took the monstrance, the chalice holding the body of Christ.  Fearlessly she faced the enemy holding the chalice high above her head, saying nothing.  The light emanating from the host was so powerfully brilliant that not only did the Saracens flee, but they did not besiege the town of Assisi as planned.

 
We meditated on the light within that is so much more powerful than the “enemy”, or the negative or habitual thoughts that seem to besiege us at times.  All we need to do is befriend this light, and believe in its potency.  I suddenly was resting in the power of an inner radiance, and the thoughts that I used to think were so threatening to my peace, seemed to dissolve in this greater light.
 
During our Assisi pilgrimages, the episodes of the lives of St. Claire and St. Francis provide stepping-stones into our own awareness, inspiring us to find the Truth inside, just as they did.​