Third Letter of St. Clare to St. Agnes of Prague
1 To the lady most worthy of reverence in Christ and the sister most worthy of love among all mortals, Agnes, own sister of the King of Bohemia, and now sister and spouse of the most high King of heaven (cf. Mt 12:50; 2 Cor 11:2),
2 Clare, the humble and unworthy maidservant of Christ and handmaid of the poor ladies, wishes the joy of salvation and every good that can be desired from the Author of salvation (cf. Heb 2:10).
3 The news of your good health, your happy state and your good progress in the race you have begun to win the heavenly prize (cf. Phil 3:14) fills me with great joy.
4 I rejoice all the more in the Lord because I know you and consider that you wonderfully make up for what is lacking in me and in the other sisters in following the poor and humble Jesus Christ.
5 Truly I can rejoice, and no one can take such joy from me,
6 because I have attained (cf. Song 3:4) what I longed for under heaven; for I see how, supported by the wonderful strength of wisdom that comes from God Himself, you win an unexpected and inexpressible victory over the cunning of the crafty enemy (cf. Gen 3:1), over the ruinous pride of human nature and over the vanity that deceives human hearts.
7 I see that with humility, the virtue of faith and the arms of poverty you embrace the incomparable treasure hidden in the field of the world and of human hearts, the treasure with which one can gain Him (cf. Mt 13:44) who made all things out of nothing (cf. Jn 1:3).
8 And, to use the words of the Apostle himself, I consider you a co-worker of God Himself, the inexpressible, who raises up the fallen members of His Body (cf. 1 Cor 3:9; Rom 16:3).
9 Who, then, could stop me from rejoicing in such marvellous joys?
10 Rejoice therefore always in the Lord (cf. Phil 4:4), you too, my dearest,
11 and do not let any cloud of bitterness overwhelm you, O lady most beloved in Christ, joy of the angels and crown of the sisters (cf. Phil 4:1).
12 Place your mind before the mirror of eternity, place your soul in the brilliance of glory (cf. Heb 1:3),
13 place your heart in the image of the divine substance (cf. Heb 1:3), and through contemplation be transformed entirely into the image of the Godhead itself (cf. 2 Cor 3:18),
14 so that you too may feel what friends feel when they taste the hidden sweetness that God Himself has kept from the beginning for those who love Him (cf. Ps 31:20; 1 Cor 2:9).
15 Avoid all the snares in which the blind lovers of this deceitful and restless world are entangled, and love with your whole heart Him who gave Himself entirely for love of you.
16 The sun and the moon admire His beauty; His rewards are priceless and beyond measure (cf. Ps 145:3);
17 I speak of the Son of the Most High, to whom the Virgin gave birth and who remained a virgin after His birth.
18 Cling to this most sweet Mother; she gave birth to the Son whom the heavens could not contain (cf. 1 Kgs 8:27),
19 and yet she held Him and carried Him in her little, holy, virginal womb.
20 Who would not be horrified at the cunning of the enemy of humankind, who with the glitter of short-lived and deceptive honours tries to destroy what is greater than heaven?
21 For it is clear that the grace of God surpasses everything in value, and that through grace the soul of a faithful person is greater than heaven,
22 since the heavens with all creatures cannot contain the Creator (1 Kgs 8:27); only the faithful soul is His dwelling and seat (cf. Jn 14:23), and this only through love, which the godless lack.
23 For the Truth says: Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him (Jn 14:21), and We will come to him and make Our home with him (Jn 14:23).
24 Therefore, as the glorious Virgin of virgins carried Him bodily,
25 so you too, following in His footsteps (cf. 1 Pet 2:21), especially those of humility and poverty, can without any doubt always carry Him spiritually in a chaste and virginal body;
26 you can hold Him who holds you and all things (cf. Wis 1:7; Col 1:17); you can possess what you will possess more securely than any passing possession in this world.
27 In this some kings and queens of this world are mistaken,
28 for although their pride reaches to heaven and their heads touch the clouds, in the end they will be forgotten like refuse.
29 As for the matter you asked me to explain to you, I think I should answer your love;
30 it concerns the feasts which, I believe, are dear to you too, and about which our glorious Father Francis especially urged us to honour them with a variety of dishes.
31 Let your prudence know, then, that apart from the weak and the sick, whom by his command we are to favour in the matter of food as far as possible,
32 none of us who are healthy and strong should eat anything but Lenten fare, on weekdays as well as on feasts;
33 we are to fast every day except Sundays and Christmas, when we should eat twice a day.
34 On ordinary Thursdays, too, fasting is left free: whoever does not wish to fast is not obliged to.
35 We who are healthy, however, fast every day except Sundays and Christmas.
36 At every Easter, as the writing of St. Francis says, and on the feasts of Holy Mary and of the holy Apostles, we are likewise not obliged to fast, unless these feasts fall on a Friday;
37 and, as has been said, we who are healthy and strong always eat Lenten fare.
38 But since our flesh is not of bronze, nor our strength that of stone (cf. Job 6:12),
39 but rather we are frail and inclined to every bodily weakness,
40 I beg you, dearest, to refrain wisely and prudently from the indiscreet and impossible austerity in fasting which, I know, you have begun to practise; and I ask you
41 to praise God by living (cf. Isa 38:19; Sir 17:27), to offer the Lord a reasonable service (cf. Rom 12:1), and that your sacrifice may always be seasoned with the salt of prudence (cf. Lev 2:13; Col 4:6).
42 Be well in the Lord, as I greatly wish to be well myself, and remember both me and my sisters in your holy prayers.
Translated from the Polish edition of the writings of St. Clare.