“What you hold, may you always hold.
What you do, may you always do.
And never abandon, never abandon.”
~St. Clare of Assisii

There are words that seem to draw us back to them. You can be walking along, minding your own business, and a phrase or word will play itself across the screen of your mind or whisper into you ear. Who knows why this happens? Sometimes these are not welcome words. Sometimes they are old, poor messages given us in other days that are not helpful, even painful. Words a parent or teacher or supposed friend said that sought to define who they thought we were but were not true at all. These are the phrases that can show up that to try to pull us from a new found path or some well worn practice toward healing and wholeness. These are not the phrases I am thinking of today.

Instead, I am remembering words that can be touchstones, reminders of the truly, deep wisdom that we all have but often forget. Things we know about ourselves….how we tick, what ways of communicating make sense and what ways will never work for us. Things we have come to believe in down to our marrow. What we would ‘go to battle for’ and what we are willing to let go. Sometimes these reminders are snippets of conversations that seemed benign at the time but on later reflection we knew to be pivotal in our shaping. Again….a parent, a teacher, a friend could have spoken them or sometimes it is a favored author whose well chosen words were the ones to hold this weight, this power.

Periodically, I come back to the words of St. Clare of Assisi which appear above. These words came to me later in my life by way of a short sung refrain. I remember where I was and the sights and sounds and feel of the room. I was swept up and held by the powerful intention of her words. From that moment on Clare’s words have become a sort of affirmation of faith for me. They seemed to speak of that knowing that we often feel just at the center of our body, our gut, but the place that represents something more. In chakra language it is the solar plexus, the place of our life force.

This past weekend we sang this refrain again at a women’s retreat. We did so while honoring the women in our lives who have nurtured our roots and grounded us, those that have helped us stand strong and those who have helped us reach up and out into the world. Clare’s words seemed the perfect soundtrack for what we were doing, what we were claiming.

In our lives situations happen that can draw us away from what we know, what we hold. People can come into our lives that can try to distort our own deep knowing. It can be a mind altering and heart-breaking experience. Life circumstances…..illness, loss, grief, injury, abuse, addiction…..can also mess with what we hold most dear and knock us, temporarily, off center. Right now, I am thinking of the many people who have recently lost jobs in our community due to corporate change. I am also thinking of a dear one who is fighting for his life in a hospital across the river. May they all find some way to hear the phrase, the sacred word that brings them to their own deep and grounded knowing of what they hold, what they will never abandon. And may it lead them to their own experience of how they are held and never abandoned by the One who walks with them.

There is courage and power in Clare’s words and they can draw you into a confidence and certainty that can serve you well. I know they have for me. In October I was blessed to be in a church in Italy dedicated to Clare’s work, her life. Standing before a wax figure depicting her that lay on top of her tomb, time stood still for me, an odd thing for this Methodist gal. And yet it was true. I was suspended in some liminal space and time. Perhaps her words were once again affirming themselves in me. Whatever happened it was a moment I will never forget. I felt it in my solar plexus…..my life force.

“What you hold may you always hold.
What you do, may you always do and never abandon.
But with swift pace, light step and unswerving feet,
so that even your steps stir up no dust,
Go forward, the spirit of our God has called you.”