10th
Reflections on a Name :: For Claire Jula Heuertz’ Dedication by Phileena Heuertz
There’s something special and profound about our name. I believe that our namesake is something we can live into by God’s grace. If you explore the meaning of your name or your friends or family member’s names, you may find it surprising how much a person reflects their name.
The name “Claire” means Clear, Light, Shining, Bright and Famously Bright.
Claire’s second name is for Winter’s Grandma Pilkington. Jula is Polish for Julia pronounced Yulia; and it means youth and useful.
Claire is destined to be a youth-filled, useful bright light.
On this day of dedicating Claire Jula to her Creator and our Lord and Savior, it is fitting to reflect for a few moments on her name. And so let us spend the remainder of time in this reflection on the name Claire.
Winter and Adam have chosen the French spelling of Claire—C- L- A- I- R- E. In Italian: the name is spelled C-L-A-R-E, as in St. Clare of Assisi, the first woman to join St. Francis and the Franciscans. And as I understand the Franciscans have a special historical place in the Heuertz family.
As it so happens, Grandma Heuertz’ mother was a part of the Third Order Franciscans in Freemont. And in Omaha she came to know of the Order of the Poor Clares which is currently located next to St. Bernard’s parish. Our Great Grandma was committed to partnering with the Order through her prayers and support. Being in close relationship with the Franciscans, she came to know that the Poor Clares would pray for the safe births of babies. So, our Great Grandma asked the nuns to pray a novena for a safe delivery of her three oldest children: Marjory, Jean and Rosemary. In exchange for the intercession the nuns asked that the children be named after Clare or Francis. So, in response the mother named the children: Marjory Claire, Jean Francis and Rosemary Clair. And interestingly enough, the French spelling like our Baby Claire was chosen.
Like our Great Aunt Jean who made pilgrimage to Assisi in 1960 and was deeply touched, Chris and I made pilgrimage to Assisi a few years ago. I actually experienced a mysterious encounter with the life and influence of St. Clare. More than 750 years after her death she still has influence in the world today. Clare’s life and example are very important to me and without question I decided that St. Clare would be my patron saint and confirmation name.
So when Adam and Winter told me the name they had chosen for their second child, I was delighted; and witnessing Claire’s birth was one of the most special gifts I could have ever received.
And so as we dedicate Baby Claire today and as a way for her to live into her namesake, I think it is fitting that we reflect on one of the greatest “Clares” to have ever lived—a saint who continually finds her way into our family.
Clare
Clare was born in the 1200s to parents of the noble class in Assisi, Italy.
At the time of her conception her mother received word from the Lord that her child would be a great light, thus she was named Clare.
Clare was known to be bold and defiant of social norms that conflicted with the Kingdom of God and God’s will for her life—namely the expectation that she would marry and belong to or essentially be owned by a man. In a time when women were seen as a “second sex” and inferior to men, Clare’s life defies that.
At age 18 against all social convention of the day, Clare made a radical decision to leave behind her nobility and join the Franciscans.
Because of her confidence in who God had created her to be, men of all stature came to rely on her counsel and wisdom—from common men to Francis and his brothers even cardinals and Popes.
Clare truly was a great light in her time. She overcame huge social, familial and religious obstacles to boldly devote herself to the life of Christ and the Franciscan way.
Clare refused to be content to let a man write the rules for the order she founded. Year after year she was denied until finally becoming the first woman to write her own rules for her order. Clare also refused the special treatment offered to cloistered nuns, persevering to her deathbed for the Pope to grant the Franciscan sisters the right to live in poverty.
After being refused time and time again, moments before her death, Clare obtained the right to poverty for her order. In her dying hour retaining proper confidence in her identity and purpose, she is recording saying, “Blessed be you God who created me.”
Clare understood that in the ways of the Spirit anything is possible for women and that women have a special calling equal to men. Through Clare’s life, an order of women grew up along the Franciscan brothers in an egalitarian, complementary relationship that gives a picture of wholeness—male and female devoted to the life of Christ, serving alongside one another as light to the world, offering their gifts one to another.
Clare is remembered as the other half of the foundation of Franciscan spirituality. Her unique faith expression is known as a deep well to Francis’ raging river.
St. Clare, along with St. Francis and their brothers and sisters are Lights to Guide our Way in our relationship with God. As a great light, Clare illuminates the gifts of Gender, Courage, Poverty, and Radical Devotion.
Illuminating Gifts
The Gift of Gender By Clare’s embrace of her feminine identity, equality between men and women is more realized.
Courage Clare defied social norms that insult the nature and desire of God. By her courage Clare reformed family, society and religion.
Poverty Through her poverty, Clare found freedom to devote herself more fully to God. She identified with the sufferings of Christ through the people who begged and victims of leprosy. By her poverty, greed and selfishness is condemned and a life of generosity and compassion is revealed.
Radical Devotion By her radical lifestyle of devotion to Jesus, she won favor in the lives of rulers and kings.
And so, Claire Jula it is our prayer for you that you too would be a youth-filled, useful bright light and that you would illuminate the gifts that have been given you to lead us all closer to God.
Please extend your hands in a prayer for Claire as I read this blessing of St. Clare.
St. Clare’s Second Letter to Agnes
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
securely, joyfully, swiftly,
on the path of prudent happiness,
believing nothing
which would dissuade you from this resolution
or which would place a stumbling block for you on the way,
so that you may offer your vows to the Most High
in the pursuit of that perfection
to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you.
