Attracted to God from childhood, to heavenly desires ...
Chiara was already four years old when she retired to some place in her paternal house, but perhaps because in there, she did not always have the opportunity to be alone for long, she went or was taken to a nearby place, called 'Castellare', where was the church dedicated to St. John.
And there, often forgetting her parents too, she felt consolations and very ardent desires, although then, for her tender age, she did not know that they were spiritual experiences.
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Moreover, already in her childhood she attended the hermitage...
of her sister Giovanna and other inmates.
And there, she felt sweetness...
and spiritual desires...
the way at that time she could.
Strongly adhering to these religious women...
and desiring the religious state...
she listened with great diligence to their advices...
and put them into practice.
This 'warm family nest'...
is woven by an intense silence...
permeated by great humanity...
and listening to God's plan of love.
Just think of the attention that the father paid in helping both his daughters...
fulfilling their vocation, building their hermitage...
and later financing the monastery of Santa Croce.
Death would not allow him to complete his work of mercy...
but in the meantime, he granted the blessing to his children so loved by him.
A concern that reflects the lifestyle of another family, that of Nazareth...
where Mary and Joseph all lived gathered and stretched out in the life of the Son...
so that the Father's plan of love might be fulfilled in Him.
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Vocation is undoubtedly all of God...
but it needs a fertile ground of good to grow...
and the total adhesion of those who, letting themselves be reached by a loving gaze, follow.
Undoubtedly Chiara's family is an example of collective holiness.
The father, tireless collaborator in the realization of the wishes of the daughters.
Their brother Francesco, following in the footsteps of Saint Francis.
One family, three consecrated!
[bron]
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