Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!

—St. Clare of Assisi

The “mirror of the cross” is an important image in the tradition of Franciscan spirituality.  The use of the image of the mirror was already in use among spiritual writers of the Cistercian school, when St. Clare of Assisi first took it up for Franciscan use.  St. Bonaventure used the image extensively in his masterwork, The Journey of the Soul to God.  The idea presupposes that the way in which we know Jesus is transformative.  To see Jesus, that is, to truly know him, is to become His reflection, His image and likeness.  This is the opposite of egoism.  Mirror gazing can be a very vain thing, but it can also be exactly the opposite.

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