As mons. Tonino Bello said: 'to wait is the infinitive of the verb to love'.
In Francis and Clare we see all the signs of this Waiting-Event.
They had understood that the Lord is coming, and must be sighed for with zeal not only at certain liturgical times, almost as if to make up for the carelessness of previous times, but that the journey of faith is a parable of waiting for the Coming One, for the Kingdom that approaches and knocks at the door.
In the light of all this, for the two saints Advent was every morning, every day, every moment, and for this reason they had the 'ears of the heart' always alert not to miss the appointment.
Clare herself had become a lamp that emanates light for the coming Light.
We read in the Sources, as she writes to her spiritual daughter, Agnes of Bohemia:
"Then you too will experience what is reserved for his friends alone, and you will taste the secret sweetness that God himself has reserved from the beginning for those who love him.
Without allowing even a glance at the seductions, which in this deceitful and restless world tend to lace the blind who cling to your heart, with all your being love Him who for love of you has given Himself entirely" (FF 2889).
To love: infinitive of the verb to wait!
And again, Chiara:
"In the same way, then, that the glorious Virgin of virgins bore Christ materially in her womb, you too. following his traces, especially of his humility and poverty, can always, without any doubt, bear him spiritually in your chaste and virginal body" (FF 2893).
Expectation and Hope of an Event that passes through the existence of those who watch and are not distracted by the importance of the Encounter.
All this made her, by Grace, a vivid and powerful Light that opens the way to the Advent of the Great King.
In the papal document "Clara Claris praeclara" we read:
"It could not happen that such a vivid, such a shining lamp should remain hidden without diffusing light and giving forth clear light in the house of the Lord" (FF 3285).
The Expectation of the Bridegroom Who Is Coming was so substantial in Clare as to leave no room for lukewarmness of any kind.
She herself had become a Lamp that waits and shines.
Her life had been transformed into an Advent in praise of the Lord.
1st Advent Sunday (year C) (Lk 21:25-28.34-36)