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In a wealthy Asian city, a play asks why St. Clare of Assisi chose to own nothing #Catholic SINGAPORE — St. Clare of Assisi, as she appears on a church stage in Singapore this week, opens her story with a list of what her family owned. “We had money, we had servants … we had horses,” she tells the audience. “We had everything, but for a girl like me, my life was already written for me.”The line comes early in “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” performed Oct. 16 and 17 at the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, a Catholic parish in Bukit Batok in western Singapore served by Franciscan friars. The official poster for “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” presented by CANA and Saint Max in Singapore Oct. 16–17, 2026, for the Jubilee Year of St. Francis, with Sharda Harrison as St. Clare and Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, as St. Francis. | Credit: Courtesy of CANA and Saint Max Presented by CANA, a faith-based community and cultural hub in Singapore, and Saint Max, the production is part of the celebrations of the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi, which the worldwide Franciscan family has held to mark 800 years since Francis died in October 1226.Actress Sharda Harrison wrote the script and plays the role of Clare; according to the organizers, she also directed the show. Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, a Franciscan friar, plays St. Francis, and the productionʼs poster says all proceeds go to the development office of the Franciscan friars. Fra Michael D’Cruz, OFM, welcomes the audience before the performance Oct. 16, 2026, in Singapore. | Credit: Benedict Tang An organizer from CANA who asked not to be named said that after a year of jubilee celebrations for Francis, the play was a fitting way to close the celebration with “the precious legacy of St. Clare.” The group turned to Harrison, the organizer said, because she had portrayed St. Thérèse of Lisieux for them in 2024 in “St. Thérèse: The Little Way,” a play she also wrote and directed.Asked what audiences should take home, the organizer answered with a question: “Why is poverty a privilege? … Why is this crazy lady Clare so resolved to live it?” The second and last performance falls on Oct. 17, the United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Sharda Harrison, barefoot, addresses the audience as St. Clare at the first performance of “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” Oct. 16, 2026. | Credit: Benedict Tang Medieval marriage, modern ‘swiping’In a city-state where Catholics live alongside Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, and others, the script reaches for references from everyday modern life. When Clareʼs father looks for a husband for her, suitors appear on a large screen: Guido, Bernardo, and Silvestro, “my fatherʼs favorite.” Clare asks the audience to vote. “In your time … you swipe right if you like the boy, and you swipe left if you donʼt like the boy,” she says.The comedy gives way to the turning point of her life. Clare describes Francis as a merchantʼs son “born into wealth just like me.” She says: “I realized that I had everything, but I wanted none of it.” She slips out of her family home on Palm Sunday night, has her hair cut before Francis, and faces her furious father: “I belong to Christ now, Father.”It is not a one-woman show. Other actors play Clareʼs companions and the early friars, and Clare pulls women from the audience into the story, choosing them as “sisters” and giving them vows as her community grows. Clare’s hair is cut as she gives up her life of privilege, with Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, as St. Francis, at a performance in Singapore on Oct. 16, 2026. | Credit: Benedict Tang ‘The right to possess nothing’Poverty runs through the script. Clare recalls that her mother, Ortolana, “saw God everywhere, especially in the poor,” and adds: “They were not hidden like today.”“This is what it means to live in the privilege of poverty,” she says, “to be given the right to possess nothing.” The world, she tells them, “did not understand. Not even the Church.”The title of the play echoes Clareʼs letters to St. Agnes of Prague, a princess who, in the playʼs words, “decided to give up everything to become a poor lady.” In welcoming remarks before the curtain, Fra Michael DʼCruz, OFM, the Franciscan friar overseeing the event for the parish, quoted those letters and described how the two saints, Clare and Francis, worked together. “Francis was the voice; Clare was the quiet powerhouse of prayer,” he said.Near the end, Clare looks back on a life of refusals. “Perhaps saying no was never the whole point,” she says. “I had to learn how to say yes, yes to Christ, yes to poverty.”After the cast took their bow on opening night, Harrison dropped Clareʼs Italian accent to thank those present “for wanting to be here to listen to Clareʼs story,” promising “a bigger, grander farewell” for the last night.St. Clare died in 1253 at San Damiano, near Assisi, Italy, her home “for the next 40 years,” as she says in the script.
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In a wealthy Asian city, a play asks why St. Clare of Assisi chose to own nothing #Catholic SINGAPORE — St. Clare of Assisi, as she appears on a church stage in Singapore this week, opens her story with a list of what her family owned. “We had money, we had servants … we had horses,” she tells the audience. “We had everything, but for a girl like me, my life was already written for me.”The line comes early in “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” performed Oct. 16 and 17 at the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, a Catholic parish in Bukit Batok in western Singapore served by Franciscan friars. The official poster for “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” presented by CANA and Saint Max in Singapore Oct. 16–17, 2026, for the Jubilee Year of St. Francis, with Sharda Harrison as St. Clare and Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, as St. Francis. | Credit: Courtesy of CANA and Saint Max Presented by CANA, a faith-based community and cultural hub in Singapore, and Saint Max, the production is part of the celebrations of the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi, which the worldwide Franciscan family has held to mark 800 years since Francis died in October 1226.Actress Sharda Harrison wrote the script and plays the role of Clare; according to the organizers, she also directed the show. Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, a Franciscan friar, plays St. Francis, and the productionʼs poster says all proceeds go to the development office of the Franciscan friars. Fra Michael D’Cruz, OFM, welcomes the audience before the performance Oct. 16, 2026, in Singapore. | Credit: Benedict Tang An organizer from CANA who asked not to be named said that after a year of jubilee celebrations for Francis, the play was a fitting way to close the celebration with “the precious legacy of St. Clare.” The group turned to Harrison, the organizer said, because she had portrayed St. Thérèse of Lisieux for them in 2024 in “St. Thérèse: The Little Way,” a play she also wrote and directed.Asked what audiences should take home, the organizer answered with a question: “Why is poverty a privilege? … Why is this crazy lady Clare so resolved to live it?” The second and last performance falls on Oct. 17, the United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Sharda Harrison, barefoot, addresses the audience as St. Clare at the first performance of “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi,” Oct. 16, 2026. | Credit: Benedict Tang Medieval marriage, modern ‘swiping’In a city-state where Catholics live alongside Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Taoists, and others, the script reaches for references from everyday modern life. When Clareʼs father looks for a husband for her, suitors appear on a large screen: Guido, Bernardo, and Silvestro, “my fatherʼs favorite.” Clare asks the audience to vote. “In your time … you swipe right if you like the boy, and you swipe left if you donʼt like the boy,” she says.The comedy gives way to the turning point of her life. Clare describes Francis as a merchantʼs son “born into wealth just like me.” She says: “I realized that I had everything, but I wanted none of it.” She slips out of her family home on Palm Sunday night, has her hair cut before Francis, and faces her furious father: “I belong to Christ now, Father.”It is not a one-woman show. Other actors play Clareʼs companions and the early friars, and Clare pulls women from the audience into the story, choosing them as “sisters” and giving them vows as her community grows. Clare’s hair is cut as she gives up her life of privilege, with Fra Rowland Yeo, OFM, as St. Francis, at a performance in Singapore on Oct. 16, 2026. | Credit: Benedict Tang ‘The right to possess nothing’Poverty runs through the script. Clare recalls that her mother, Ortolana, “saw God everywhere, especially in the poor,” and adds: “They were not hidden like today.”“This is what it means to live in the privilege of poverty,” she says, “to be given the right to possess nothing.” The world, she tells them, “did not understand. Not even the Church.”The title of the play echoes Clareʼs letters to St. Agnes of Prague, a princess who, in the playʼs words, “decided to give up everything to become a poor lady.” In welcoming remarks before the curtain, Fra Michael DʼCruz, OFM, the Franciscan friar overseeing the event for the parish, quoted those letters and described how the two saints, Clare and Francis, worked together. “Francis was the voice; Clare was the quiet powerhouse of prayer,” he said.Near the end, Clare looks back on a life of refusals. “Perhaps saying no was never the whole point,” she says. “I had to learn how to say yes, yes to Christ, yes to poverty.”After the cast took their bow on opening night, Harrison dropped Clareʼs Italian accent to thank those present “for wanting to be here to listen to Clareʼs story,” promising “a bigger, grander farewell” for the last night.St. Clare died in 1253 at San Damiano, near Assisi, Italy, her home “for the next 40 years,” as she says in the script.

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A Catholic parish in western Singapore hosted the play “TO GAZE: St. Clare of Assisi” as part of celebrations for the Jubilee Year of St. Francis of Assisi.

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New film depicts the transformative power of Eucharistic adoration #Catholic A new movie is bringing the transformative power of Eucharistic adoration to the big screen. “Adore Him: He Is Here” uses firsthand accounts of real encounters and transformation and depictions of salvation history to portray the powerful love of God that is found in the Blessed Sacrament.The docudrama features several prominent Catholic figures including Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City; Archbishop José Gómez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Father Chris Alar of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception; Curtis Martin, the founder of FOCUS; evangelist Chris Stefanick; and many more.The film will be in theaters across the United States Oct. 4–8.The inspiration for the film came as a response to the docudrama “Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist,” which was released in theaters in 2024. Created by the same filmmakers as “Adore Him,” “Jesus Thirsts” was made in response to a poll that showed that roughly 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.“We wanted to demonstrate that Jesus is real in the Eucharist,” Deacon Steve Greco, the filmmaker behind both films, told EWTN News in an interview. “So the people who saw that movie, many of them were inspired to say, ‘OK, now that Jesus is real, I have to do something different. My life has to be different.’ And in changing your life and your world, it really comes down to ‘I need to really be connected with him.’”He added: “So “Adore Him: He Is Here” is really meant to be a continuation, almost like a sequel, to the very first movie in which in order to activate Jesus, to activate the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we need to understand how to worship him. And Eucharistic adoration changes our entire life.”Greco also believes this film is necessary for today because “the Church is really being led back to Eucharist in a way like never before.” Deacon Steve Greco in the new film “Adore Him: He Is Here.” | Credit: Spirit Filled Hearts “We have this great activation going on in which people are really desiring the Blessed Sacrament and the Eucharist and going before the Blessed Sacrament in a way like never before,” he said. “We see more and more churches going to 24/7 adoration. Theyʼre expanding their hours of adoration. More and more people are going before the Blessed Sacrament to really be energized and to receive graces.”For those who are feeling called to go to Eucharistic adoration, potentially for the first time, Greco would advise them to “start with 10 minutes and just talk to the Lord. Just have a conversation like with your best friend and just be quiet.”Then those 10 minutes can turn into 20, then half an hour, and finally a full hour. But, the most important thing you need to do, he said, is to “open up your heart to his love.”“You will find that when you go before the Blessed Sacrament, if you open your heart and youʼre silent before the Lord and youʼre listening before the Lord, … God will come to you in a powerful way and show you that you are his beloved,” Greco added.With this in mind, he said he hopes viewers of the film will take away “that first of all, Jesus is real; the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist is real. The Blessed Sacrament is there for us to allow us to get to really experience his love in a way like never before. We hope that people go to the Blessed Sacrament, to the chapel.”“When they see this movie [we hope] they just start going and believing and get into the habit of going a few times a week if not every day and just let God love you and that will transform their life. That will give them hope and joy.”
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New film depicts the transformative power of Eucharistic adoration #Catholic A new movie is bringing the transformative power of Eucharistic adoration to the big screen. “Adore Him: He Is Here” uses firsthand accounts of real encounters and transformation and depictions of salvation history to portray the powerful love of God that is found in the Blessed Sacrament.The docudrama features several prominent Catholic figures including Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City; Archbishop José Gómez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Father Chris Alar of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception; Curtis Martin, the founder of FOCUS; evangelist Chris Stefanick; and many more.The film will be in theaters across the United States Oct. 4–8.The inspiration for the film came as a response to the docudrama “Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist,” which was released in theaters in 2024. Created by the same filmmakers as “Adore Him,” “Jesus Thirsts” was made in response to a poll that showed that roughly 70% of Catholics don’t believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.“We wanted to demonstrate that Jesus is real in the Eucharist,” Deacon Steve Greco, the filmmaker behind both films, told EWTN News in an interview. “So the people who saw that movie, many of them were inspired to say, ‘OK, now that Jesus is real, I have to do something different. My life has to be different.’ And in changing your life and your world, it really comes down to ‘I need to really be connected with him.’”He added: “So “Adore Him: He Is Here” is really meant to be a continuation, almost like a sequel, to the very first movie in which in order to activate Jesus, to activate the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we need to understand how to worship him. And Eucharistic adoration changes our entire life.”Greco also believes this film is necessary for today because “the Church is really being led back to Eucharist in a way like never before.” Deacon Steve Greco in the new film “Adore Him: He Is Here.” | Credit: Spirit Filled Hearts “We have this great activation going on in which people are really desiring the Blessed Sacrament and the Eucharist and going before the Blessed Sacrament in a way like never before,” he said. “We see more and more churches going to 24/7 adoration. Theyʼre expanding their hours of adoration. More and more people are going before the Blessed Sacrament to really be energized and to receive graces.”For those who are feeling called to go to Eucharistic adoration, potentially for the first time, Greco would advise them to “start with 10 minutes and just talk to the Lord. Just have a conversation like with your best friend and just be quiet.”Then those 10 minutes can turn into 20, then half an hour, and finally a full hour. But, the most important thing you need to do, he said, is to “open up your heart to his love.”“You will find that when you go before the Blessed Sacrament, if you open your heart and youʼre silent before the Lord and youʼre listening before the Lord, … God will come to you in a powerful way and show you that you are his beloved,” Greco added.With this in mind, he said he hopes viewers of the film will take away “that first of all, Jesus is real; the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist is real. The Blessed Sacrament is there for us to allow us to get to really experience his love in a way like never before. We hope that people go to the Blessed Sacrament, to the chapel.”“When they see this movie [we hope] they just start going and believing and get into the habit of going a few times a week if not every day and just let God love you and that will transform their life. That will give them hope and joy.”

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“Adore Him: He Is Here” will be in theaters Oct. 4–8.

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Illuminated in Orion – NASA astronaut Christina Koch is illuminated by a screen inside the darkened Orion spacecraft on the third day of the agency’s Artemis II mission. To the right of the image’s center, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen is seen in profile peering out of one of Orion’s windows. Lights are turned off to avoid glare on the windows.

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NASA astronaut Christina Koch is illuminated by a screen inside the darkened Orion spacecraft on the third day of the agency’s Artemis II mission. To the right of the image’s center, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen is seen in profile peering out of one of Orion’s windows. Lights are turned off to avoid glare on the windows.

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