Karolina Vera: Sr. Clare had to walk for three and a half hours through the jungle with a backpack and in boots, a raincoat in case it rained and her habit full of mud.
Sr. Kelai Reno: Listening to her conversion story helped me trust in God’s power more. My soul felt an increase of peace knowing what she had lived before and seeing her now, and what the Lord had done in her.
Sr. Sandra Galarza: From the moment I met her I noticed that she was full of gifts that she did not keep to herself; she developed them to serve her community.
Roxana Chimbo: Sr. Clare said to me, "Hopefully someday you will have the courage to choose God over your friends."
Jackelin Zambrano: What drew my attention was her willingness to do whatever the Lord asked of her.
Iría and Carlos: We were marked by the sincerity of her conversion and by her clarity when she spoke about God's love.
Sr. Kelai Reno: Sr. Clare prayed in his ear so that he could hear. She said things to help him prepare his soul to die and encounter God.
Sr. Kelai Reno: Sr. Clare didn't want the patients to miss Mass, so we went to their rooms and brought them in their wheelchairs. Sometimes we even took the patients' entire bed to the chapel because the porters had not put them in the wheelchair.
Sr. Kelai Reno: Sr. Clare and I were walking down the hallway trying to get our bearings when all of a sudden we saw a woman coming toward us, crying.
Carolina Aveiga. Ecuador: It really hurt Sr. Clare when someone did not do God’s will, because she loved the Lord and every soul, too.
Sr. Kelai Reno: Sr. Clare was always ready to laugh, smile, start a new conversation or tell a funny story, but she was never superficial.
Karolina Vera: Sr. Clare was living like a real Christian, dying to what she liked and felt like doing. She told me once that we have a huge responsibility to pray for our brothers and sisters, the persecuted Christians.
Carolina Aveiga: I often feel sorry for myself and that I have to learn from Sr. Clare.
Carolina Aveiga: The root of the problem was a girl in Sr. Clare's class. Sr. Clare knew her very well and understood me. While the teams were having their meeting, Sr. Clare came to the place where we were gathered and began speaking jokingly yet seriously, saying, “Did you all know that I'm a superhero?"
Sr. Beatriz Liaño, SHM: I can still see the scene: Sr. Clare laying on the back seat with her eyes closed while the taxi started up. When I saw her again after a few hours at dinner, she was serving the girls and telling jokes and spreading joy.
Karolina Vera: She showed it by every word, gesture, look, correction, note, tear, message and many other things. I also have to admit that I felt very loved by God through her.
Cristofer Bravo: I always have her with me: in a photo or on my cell phone. Her smile always reminds me: All or nothing!
Carolina Aveiga: Her joy enveloped me. It was a joy that I didn’t have. I went home with her joy but I didn’t know what was happening.
Sr. Rosa Lopez, SHM, Guayaquil, Ecuador: She said to me, “Go child by child. Have patience with them and help them, because they don’t know how to write.”
Sr. Rosa López, SHM (Ecuador): But in that very moment she received the grace to realize what she was doing, and to correct herself, and she said, “Clare, you came here to surrender yourself.”
Fernando Guerrero, Ecuador: Now, I realize and I’m surprised to see how God can act in such an extraordinary way in a soul.
Sr. Lissette Falcones, SHM: Then she looked at me, and I saw that she was crying.
Sr. Rosa Lopez, SHM: Sr. Clare listened to her, smiled and said, “Give thanks to God. Everything is for the glory of God.”
Sr. Rosa López, SHM, Ecuador: I was telling Sr. Clare that, even though the song of the Good Shepherd was for children, it helped me a lot.
Clare Hernández (EEUU): That wall was shattered to pieces by the time I left that beautiful country. It was as if Sr. Clare was everywhere.
Susy Kátherine Pincay Vera: It seems that it’s only been a few days since we’ve seen her, heard her laugh or talk to us about the Lord.
Sr. Sandra Galarza, SHM, Ecuador: When she went to the Holy Land this distant possibility became reality.
Sr. Stacey Donovan, SHM: I spent a lot of time with her, and I believe I can say that I never saw her sad. She was always thinking about others.