R110: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Abt H. von Flonheim
A Call to Watchfulness
Hildegard urges the abbot to be spiritually watchful, humble, and reliant on God's searching grace rather than his own strength.
Hildegard's reply. The living Light says to you. Be watchful with all your energy. And don't gather weariness into the basket of your mind as though you were a stranger.1 That is to say, just as though you didn't have the ability to speak. But God is searching for you. So that you may have the ability to seize your flock.2 So accuse yourself, because you do not look upon God in this purest fountain.3
Rise, Good Soldier of Christ
Hildegard calls the abbot to rise from empty lament into active faith, so that God's grace may make him a living stone in the heavenly Jerusalem.
but you only say, God, my God, help me! and yet, working in this way, you don't touch him. Good soldier, rise now! because the grace of God runs out to you, and you will live forever. so that you may be a living stone in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Lux uiuens tibi dicit. ut strenue uigiles. et ne tedium in cophino mentis tuę colligas quasi alienus sis. ita scilicet uelut possibilitatem loquendi non habeas. Deus autem in te requirit. quod possibilitatem habeas corripere ouile tuum. Vnde teipsum accusa quia deum in purissimo fonte in hoc non inspicis.
sed tantum dicis. deus deus meus adiuua me! et tamen sic operando eum non tangis. O bone miles nunc surge. quia gratia dei ad te currit et in eternum uiues. ita ut uiuens lapis sis in celesti ierusalem.
Notes
- 1 ↩cophino mentis — 'basket of the mind': a vivid Hildegardian image, possibly echoing the 'basket' motif in Scripture (cf. Ps 126:1 Vulg., or the bread-basket of Amos 8:1–2), but rendered here as a metaphor for interior accumulation of tedium.
- 2 ↩ouile (ovile) — 'flock' or 'sheepfold'; pastoral image for the community under the abbot's care. Corripere ('seize') carries urgency — to take hold of, to snatch up.
- 3 ↩in purissimo fonte — 'in the purest fountain': a contemplative image for the divine source or God's self-revelation. in hoc ('in this') likely refers to the situation or condition just described.
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