R148: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Propst C. von Bonn
The Storm of Worldly Ways
Hildegard warns a worldly man that his unstable life brings inner desolation and lack of true consolation.
Hildegard's reply. O man, you who love the world. And you hold it in your will, according to your understanding of your own ways. You are like a storm, which is rarely pure and which is also not very dangerous. This is what it's like. For often in your affairs you are far from any consolation. And sometimes also through weariness and sadness. And through doubt you are overwhelmed in all your undertakings.
Rise and Ask to Be Tested
Hildegard calls him to rise, invoke God, and pray for purifying trial, faithful sight, and obedient testing like Abraham.
So rise up! And call upon the God of Israel, saying: Test me, Lord, and try me!✦ Burn my kidneys and my heart.✦ This is it. Test me, Lord, through faith and hope, so that faith may be my eye for seeing. And hope — the mirror of life! And try me in good obedience, like Abraham.✦
Burning with Obedient Love
Hildegard prays to work against her own will, abandon herself for God, and be purified so she may burn with the Spirit and ascend in strength.
Insofar as I work against my own will, in such a way that I abandon my very self for your sake and enter into your commands! and I become your devoted friend. Through all these things, burn my loins, which are flooded with the sins by which I was conceived. doing so lest they lead me astray. Because I work against myself, but so that I may always burn in the fire of the Holy Spirit. and from day to day I may long for your justice. and from strength to strength I may ascend.✦
The Clouded Mind
Hildegard describes the recipient's unstable mind and urges him to purify his desire and so kiss God in humble devotion.
O man, your mind is also like a cloud. It does not bear hail and rain! But it is divided by the sun. For because of your carelessness over light words and manners, you have a cloud with hail like anger. And you have no strife like rain. But through good works, in desire for the things above, you walk with a limp. And because of this, purify your desire with the fear of God in good work. And in this way, kiss God, saying:
Hearing the Poor in Prayer
Hildegard teaches that God inclines his ear to the poor and needy who touch him through good works and humble prayer.
Lord, bend down your ear and hear me! because I am destitute and poor. For when, through the kiss of God's love, you do good works, in doing them you touch God.1 At once he bends his own ear to your desire and prayer, and fulfills it, just as through hearing a word sounds forth.2 For you are in great want. and you need the help of God. and also in great poverty. because you lack the ability to accomplish what is good!
God's Work in You
Hildegard closes by commending the recipient to God's transforming work.
But may God accomplish this in you.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. O homo qui seculum diligis. et illud in uoluntate tua secundum comprehensionem morum tuorum habes. tempestati similis es quę raro pura est et quę etiam non multum periculosa est. Hoc tale est. Sepe enim in rebus tuis alienus a consolatione es. interdum etiam per tedium et tristiciam. et per dubium in omnibus causis tuis opprimeris.
Vnde surge! et deum israel inuoca dicendo. Proba me domine et tempta me! ure renes meos et cor meum. Hoc est. Proba me domine per fidem et spem ut fides mihi sit oculus ad uidendum. et spes speculum uitę! et tempta me in bona obedientia ut abraham.
quatenus contra uoluntatem meam operer. ita ut ipsam propter te derelinquam et in precepta tua intrem! et diligens amicus tuus fiam. Per hęc omnia ure renes meos qui ex peccatis quibus conceptus sum inundant. faciens ne me seducant. quia contra me operor sed ut semper in igne spiritus sancti ardeam. et de die in diem iusticiam tuam desiderem. et de uirtute in uirtutem ascendam.
O homo mens tua etiam nubi similis est. quę grandinem et pluuiam non portat! sed quę per solem diuiditur. Tu enim propter securitatem leuium uerborum et morum nubem cum grandine sicut iram. et litem sicut pluuiam non habes. sed per bona opera in desiderio supernorum claudicas. et ob hoc desiderium tuum cum timore dei in bono opere purifica. et hoc modo deum osculare dicens.
Inclina domine aurem tuam et exaudi me! quoniam inops et pauper sum ego. Cum enim per osculum amoris dei bona opera deum tangendo facis. statim ipse aurem suam in desiderium et orationem tuam inclinat et complet sicut etiam per auditum uerbum sonat. In magna enim inopia es. et adiutorio dei indiges. et etiam in magna paupertate. quoniam bonum perficere tibi deest!
sed deus in te hoc perficiat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.26.2 — Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart.
- ↩Ps.26.2 — Examine me, O LORD, and test me; refine my kidneys and my heart.
- ↩Gen.22.1-Gen.22.19 — After these things, God tested Abraham. And He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Gen.22.2 — And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." Gen.22.3 — And Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took his two young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and he arose and went to the place that God had told him. Gen.22.4 — On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Gen.22.5 — Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, while I and the lad will go over there. We will worship and then return to you." Gen.22.6 — Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. Gen.22.7 — And Isaac said to Abraham his father, and he said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' Gen.22.8 — And Abraham said, 'God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them walked on together. Gen.22.9 — And they came to the place that God had told him about. There Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Gen.22.10 — And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. Gen.22.11 — But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Gen.22.12 — He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, and you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me." Gen.22.13 — And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a ram, afterward, caught in the thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Gen.22.14 — Abraham called the name of that place 'The LORD Will Be Seen,' as it is said to this day, 'On the mountain the LORD will be seen.' Gen.22.15 — And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, Gen.22.16 — and he said, 'By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son— Gen.22.17 — because I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies; Gen.22.18 — and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice Gen.22.19 — Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
- ↩Ps.85.7 — Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'the kiss of God's love' is a figurative expression for intimate divine love or devotional union; 'touching God' through good works is metaphorical, not literal contact.
- 2 ↩The comparison between God's answering prayer and a word sounding through hearing is illustrative; the precise sense of the analogy is compressed.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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