R160: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Sophia von Oudwijk
A Call to Awaken
Hildegard summons Sophia from spiritual sloth, using the image of Eve born from man's side and the restless mind tossed between light and darkness.
A reply from Hildegard. In a true vision of the mysteries of God. Hear these words. O daughter, born from the side of man. And formed as a figure in the building up of God — why do you waste away? So that your mind flies about in the shifting of clouds, which the storm drives around. So that at times it shines like light.1 And at times it is darkened.
The Temptation to Flee
Hildegard warns that those who do not shine before God offer no refuge, and rebukes Sophia's desire to abandon her flock and seek solitary rest.
That's what your mind is like amid the clamor of those people's ways — people who don't shine before God. They don't shine before God. But you say: I want to rest and find a place where my heart can have a nest, so that my soul too may rest there. O daughter, it's not pleasing to God for you to cast off your burden and abandon your flock, since you have that light through which you're meant to shine for them.✦
Hold Fast to Your Calling
Hildegard urges self-control, warns against the deceptive sweetness of solitude, and exhorts Sophia to live steadfastly under God's grace.
In this way you lead it out to the pastures. Now, control yourself. Don't let your mind burn with this sweetness, which does you great harm in the shifting life of solitude.2 But you — live. For God's grace wills you. So be on your guard. Don't let yourself be pulled away by it in the wandering of your mind. May God help you!
A Prayer for Vigilance
Hildegard closes with a brief prayer that Sophia may keep watch in pure knowledge.
so that you may keep watch in pure knowledge.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. In uera uisione misteriorum dei. hec uerba audi. O filia de latere uiri orta. et figura in edificatione dei formata quare tabescis. ita quod mens tua in uicissitudine nubium uolat quas tempestas circumducit. sic quod interdum ut lux lucet. et interdum obscuratur.
Sic est mens tua per strepitum morum illorum! qui non fulgent ante deum. Sed tu dicis. Uolo requiescere et locum requirere. ubi cor meum nidum habeat. ita ut et anima mea ibi requiescat. O filia non est utile apud deum ut onus tuum abicias et ouile tuum relinquas. cum illud lumen habes per quod illi luceas.
ita ut ad pascua illud educas. Nunc autem teipsam coerce. ne mens tua flagret per hanc dulcedinem quę tibi ualde nocet in uicissitudine singularis uitę. Tu uero uiue. quia gratia dei te uult. Caue ergo. ne te ab ipsa abstrahas in uagatione mentis tuę. Deus adiuuet te!
ut in pura scientia uigiles.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.5.16 — In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in the heavens.
Notes
- 1 ↩ut here is ambiguous between comparative ('like light') and temporal ('as light shines'); the comparative reading is preferred given the context of intermittent illumination.
- 2 ↩dulcedo here carries a negative sense — a pleasurable attachment that harms the soul in solitary religious life. Rendered as 'sweetness' to preserve the sensory metaphor; could also be 'delight' or 'pleasure'.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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