R162: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Sophia von Kitzingen
Greeting in a Mystical Vision
Hildegard opens her reply to Sophia with a mystical greeting and a blessing of strength and upright longing for God.
Hildegard's reply. O Sophia, I speak to you in a mystical vision. May your soul be strengthened by God! In upright longing, reaching out to God. It is good.
Encouragement in Spiritual Labor
Hildegard urges Sophia to bear her God-given labor, guide the faithful, and protect souls from the plunderer.
To you, the burden of your labor that you have taken up in God to carry! So if the sheep wish to hear God's admonition through your guidance. And if any spark gleams in them, do not abandon them! Don't let the plunderer seize them.
Blessing of Radiance and Trust
Hildegard blesses Sophia with shining days in God, trust instead of anxiety, detachment from the world, and the hope of becoming a living stone in the heavenly Jerusalem.
May your soul shine bright in God. And may your days burn brightly in him who gives fire. Trust in the Lord, and don't be anxious for yourself or for your daughters, but live by God's command and the devotion he has given and still gives to you, in the embrace of his love.1 For you should hold this world as something foreign in your heart. May God help you! So that you may become a living stone in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. O sophia in mistica uisione tibi dico. Anima tua confortetur a deo! in recta suspiratione tangens deum. Bonum est. tibi onus laboris tui quod in deo suscepisti portare! ita si oues uolunt audire admonitionem dei per magistrationem tuam. Et si ulla scintilla in eis choruscat non relinquas illas!
ne raptor eas rapiat. Anima tua in deo clarescat. et dies tui in igneo datore ardeant. confide in domino et esto sollicita pro te et filiabus tuis secundum preceptum dei atque deuotionem quam tibi deus dedit et dat in amplexione caritatis suę! quia mundum istum quasi peregrinum in corde tuo habere debes. Deus adiuuet te! ut uiuus lapis in celesti ierusalem fias.
Notes
- 1 ↩amplexione is a rare form; rendered as 'embrace' from context. suę is a medieval spelling of suae, referring back to caritatis (love).
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
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