R172: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Äbtissin D. von Lippoldsberg
Light and Night
Hildegard opens with a brief greeting and a meditation on how day cannot be conquered by night, closing with a blessing of the light God gave on the first day.
Hildegard's reply. The day makes the light shine forth! And night shrouds the darkness in clouds. If night were to want to fight against the day— it could not extinguish it. But if the day were to want to overcome the night, it would have the power to conquer it. Truly, may the light be with you! which God provided for humanity on the first day.✦
God Sees Your Soul
Using the image of a father and son, Hildegard warns that God sees the wandering mind and sin's enticements, yet she sees the abbess shining like the sun and gazing like an eagle toward God in repentance.
A father loves his son even when he sees him going out into the world! yet that one does not seek the time or season for sinning. as if God were not there. God sees your soul in the wandering of your mind! yet your mind mocks the illicit enticements of sin that pluck at your soul. So I see you like the blazing brightness of the sun through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not at all touching the exile of perdition. but like an eagle gazing toward the sun through repentance, which is the sweetest mother! Therefore God loves you greatly.
Farewell Blessing
Hildegard closes with a brief exhortation to live forever in God.
Now live forever.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. Dies lucem clarificat! et nox tenebras obnubilat. Si autem nox contra diem pugnare uellet. eum extinguere non posset. si uero dies noctem superare uellet puincendi eam possibilitatem haberet. Uerum lumen tibi assit! quod deus in primo die homini preuidit.
Nam pater filium diligit quamuis eum foras exire uideat! cum tamen ille tempus temporum peccandi non querit. quasi deus non sit. Deus animam tuam in uagatione mentis tuę uidet! sed tamen mens tua illicita peccandi quę animam decerpunt deridet. Unde uideo te sicut rutilantem fulgorem solis per inspirationem spiritus sancti nec omnino tangentem exilium perditionis. sed ad solem sicut aquila aspicientem per penitentiam quę dulcissima mater est! ideo deus te ualde amat.
Nunc in eternum uiue.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.1.3-Gen.1.5 — And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Gen.1.4 — And God saw the light, that it was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. Gen.1.5 — And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning: the first day.
Epistolae: Letters to Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England companion
Read one voice like Hildegard's every morning
Chosen Portion delivers daily excerpts from Hildegard and 77 other historic devotional writers, free on iOS.
Hildegard directed souls through short written portions sent one at a time, and Chosen Portion continues that letter-a-day rhythm as daily devotionals.
- Daily 2-minute readings including Hildegard's letters and visions
- 78 complete historic works, translated into modern readable English
- A weekly email tracing one writer's story in depth