R180: Hildegard von Rupertsberg an Lucardis von Bamberg
The Duty to Labor
Hildegard warns that failing to cultivate God's gifts is sinful, since humanity itself is God's whole work, created for service and fruitfulness.
Hildegard's reply. O mother. The person who doesn't dig the field that holds the fullness of its fruitfulness, nor make it bear fruit, sins!✦ Because the person doesn't labor for the reward of the Father of the household.✦ Who, after all, established the ox and the donkey?✦ Clearly, God created them for the service of humanity.✦ And why shouldn't a person work for their own benefit? Since the person themselves is the whole work of God.✦
The Firmament Within
God made humanity like the firmament bearing light for all creation, and Hildegard calls Lucardis to know this field as her own with loving embrace.
And since God himself didn't make it empty? For God made humankind like the firmament. which carries the sun and the moon and the stars, so that they may shine upon every creature. and show the times of the times. But if a dark cloud covered all these things, creation would fear that it was coming to an end. You, daughter of God, know this field as your own, for you have a loving embrace with the people because of your goodness.
Do Not Flee the Work
Hildegard urges steadiness in communal labor, warning against idleness and vice, and calling for firm discipline among the sisters under correction.
So that he himself can grasp your words and works. So when you work with him, don't run away. And don't fall into sin because of idle leisure.1 Because useless weeds often grow in idleness. Hold up the display of the firmament before yourself as well, so that you don't darken the light of your rationality with vices, while the devil lurks in concealment.2 You who scarcely live at all. And in all these things, hold your daughters fast in discipline. Because just as a child fears being struck with a rod —
Fear and Reward
A teacher should be feared, yet suffering is not to be feared because it increases eternal rewards and opens space for the breath of the Holy Spirit.
And so a teacher ought to be feared by everyone. But don't be afraid of the suffering in these things. But increase your rewards in eternal life, along with it! so that the breathings of the Holy Spirit may flow in you.
Read the original Latin
Responsum hildegardis. O mater. homo qui agrum illum qui plenitudinem fructuositatis habet non fodit nec fructiferum facit delinquit! quia pro premio patris familias non laborat. Quis enim bouem et asinum constituit? Scilicet deus ad seruitutem hominis eos creauit. Et cur homo propria utilitate sua non laboret. cum ipse totum opus dei sit.
et cum deus ipsum uacuum non constituit? Deus namque hominem firmamento similem fecit. quod solem et lunam ac stellas portat. quatenus omni creaturę luceant. et tempora temporum ostendant. Sed si hęc omnia nigra nubes obtegeret. creatura se finiri timeret. Tu filia dei hunc agrum te cognosce quia propter beniuolentiam tuam amplexionem cum populo habes.
ita quod ipse uerba et opera tua capere potest. ideo cum ipso laborare non fugias. nec propter uacans ocium delinquas. quia inutiles herbę in ociositate sepe crescunt. Ostensionem firmamenti tibi etiam propone ne lumen racionalitatis tuę obnigres nequitias fallente diabolo abscondens. quasi uix uiuas. et in omnibus his filias tuas in disciplina constringe. quia quemadmodum puer timet quod uirga percutiatur!
ita magister ab omnibus timeri debet. Afflictionem autem in his ne timeas. sed premia tua in eterna uita cum ea auge! ita ut spiramina spiritus sancti in te fluant.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.25.14-Matt.25.30 — For it is like a man going on a journey, who called his own servants and entrusted his property to them. Matt.25.15 — And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability, and he went away immediately. Matt.25.16 — The one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more. Matt.25.17 — In the same way, the one who had received two talents gained two more. Matt.25.18 — But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug in the ground and hid his master's silver. Matt.25.19 — After a long time the master of those servants comes and settles accounts with them. Matt.25.20 — And the one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, 'Lord, you entrusted five talents to me; see, I have gained five more talents.' Matt.25.21 — His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' Matt.25.22 — The one who had received the two talents also came forward and said, 'Lord, you entrusted two talents to me; see, I have gained two more.' Matt.25.23 — His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' Matt.25.24 — Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward and said, 'Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed.' Matt.25.25 — And being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. Matt.25.26 — But his master answered him, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed. Matt.25.27 — Then you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back what was mine with interest. Matt.25.28 — So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. Matt.25.29 — For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matt.25.30 — And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- ↩Matt.20.1-Matt.20.16 — For the kingdom of heaven is like a man, a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Matt.20.2 — And when he agreed with the workers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Matt.20.3 — And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace, idle. Matt.20.4 — and to them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' Matt.20.5 — But he went out again about the sixth and ninth hour, and did the same. Matt.20.6 — And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here all day idle?' Matt.20.7 — They answered him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' Matt.20.8 — And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and going to the first.' Matt.20.9 — And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. Matt.20.10 — And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they also received each a denarius. Matt.20.11 — But when they received it, they grumbled against the master of the house. Matt.20.12 — saying, 'These last ones worked one hour, and you made them equal to us, who bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' Matt.20.13 — But he answered one of them and said, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?' Matt.20.14 — Take what is yours and go. But I want to give to this last one the same as I give to you. Matt.20.15 — Or is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good? Matt.20.16 — So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
- ↩Gen.1.24-Gen.1.25;Isa.1.3 — And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creeping things, and wild animals of the earth, each according to its kind." And it was so. Gen.1.25 — And God made the living creatures of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Isa.1.3 — An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master's manger; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
- ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28;Ps.8.6-Ps.8.8 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen.1.28 — And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.' Ps.8.6 — You have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor. Ps.8.7 — You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet— Ps.8.8 — the flocks and the herds—all of them—and also the beasts of the field
- ↩Eph.2.10 — For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them.
Notes
- 1 ↩The participial phrase uacans ocium is compressed; likely 'idleness that comes from having leisure,' rendered freely as 'idle leisure.'
- 2 ↩The clause structure is compressed and the syntax difficult; the participial chain fallente diabolo abscondens is rendered as a temporal circumstance ('while the devil lurks in concealment').
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