VISIO SECUNDA, cap. XXXV
The Rays of Strength and Holy Fear
The sun's rays touch the heads of the leopard, lion, and wolf, showing that the spirit of strength inspires a holy fear of the Lord, divine judgment, and hell's torments to deter sin.
But notice that the sign of the sun, too, as if sending out certain rays from itself, touches the sign of the leopard's head in one place, the sign of the lion's head in another, and the sign of the wolf's head in another — yet it does not touch the sign of the bear's head. This means that the spirit of strength, pouring out its breathings, touches in one place the fear of the Lord, in another the judgment of God, and in another the punishments of hell, showing that a person should fear to sin because of the fear of the Lord, abandon his sins because of God's awesome judgment, and cast off the habit of sinning because of the cruel torments of hell.
The Bear of Undiscerning Suffering
The spirit of strength withdraws from the bear's head because undiscerning, self-imposed suffering lacks stability and right governance, collapsing into instability rather than perseverance.
It does not touch the sign of the bear's head, because the spirit of strength withdraws from bodily suffering when it is not undertaken purely for the sake of God. For the bear at times displays human qualities and at times bestial ones in itself: when a person brings suffering upon his body without discernment, the body, worn down by labor and weariness, often collapses under the strain; and when he doubts that he can endure these things, he murmurs as though in anger, like a beast. Hence neither suffering that comes upon a person through his own doing without right governance, nor suffering that is inflicted on him by others even against his will, calls upon the spirit of strength, because it lacks the fairness of discernment. For because it is unstable — so that now upward, now downward, beyond right measure, it moves as though flying — it cannot possess strength, that is, so as to remain in one state, since strength does not persist as strength by swaying this way and that.
Joyful Discipline and Perseverance
When suffering is undertaken with discernment out of love for God, it becomes a joyful blessing, and the spirit of strength grants perseverance from intention to completion.
A person who afflicts his body out of fear or love of God, with the governance and rightness of discernment, rejoices in his inner spirit as though at a feast. Therefore this brokenness is not affliction but rather is to be counted as a blessing, and the spirit of strength is at work in it, so that the faithful one may persevere in these works of rightness, because they are with God. The sun sends another ray over the sign of the moon, because the spirit of strength joins itself to the fear of the Lord — namely, so that every believer may be strong in the fear with which he ought to fear God, lest, overcome by the frivolity of living, he be cast down from the place of blessedness. It directs yet another ray, stretching it over the brain and down over both heels of the aforementioned image, because the same spirit of strength inspires a person so that the intention and beginning of a good work may be brought by him to a right completion, for blessed is the one who binds himself to a good end.
The Lowest Rays Questioned
The vision prompts a new question regarding the purpose of the three lowest rays and the forms they shape.
What purpose do their three lowest rays serve, and what is also being shaped as much through them as through their rays?
Read the original Latin
Ut autem vides quod solis quoque signum, quasi quosdam radios de se emittens, alio signum capitis leopardi, alio signum capitis leonis, alio signum capitis lupi, non autem signum capitis ursi tangit, hoc est quod spiritus fortitudinis exspirationes suas effundens, quadam timorem Domini, quadam judicium Dei, quadam infernales poenas tangit, ostendens ut homo propter timorem Domini peccare metuat, et propter tremendum judicium ejus peccata sua deserat, et propter crudelissimas infernales poenas consuetudinem peccatorum abjiciat. Non autem signum capitis ursi tangit, quia spiritus fortitudinis corporali tribulationi quae simpliciter propter Deum non fit, se subtrahit (ursus enim interdum humanos mores, interdum bestiales in se ostendit); quoniam dum homo corpori suo tribulationem sine discretione infert, corpus ipsum, labore et taedio affectum, multoties fatigatum, succumbit, et dum se in his perseverare posse dubitat, quasi in ira velut bestia submurmurat. Unde nec tribulatio illa quae homini per semetipsum sine recto moderamine infertur, nec illa quae ab aliis ipsi etiam nolenti infligitur, spiritum fortitudinis advocat, quia aequitate discretionis caret. Nam quoniam instabilis est, ita quod nunc sursum, nunc deorsum extra rectum modum quasi volando movetur, fortitudinem habere non potest, scilicet ut in uno statu permaneat, quoniam fortitudo nec hac nec illac vacillando fortis semper persistit. Homo autem qui propter timorem seu amorem Dei cum moderamine discretionis et rectitudinis corpus suum affligit, in interiori spiritu quemadmodum in epulis gaudet; quapropter contritio haec non afflictio, sed potius quemadmodum benedictio habenda est, et hic spiritus fortitudinis operatur, quatenus fidelis iste in his operibus rectitudinis permaneat, quia cum Deo sunt. Alium autem radium sol super signum lunae mittit, quoniam spiritus fortitudinis ad timorem Domini se conjungit, videlicet ut quilibet fidelis in timore quo Deum timere debet fortis sit, ne per levitatem victus a loco beatitudinis dejiciatur. Alium quoque velut super cerebrum, et usque super utrumque calcaneum praefatae imaginis extendendo figit, quia idem spiritus fortitudinis ut intentionem et initium boni operis ad rectam consummationem homo perducat, ipsum inspirat, quoniam beatus est qui seipsum ad bonum finem constringit.
Quorsum tres infimi radios suos intendunt, et quid etiam tam per ipsos quam per radios eorum figuretur.
Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works) companion
Don't stop at Day 30
All 317 chapters live in the free Chosen Portion app, paced for daily reading
Hildegard's practice of daily attention to God's work in creation becomes a paced daily devotional through all ten visions in the Chosen Portion app
- One vision passage a day, readable in under 10 minutes
- The complete Book of Divine Works plus Hildegard's other major works, free
- Progress tracking so a 317-chapter classic actually gets finished