VISIO SEPTIMA, cap. XVI
The Son of God Carries Humanity Home
The Son of God, borne by prophetic witness, carries humanity to heaven and paradise, rescuing souls from hell as a conqueror fills a city.
The Son of God walked on the wings of the winds, because the prophets were the wings of the words of the Holy Spirit — for just as the Holy Spirit had inspired them, so they themselves spoke in prophecy.✦ And in this they had given an example to that same Son of God, because just as they had foretold concerning him, so also he, remaining in the world, was doing it — and he carried humanity on his shoulder to the heavens and to the places of paradise, as was said before.✦ But the heavenly dwelling and the place of paradise God established in this way, like someone who builds structures for those under him. And into these same places the Son of God carried with him the souls of the faithful, snatched from the pits of hell at the command of his Father — just as someone who first seizes his city with a few men, and afterward fills it with a great multitude.✦
Foreordination and the Rational Creature
God foreordained all things before the Incarnation and gave the creature the capacity to work, while the human being alone looks upward to heaven through a rational, imperishable spirit.
Almighty God, then, had foreordained all these things before the Incarnation of his Son, and had granted the creature the ability to work; but only a human being, with gaze lifted upward, looks up to heaven, while the rest of the animals are bent toward the earth and are subject to humanity — and so through the rational spirit a human being is imperishable, but through the flesh, like the worms, subject to decay.
The Root and the Fruit of Prophecy
Prophecy was once obscure like a child's speech, but in Christ it was opened, for he is the root from which patriarchs, prophets, the wise, the law, and finally the incarnate Son himself unfold like grass, sprout, branches, flowers, and fruit.
And prophecy was like the words of infants, whose words cannot be understood — but once they have grown, then their words are understood; and so before the Son of God was incarnate, prophecy was unknown and went uncomprehended, but in Christ it was opened up, because he is the root of all the branches of good things.✦ For a root first puts forth grass, and the grass a sprout, then the sprout branches, the branches flowers, and the flowers fruit — and so too the root Adam reveals: the grass as the patriarchs, the sprout as the prophets, the branches as the wise, the flowers as the legal precepts, and the fruit as the incarnate Son of God, who through water brought back the faithful and believing into the forgiveness of sins.✦
Cleansing in the Water of Baptism
Through water the Son of God cleansed every sin that arose in Adam, washing away original and personal offense in the baptismal bath by the power of the Holy Spirit.
For through water he cleansed every blasphemy of sins that arose in Adam — and just as fire is put out by water, so both the original offense and the other sins are washed away in the bath of baptism — and because the Holy Spirit came upon the water, he cleansed the human being through the cutting away of sins.✦
The Sanctified Dwelling and the Unwashed Soul
God sanctifies the soul poisoned by the serpent to be his dwelling, and through David's voice distinguishes those who receive forgiveness in baptism by faith from those who do not because of unbelief.
He also sanctified her soul, which had been poisoned by the deceit of the ancient serpent, so that she would thereafter be his dwelling place in the communion of true faith.1 Therefore David speaks of the one who in baptism is not washed of the forgiveness of sins, by my inspiration, saying:2 These words are from David, from Psalm 103 — both about those who in baptism do not receive the forgiveness of sins because of their unbelief, and about those who are cleansed in it through faith.
Read the original Latin
Filius namque Dei ambulabat super pennas ventorum, quoniam prophetae pennae verborum Spiritus sancti fuerunt, quia ut Spiritus sanctus eos inspiraverat, sic ipsa loquendo prophetabant. Atque in hoc exemplum eidem Filio Dei dederant, quoniam secundum quod ipsi de eo praedixerant, ita et ipse in mundo manens faciebat, hominemque humero suo ad coelos et ad paradisiaca loca ut praefatum est reportavit. Supernam autem mansionem et paradisiacum locum Deus hoc modo constituit, sicut homo qui aedificia subditis suis aedificat. Atque in haec eadem loca Filius Dei animas fidelium in praecepto Patris sui a tartareis locis ereptas secum tulit, ut homo ille facit, qui civitatem suam cum paucis hominibus primum comprehendit, quam postea magna multitudine implet. Omnipotens itaque Deus ante Incarnationem Filii sui haec omnia praesignaverat, hominique creaturam ad operandum concesserat; sed solus homo erectus visu suo sursum ad coelum aspicit, caetera autem animalia ad terram prona et homini subdita sunt; et sic homo per rationalem spiritum inexstinguibilis est, per carnem vero cum vermibus putribilis. Et prophetia verbis infantium similis erat, quorum verba intelligi non possunt, sed postquam maturiores fuerint, tunc verba ipsorum intelliguntur, et sic ante incarnatum Dei Filium prophetia ignota fuit, nec intelligebatur, in Christo autem aperiebatur, quia ipse radix ramorum omnium bonorum existit. Radix enim primum gramen profert, et gramen germen, deinde germen ramos, rami vero flores et flores fructum, et sic etiam et radix Adam ostendit, gramen patriarchas, germen prophetas, rami sapientes, flores vero legalia praecepta, fructus autem Filium Dei incarnatum, qui per aquam fideles et credentes in remissionem peccatorum reduxit. Per aquam enim omnem blasphemiam peccatorum mundavit, quae in Adam surrexit, et quemadmodum ignis per aquam exstinguitur, ita et originale crimen ac caetera peccata in lavacro baptismi abluuntur, et quoniam Spiritus sanctus in aquam venit, hominem per circumcisionem peccatorum mundavit.
Animam quoque ejus, quae per deceptionem antiqui serpentis venenosa fuit, sanctificavit, ita ut illa in communione verae fidei deinceps tabernaculum ipsius existat. Quapropter de illo qui in baptismo remissionis peccatorum non abluitur, David inspiratione mea loquitur dicens:
Verba David ex psalmo CIII, et de his qui in baptismo per infidelitatem remissionem delictorum non percipiunt, et de his qui in eo per fidem mundantur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.103.3 — who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases
- ↩Isa.46.3-Isa.46.4 — Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, carried from the womb, borne from birth. Isa.46.4 — Even to your old age I am the same, and even to your graying years I will carry you. I have made you, and I will bear you; I will carry you and I will deliver you.
- ↩Col.1.13 — He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves.
- ↩Isa.11.1 — A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
- ↩Isa.11.1;Rom.11.16 — A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Rom.11.16 — Now if the first portion is holy, the batch is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are also.
- ↩Ezek.36.25 — I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean; from all your uncleannesses and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
Notes
- 1 ↩The feminine referent (ejus/illam/illa) is not explicitly identified in the immediate context; the surrounding visionary material suggests the Virgin Mary or the Church as Christ's bride. 'Tabernaculum ipsius' (his dwelling place) carries sacramental overtones of indwelling.
- 2 ↩The speaker's identity is ambiguous: 'inspiratione mea' could be the prophet's own spirit under divine impulse, or a Christological/mystical voice. The following quotation (not in this section) would clarify.
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