X. Verba Tristitiae saeculi.
X. Verba Tristitiae saeculi.
And he said, "Alas, that I was created! Alas, that I live! Who will help me?" Who will deliver me? If God knew me, such great dangers wouldn't be present. What I trust in God doesn’t bring me any good; what I rejoice in with Him doesn’t take away the evil from me. I've heard many things from philosophers who teach that there are many good things in God, but in all of this, God has done nothing good for me. If God is my God, why does He hide all His grace from me? If anything good were to come to me, I would know it. But I don’t know what I am. I was born into misery and I live without any consolation. Ah! What good is life without joy! And why was I created, when I have no good within me?
Read the original Latin
Et dixit: « Heu quod creata suml heu quod vivol Quis me adjuvabit? quis > me iiberabit?
Si Deus me sciret, tanta pericula raihi non adessent.
Quod in Deum confido, bonum mihi non tribuit; quod cum illo gaudeo, malum a me non aufert.
A philosophis plurima audivi, qui docent quod multa bona in Deo sint, sed in omnibus his nihil boni mihi Deus fecit.
Si Deus meus est, cur omnem > gratiam suam a me abscondit?
Si mihi quicquam boni conferret, illum scirem. > Nescio autem quid sim.
In infelicitate creata et in infelicitate nata sum, et sine uila consolatione vivo.
Ah! quid prodest vita sine gaudio!
Et quare creata sum, cum mihi nullum bonum adsit?»
Liber Vitae Meritorum (Book of the Rewards of Life) companion
Examination is a habit, not an event
The free Chosen Portion app pairs daily readings from Hildegard with a fixed prayer rhythm
Hildegard's rhythm of naming a vice and answering it with virtue continues as short daily examen-style devotionals in the Chosen Portion app
- A weekly examen you can complete in 15 minutes using Hildegard's 35 pairs
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