O Virtus Sapientiae / O Moving Force of Wisdom

O moving force of Wisdom, encircling the wheel of the cosmos,
Encompassing all that is, all that has life,
in one vast circle.
You have three wings: The first unfurls aloft
in the highest heights.
The second dips its way dripping sweat on the Earth.
Over, under, and through all things whirls the third.
Praise to you, O Wisdom worthy of praise!

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), German mystic, poet, musician, Abbess, monastic and philosopher, whose feast day is today.

O Comforting Fire of Spirit

O comforting fire of Spirit,
Life, within the very Life of all Creation.
Holy you are in giving life to All. 

 Holy you are in anointing
those who are not whole;
Holy you are in cleansing
a festering wound.

O sacred breath,
O fire of love,
O sweetest taste in my breast
which fills my heart
with a fine aroma of virtues.

O most pure fountain
through whom it is known
that God has united strangers
and inquired after the lost.

O breastplate of life
and hope of uniting
all members as One,
O sword-belt of honor,
enfold those who offer blessing.

Care for those
who are imprisoned by the enemy
and dissolve the bonds of those
whom Divinity wishes to save.

O mightiest path which penetrates All,
from the height to every Earthly abyss,
you compose All, you unite All.

Through you clouds stream, ether flies,
stones gain moisture,
waters become streams,
and the earth exudes Life.

You always draw out knowledge,
bringing joy through Wisdom's inspiration.

Therefore, praise be to you
who are the sound of praise
and the greatest prize of Life,
who are hope and richest honor
bequeathing the reward of Light.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) German abbess, composer, musician, theologian, mystic, and poet

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit, bestowing life unto life,

moving in All.

You are the root of all creatures,

washing away all impurity,

scouring guilt,

and anointing wounds. 

Thus you are luminous and praiseworthy, Life,

awakening, and re-awakening all that is.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) German abbess, theologian, musician, and poet

Ave Generosa

I behold you,
noble, glorious and whole woman,
the pupil of purity.
You are the sacred matrix
in which God takes great pleasure.
The essences of Heaven flooded into you,
and the Great Word of God dressed itself in flesh.
You appeared as a shining white lily,
as God looked upon you before all of Creation.

O lovely and tender one,
how greatly has God delighted in you.
For He has placed His passionate embrace within you,
so that His Son might nurse at your breast.

Your womb held joy,
with all the celestial symphony sounding through you,
Virgin, who bore the Son of God,
when your purity became luminous in God.

Your flesh held joy,
like grass upon which dew falls,
pouring its life-green into it,
and so it is true in you also,
o Mother of all delight.

Now let all Ecclesia shine in joy
and sound in symphony
praising the most tender woman,
Mary, the bequeather/seed-source of God.

Amen.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), German Benedictine abbess, religious philosopher, poet, composer, musician, playwright, and visionary. Her feast day is today.


Image: Icon of Hildegard von Bingen, from Our Lady of the Mountains Roman Catholic parish in Jasper, GA.

With my mouth, God says

'With my mouth,'

God says,

'I kiss my own chosen creation.

I uniquely,

lovingly,

embrace every image

I have made

out of the earth’s clay.

With a fiery spirit

I transform it

into a body

to serve all the world.'

-- Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), German Benedictine abbess, mystic, compose, poet, saint, Doctor of the Church, scientist, playwright, and visionary

Loving tenderness

Loving tenderness abounds for all
from the darkest
to the most eminent one beyond the stars,
Exquisitely loving all
she bequeaths the kiss of peace
upon the ultimate King.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), German Benedictine abbess, religious philosopher, poet, composer, musician, playwright, and visionary.


Image: Painting of Hildegard von Bingen, modern.

God's Word is in all Creation

No creature has meaning

without the Word of God.

God’s Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.

The Word is living, being,

spirit, all verdant

all creativity.

This Word flashes out in

every creature.

This is how the spirit is in

the flesh – the Word is indivisible from God.


--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1197), German mystic poet and religious


Photo: love locks on a bridge in Barcelona, 2016

Antiphon for the Angels

Spirited light! on the edge
of the Presence your yearning
burns in the secret darkness,
O angels, insatiably
into God’s gaze.
Perversity could not touch your beauty;
you are essential joy.
But your lost companion,
angel of the crooked
wings – he sought the summit,
shot down the depths of God
and plummeted past Adam –
that a mud – bound spirit might soar.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), German mystic poet and religious, translated by Barbara Newman, from Women in Praise of the Sacred (ed. by Jane Hirshfield), 2016

A Prayer of Awareness

God is the foundation of everything;
This God undertakes, God gives,
Such that nothing that is necessary
     for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that
     at all times honors and praises God.
This body is supported in every way
     through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

A Call to Awareness

The earth is at the same time mother.
She is mother of all that is natural,
     mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all,
     for contained in her are the seeds of all.
The earth of humankind
     contains all moistness, all verdancy,
     all germinating power.
It is in so many ways fruitful.
All creation comes from it. Yet it forms
     not only the basic raw material for humankind,
     but also the substance for the incarnation of God's son.

--Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)