Category: Scivias — Hildegard of Bingen (Page 1 of 2)

This week we are beginning our prayer with some encouragement from Hildegarde of Bingen. Her most famous work: Scivias (short for the Latin phrase  Scito vias Domini: Know the Ways of the Lord) written between 1141-51, contains her reflections on 26 visions she received. She included pictures of the visions, seven of which will illuminate our daily prayer. Book Two is all about the Virtues and the History of Salvation.

Today’s Bible reading

More thoughts for meditation

This final picture continues the great worship time Hildegard creates at the end of her book. In this image, Mary sits enthroned above the choirs of angels, who stand above the apostles, patriarchs and prophets, virgins, confessors and martyrs — the heroes of medieval faith.

This final portion is not just a vision but a concert. The songs Hildegard records in this section marvelously summarize all the meanings she has presented before. In the first fourteen pieces she offers praise to the Virgin Mary, the choirs of angels and five categories of saints, as above. Each rank of the celestial hierarchy is honored with an antiphon and a responsory, although the liturgical genres of these pieces are not specified here as they are in the Symphonia manuscripts. Hildegard was quite a composer, as you can hear below.

Heaven is not populated only with saints, but also with repentant sinners. The second part of this section is a lament and prayer of intercession for the fallen. In the final portion a penitent soul’s pilgrimage to heaven is set forth in dramatic form. The soul slips from well-meaning innocence to impatience when she asks the Virtues for a “kiss of the heart,” and they warn instead that she must do battle by their side. At this point the devil intervenes and easily leads her into sin. In contrast to later morality plays, Hildegard is not interested in dramatizing the soul’s adventures in evil; instead she presents a verbal contest between the devil and the Virtues to fill the time until the soul’s repentance. In the end the Virtues receive the weeping penitent, and led by their queen Humility and celestial Victory, they conquer and bind the devil.

The play is followed by a brief commentary and a tribute to the power of music. In liturgical song “words symbolize the body” and the humanity of Christ, she writes, “and the jubilant music indicates the spirit” and the Godhead. An allegorical reading of Psalm 150, in which the different instruments are made to symbolize the varieties of saints, leads into a final affirmation of the prophet’s mission and brings the Scivias to a close.

Suggestions for action

Have you ever tried to make up a song to praise the Lord? Some people are great composers and it is great to follow their lead. But it is not important to be great. It is important to be faithful and who we are. We are among the creatures with breath who can sing. Try making up a little tune with a couple of lines that you can carry with you today. Maybe even do it in the style of Hildegard! How about “Lord you’ve made me who I am. I praise you for your gift of life” or “With all the saints I’ve seen or will, I open up my soul to fill.” You get the idea.

This week we are beginning our prayer with some encouragement from Hildegard of Bingen. Her most famous work: Scivias (short for the Latin phrase  Scito vias Domini: Know the Ways of the Lord) written between 1141-51, contains her reflections on 26 visions she received. She included pictures of the visions, seven of which will illuminate our daily prayer. Book Three is all about the Virtues and the History of Salvation

Today’s Bible reading and an excerpt

Read Luke 14:25-35

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”

More thoughts for meditation

This vision sets forth a blueprint of the symbolic building that is interpreted in detail through the remainder of the book. The picture provides a diagram. It is built on the mountain of God, grounded in faith and fear of the Lord, the city or edifice of salvation has a double symbolism representing, on the one hand, the course of salvation history, and on the other, the doctrines and virtues every Christian must believe and acquire to live their true life.

The most important wall links the East (represented on top, as is usual in medieval maps) with the North (shown to the left). In the East lies the realm of Christ, in the North that of Satan (see Game of Thrones), and the luminous wall between the two therefore signifies speculativa scientia, or the knowledge of good and evil. This is not “speculative knowledge” in the sense of abstract thought, but “reflective knowledge” in the sense of moral judgement (the adjective is from speculum, a mirror); this faculty is the cognitive aspect of free will. The remaining three walls are of masonry, which has several meanings: the joined stones denote human flesh and its labors, the Law and the works of justice. Thus moral knowledge must be conjoined with right action to build up salvation. Although Hildegard is a cloistered monastic, she is not going to stand for anyone being deluded into thinking their faith can go unexpressed and remain faith.

Hildegard gives two interpretations for the points of the compass. In one reading, East and West signify the dawn of salvation and the sunset of the Law, while North and South represent the fall and restoration of Adam. Alternatively, the diagram may be read counterclockwise beginning at the right. The four cornerstones are successive covenants between God and humanity. At the South stands Adam, at the East Noah (the dawn of justice), at the North Abraham and Moses as representatives of the Law (the beginning of war against Satan), and at the West Christ (the revelation of the Trinity). The proportions of the building also receive numerological meanings.

This vision assigns further theological value to the despised body. Again human beings are contrasted with angels: The latter are purer and more luminous, but humans are more valiant and meritorious soldiers of God because they have to do battle against their own nature. In ascetic struggle “they conquer themselves, chastising their bodies, and so know themselves to be in [God’s] army.” Hildegard’s spirituality is a flowering of medieval asceticism in which people went to great, self-sacrificing lengths to be free of earthly sin and bondage to achieve union with God. The excesses of such a quest for purity are evident, but the desire to be singularly devoted and completely connected is something 21st century Christians could explore with great profit.

Suggestions for action

Today’s Bible reading calls us to a singular devotion to Jesus. We could see it as a demand to be met, and that would be appropriate. Moreso, it is an invitation to freedom from sin and death. What kills us is not always dressed as the devil; most of the time we can see it when we look in the mirror and reflect on our circumstances. Hildegard has spent hours in reflection and prayer until she can write books about what has been revealed to her.  She’s a genius we can appreciate for her special gifts, but she is also a woman like you and me. Spend some time reflecting on what God is revealing through this page. What does it all mean? For what is it calling? How would you picture it?

This week we are beginning our prayer with some encouragement from Hildegard of Bingen. Her most famous work: Scivias (short for the Latin phrase  Scito vias Domini: Know the Ways of the Lord) written between 1141-51, contains her reflections on 26 visions she received. She included pictures of the visions, seven of which will illuminate our daily prayer. Book Two is all about the Redeemer and redemption.

Today’s Bible reading

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe. — Proverbs 18:10

More thoughts for meditation

This picture that accompanies Hildegard’s interpretation of her vision is dominated by an imposing female figure in front of a large white tower made of stone. She is Ecclesia, the Church, occupied by Jesus followers. The white tower symbolizes the Holy Spirit, in its luminous clarity, encircling all living creatures. Bright lights emerge from three windows in the tower. Just as the Church is guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, so too shall the  baptized be fulfilled.

The vision depicts the power of the Spirit as a lofty tower that upholds and strengthens the woman Ecclesia. The faithful are cleansed in baptism and receive the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of anointing with holy oil by the bishop’s hand. Her children appear in varying guises to indicate their spiritual and ecclesiastical status; thus, contemplatives are distinguished from lay Christians by the more glorious light on which they fix their gaze. But in each category some are more zealous in devotion, others more vigorous in justice. Hildegard teaches that while connecting to the Spirit through the ministry of the church (as in the sacraments and priestly authority), these are not sufficient; they must be accompanied by repentance and good works.

Suggestions for action

Hildegard’s vision gives her the freedom to tell the truth like a woman might not normally have. After she has written her books, she even goes on speaking tours to tell people what she has seen. The authorities investigate her thoroughly, but do not find fault. She is allowed her unusual freedom and power. The domination of the authoritative, male-centered church is unraveled by her depiction of a feminine God in her own feminine way.

It is tempting to be one’s own “fortified tower” or to run to places fortified by the power of men. In Acts 19 Paul discovers some Jesus followers who have merely received the baptism of John the Baptist. He asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They had never heard of such a thing.   He baptized them again and laid his hands on them and they were filled just as he had been. Have you heard of such a thing? Pray for that filling. Ask someone you know who obviously has been filled to lay hands on you. Why not? Hildegard would.

This week we are beginning our prayer with some encouragement from Hildegarde of Bingen. Her most famous work: Scivias (short for the Latin phrase  Scito vias Domini: Know the Ways of the Lord) written between 1141-51, contains her reflections on 26 visions she received. She included pictures of the visions, seven of which will illuminate our daily prayer. Book Two is all about the Redeemer and redemption.

Today’s Bible reading

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  As it is written:

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. — 1 Corinthians 9:7-11

More thoughts for meditation

Hildegard first sees an unquenchable fire that is “wholly living and wholly Life,” with a sky-blue flame to represent the eternity of the Word. As in today’s Bible reading, it is a picture of generativity. After creating the first human being, the triune God offers him “the sweet precept of obedience” in the shape of a fragrant flower, but Adam fails to pluck it and thereby falls into thick darkness. The forbidden fruit of Genesis is here transformed into a blossom that the man did not pluck, so that his sin becomes one of omission; obeying the heavenly vision is the central good, withholding or rejecting is evil. This view puts Hildegard out of the mainstream, since she teaches that the “knowledge of good and evil” is God’s gift to humanity rather than the devil’s temptation. Life is a good gift to be lived, not a travail to be endured, an opportunity to sin, until one goes to heaven.

In the vision, redemption proceeds in gradual stages. First the night of sin is illumined by the shining stars of the patriarchs, then by the prophets, culminating in John the Baptist; finally Christ appears as the radiance of dawn. By his passion and resurrection he delivers Adam, whose fate is contrasted with that of the unrepentant Satan. In the illustration Adam is represented three times: as the creature fashioned from mud (adamah = “red earth”); as the young man who withholds his hand from the flower; and as the old man who has fallen into darkness and “returned to his earth.” There is a central medallion to represent the six days of creation. The unity of Creator and Redeemer is brilliantly figured in symmetrical spheres of light at the top and bottom. A “finger of God” stretches downward from the light to awaken the newly created Adam, while the radiance of the risen Christ flames upward to redeem the fallen Adam.

Suggestions for action

What kind of redeemer did you receive? Was he an angry God exercising his wrath against your sin and you? Or more like a flower to pluck, a radiant, light-filled rescuer, filling the world with opportunity, a generous giver supplying seed to sow? How we conceptualize God makes a big difference to how we live our faith. Hildegard is experiencing the reform of her view and so reforming others. Take a minute to sketch out your own understanding of how redemption works.