Saint Hildegard of Bingen was one of the early visionary Christian mystics (1098-1179). She was a German Benedictine abbess who also excelled as a writer, composer, philosopher, and polymath. This particular excerpt has been read at Hillside many times. I first encountered it in "Cries of the Spirit" edited by Marilyn Sewell, 1991. Reading it again, in the context of the Pandemic and the California wildfires, I had a clearer insight into the way spiritual energy, the Divine Mystery, works creation through human hearts. We feel in our most prayerful moments, grasping for more or better, that we and our world are empty and in need of fulfillment, but perhaps our very longing is an essential aspect of the energy of life as it moves--pulling us, filling us and life around us--with the good. (Susan Nettleton)
Excerpts from Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen*
I am the one whose praise
echoes on high
I adorn all the earth
I am the breeze
that nurtures all things
green
I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits
I am led by the spirit to feed
the purest streams
I am the rain
coming from the dew
that causes the grasses to laugh
with the joy of life.
I call forth tears,
the aroma of holy work.
I am the yearning for good.
*edited by Gabrielle Uhlein 1983, by Bear & Company, Inc.