Season of Creation with St. Hildegard of Bingen (Oct 2-4)
October 02, 2022
October 2 (Feast of the Guardian Angels)
‘In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;
like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.’
But to which of the angels has he ever said,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?
Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;
like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.’
But to which of the angels has he ever said,
‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?
Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels.
But someone has testified somewhere,
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honour,
subjecting all things under their feet.’
‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
or mortals, that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned them with glory and honour,
subjecting all things under their feet.’
Now in subjecting all things to them, God* left nothing outside their control. (Hebrews 1:10-14; 2:5-8)
Meditation
God has allied human beings and angels in one rationality, and he has provided guardian angels to protect men and women. He did this both in the Old and the New Testaments, but he associated them together with greater love in the New rather than the Old Testament. For in the Old Testament the angels were like a voice speaking to humanity, but in the New Testament angels and humans are inseparable, just as voice and word are now joined together. ‘In the cloud of fire are myriads of fiery beings; and they are all one life in one will and one conjunction.’ This signifies a host of blessed spirits alive in a fire of glory and honour. Their glory is inexpressible and their number is uncountable, so that no one may know how many they are, except the Knowledge of God. What God wills they also will, and they are joined together as one, like a body which cannot be divided. Although they have individual faces, nevertheless they are one in their conjunction, just as a body has limbs yet remains one body. In this way they are one single unanimous life.
‘And in their presence a writing tablet is laid out, filled with feathers; the tablet soars in the precepts of God when the precepts bear it aloft.’ The explanation is that before them is the mystery, full of divine judgements, and this is revealed according to the will of God, whenever the will of God wishes to reveal it. ‘And the knowledge of God had inscribed hidden mysteries upon it, on which the myriads of beings gazed with unified zeal.’ This means that God in his hidden purpose has other hidden purposes for which the blessed spirits wait in intense expectation. Moreover, when God sees some people bowing down to idols and others not keeping his commands, then, through the fiery judgements of the heavenly citizens who blaze in his love, he awakens the wings of the wind: he sends thunder and lightning onto the earth; he brings fear to the nations through famine, plague and plundering armies; and thus he brings fearful disasters upon all the earth.
And when the angels ‘have studied what is written, the divine virtue comes upon them and like a single mighty trumpet they sound forth in harmony with all varieties of music.’ This means that when they gaze upon the will of God, they also receive the power of God so that in one mind they send forth praises to God in the strength and fullness of all joys. In responding to all the purposes of God they speak nothing else but praise, since all his judgements are true and just. (Book of Life’s Merits, I, 40-43)
Chant Prayer (Responsory for the Angels)
O angels
who guard the peoples,
your beauty shining in your countenance;
and O Archangels
who receive the souls of the just,
and you as well, O Virtues, Powers,
Principalities, Dominations, and Thrones,
who are counted towards
the fifth secret number;
and you, O Cherubim and Seraphim,
seal of the secret things of God:
Praise to you,
who behold in the fountain the strongbox of the ancient heart.
For you see the inward force of the Father,
which breathes from his heart
like a face.
Praise to you ... (Trans. Lawrence Rosenwald)
who guard the peoples,
your beauty shining in your countenance;
and O Archangels
who receive the souls of the just,
and you as well, O Virtues, Powers,
Principalities, Dominations, and Thrones,
who are counted towards
the fifth secret number;
and you, O Cherubim and Seraphim,
seal of the secret things of God:
Praise to you,
who behold in the fountain the strongbox of the ancient heart.
For you see the inward force of the Father,
which breathes from his heart
like a face.
Praise to you ... (Trans. Lawrence Rosenwald)
October 3
Then I [John] saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. (Revelation 21:1-7)
Meditation
I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "The mighty God, whose power is over all things, he will show his power at the end of the world, when he turns it into a new wonder". Then there will appear a dazzling sky and a pure earth, since they will have been purified together with the other elements. Now they are as dull, and do not let fully discern their celestial origin, but then they will shine renewed. Then also, the man already blessed, purified in these elements, will resemble the golden circle of a wheel and will be ardent in body and spirit, and will open all the reserve of the deepest secrets. Thus the saints will be close to God, and He will give the fullness of joy
"And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor cries and mourning, and there will be no more pain, because the old world has passed away." (Revelation 21: 4). This means the following:
God will remove every bargain of sins that makes tears flow from the conscience of the saints, and will take them to eternity as the pure clay of living life, just as the first man was created. The death that is now at the end of life in the current time sequence will not come as it does now, that childhood ends in the youth, youth in old age, old age in death.
The saints will no longer live in a tearful exile, they will not wait for another life, since they will always have that life in which there is no boredom. They will no longer scream ignoring the end of their fulfillment, will no longer have to investigate any hidden answer, for always and openly they will see the glory of God. The pain, the taste for sin, he craving to possess and the fear of losing what you have will no longer torment men. Nor will they be concerned about any temporal dominion, they will forever save from all evils, for the evils of former times will have disappeared; when men lived in the world subjected to time and torments temporary.
Those who have a desire for life, take these words and put them in the depth of their heart. (Book of Life’s Merits VI, 2,6,8)
God will remove every bargain of sins that makes tears flow from the conscience of the saints, and will take them to eternity as the pure clay of living life, just as the first man was created. The death that is now at the end of life in the current time sequence will not come as it does now, that childhood ends in the youth, youth in old age, old age in death.
The saints will no longer live in a tearful exile, they will not wait for another life, since they will always have that life in which there is no boredom. They will no longer scream ignoring the end of their fulfillment, will no longer have to investigate any hidden answer, for always and openly they will see the glory of God. The pain, the taste for sin, he craving to possess and the fear of losing what you have will no longer torment men. Nor will they be concerned about any temporal dominion, they will forever save from all evils, for the evils of former times will have disappeared; when men lived in the world subjected to time and torments temporary.
Those who have a desire for life, take these words and put them in the depth of their heart. (Book of Life’s Merits VI, 2,6,8)
Chant Prayer (Responsory for Patriarchs and Prophets)
R. O merry roots
with whom
the work of miracles—
but not the work
of crimes—
was planted by a journey
rushing, tearing forth,
a path of shade perlucid;
and you, O voice of ruminating fire,
forerunner of the whetstone,
the Rock that overthrows th’ abyss:
R. Rejoice in him, your captain!
V. Rejoice
in him whom most on earth
have never seen—
yet ardently they’ve called on him.
R. Rejoice in him, your captain! (Trans. by Nathaniel M. Campbell)
with whom
the work of miracles—
but not the work
of crimes—
was planted by a journey
rushing, tearing forth,
a path of shade perlucid;
and you, O voice of ruminating fire,
forerunner of the whetstone,
the Rock that overthrows th’ abyss:
R. Rejoice in him, your captain!
V. Rejoice
in him whom most on earth
have never seen—
yet ardently they’ve called on him.
R. Rejoice in him, your captain! (Trans. by Nathaniel M. Campbell)
October 4 (Feast of St. Francis of Assisi)
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:6-8)
Meditation
The souls of the more perfectly holy are rewarded with more secret joys. These are the ones who had been contcmplatives while they had been alive. These souls have been embellished with all the heavenly virtues and with total holiness. They now praise God with the lofty sound of trumpets. This sound comes from the mouth of the prophets, the wise and the chosen of God. The works of the Holy Spirit are innumerable in men. They also exult God
with lyres in complete joy; they make a sound so wondrous and inexplicable that the human heart cannot grasp or understand. Because they worked with fire and water in the holiness of baptism and because they moved some with these works, they therefore sound like the sea and rushing waters that send forth a multitude of wondrous sounds. They are the ones who had lifted themselves above their fleshly desires and their intentions in their hearts while they had been alive. They had cast their earthly desires aside, as if they were not even human. They had separated themselves from other people, like angels from men. They dedicated themselves tomatters of heaven with their watchful works, and they looked at God through the windows of faith with the simple good ness of an infant. And they persevered in these matters without wavering.
with lyres in complete joy; they make a sound so wondrous and inexplicable that the human heart cannot grasp or understand. Because they worked with fire and water in the holiness of baptism and because they moved some with these works, they therefore sound like the sea and rushing waters that send forth a multitude of wondrous sounds. They are the ones who had lifted themselves above their fleshly desires and their intentions in their hearts while they had been alive. They had cast their earthly desires aside, as if they were not even human. They had separated themselves from other people, like angels from men. They dedicated themselves tomatters of heaven with their watchful works, and they looked at God through the windows of faith with the simple good ness of an infant. And they persevered in these matters without wavering.
They also voice their desire for the time when their works will be seen openly in the presence of the living God and when their bodies in which they did these works will be restored to them. They long for this so that they can see God after the difficulties which had covered their faces before Moses have been removed from them. The works of these holy ones,done through theinspiration of the Holy Spirit, shine like heaven in God's presence since they were done with God and in God. As a result of their good works, God gives these souls a cooling rest. But he will not give them the fullness of joy until the fullness of people has entered into the last day. At the end of the world God will join the bodies and souls of the holy with their works, and their heavenly work will lead them before the face of God where they will see him fully. But because the body had done these good works with the soul, when the soul is separated from the body, it cannot have the fullness of God since it cannot see the face of God fully without the body. Therefore, when the body and soul are rejoined, God will uncover his face so that the holy ones may see him fully since the body and soul which had worked together have been rejoined. The holy ones now, however, cry aloud with a strong cry since they find it difficult to wait to receive their bodies. They plead for the images of their bodies, just as a hungry boy asks his father for bread to whom his father responds kindly, giving it to this son quickly.
(Book of Life’s Merits II, 35,36)
Chant Prayer (Antiphon for Confessors)
Successors of
the mighty Lion,
between the temple and the altar
commanding in his service:
as angels sing in praise resounding
and quicken to defend the people
with their aid—
so you among them
as they do these things
keep ever carefully the office of the Lamb. (Trans. by Nathaniel M. Campbell)
the mighty Lion,
between the temple and the altar
commanding in his service:
as angels sing in praise resounding
and quicken to defend the people
with their aid—
so you among them
as they do these things
keep ever carefully the office of the Lamb. (Trans. by Nathaniel M. Campbell)
Concluding Collect
God of all times and seasons:
Give us grace that we,
after the example of your servant Hildegard,
may both know and make known the joy and jubilation of being part of your creation,
and show forth your glory in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Savior,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Lesser Feasts and Fasts)