Day 21
From The Book of the Rewards of Life by St. Hildegard of Bingen
By the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it (Wisdom 2:24). This has the following meaning. The devil is opposed to God and wants to divide up God's honor so that he might usurp an equal part of that honor for him self. As a result, God struck the devil down into Gehenna and did not allow him to do what he wanted. When the devil saw that man had been created, he knew God's power but thereupon spread out his envy and asked man why God had given him the command he had received. And so through the evil of envy the devil turned God's work, namely man, away from God and drew man to himself; man abandoned God and joined the devil. In this way through the blowing wind of the envy of the devil's suggestion, death, which destroys all things, came into the world and the devil subjugated the world to himself. The devil showed his power in the world when he caused man, who ought to be like a god in the world, to serve him. Therefore, the devil enters another tabernacle where, he exercises his power. All who follow the devil's example walk in his footsteps of evil and oppress others with envy. And so they are at the side of the devil since they cast away the good and just things that they know. They gnaw at and bite the gifts of God that God created and gave to them. As a result, they will have the friendship of the devil in Gehenna.
But the faithful who flee from this evil and embrace God through faith are the sons who will receive celestial wages since they anxiously receive their awaited wages from God after being honorable in their wondrous deeds. Therefore, they will be called to heaven with all their embellishments.
Prayer
O God,
glory of believers and life of the just,
by the death and resurrection of your Son, we are redeemed:
have mercy on your departed servants
and make them worthy to share the joys of paradise,
for they believed in the resurrection of the dead.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen.