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The Hildegard Experience
WELCOME TO TODAY'S WORSHIP SERVICE BY THE SWEDENBORGIAN ON-LINE COMMUNITY
October 31, 2010
The Hildegard Experience
Light a candle
OPENING SONG
READINGS
6In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
5And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
FROM SWEDENBORG
Divine Love and Wisdom (Rogers) n. 115
115. But how the Lord is in an angel, and an angel in the Lord, cannot be comprehended unless one knows the nature of their conjunction. It is a conjunction of the Lord with the angel, and of the angel with the Lord. Consequently it is a reciprocal conjunction.
This conjunction on the part of the angel is as follows. An angel has no other perception than that he possesses love and wisdom of himself, like any person, and thus he feels as though love and wisdom are his as qualities belonging to him. If he did not have that perception, there would be no conjunction; thus he would not have the Lord in him, and he would not be in the Lord. Nor is it possible for the Lord to be in any angel or person unless the one in whom He is present with His love and wisdom perceives and feels that presence as something his own. Because of this the Lord is not only received, but, having been received, is retained and also loved in return. Consequently it is because of this that an angel becomes wise and remains wise.
Who could possibly want to love the Lord and the neighbor, and who could possibly want to become wise, if he did not feel and perceive what he loves, learns and incorporates as being something his own? Who would otherwise retain it in himself? If the case were not as it is, any love and wisdom flowing in would have no seat, for it would flow on through a person without affecting him. Thus the angel would not be an angel, and the person would not be a person; indeed, the angel or person would be only like something inanimate.
It can be seen from this that there must be reciprocity for conjunction to exist.
THE HILDEGARD EXPERIENCE
Hildegard of Bingen [1098 - 1179] , at age 42, was the abbess of a convent. She had been a resident since the age of eight, when her parents gave her [their 10th child[, to the convent as their "tithe" to the church. Despite her religious background, she resisted the call of God. It was a powerful call. She describes the experience:
Heaven was opened and a fiery light of exceeding brilliance came and permeated my whole brain, and infiltrated my whole heart and my whole brest, not like a burning but a warming flame, as the sun warms anything its rays touch. And immediately I knew the meaning of the exposition of the Scriptures ...
She realized that she had been having visions since she was five years old, but always dismissed them as insignificant. Even with this powerful experience of call, she tried to ignore it. She did not feel worthy to be an instrument of God. God told her to write down all that she saw and heard in her visions, but she resisted.
But although I heard and saw these things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of humility, until weighed down by a scourge of god, I fell onto a bed of sickness.
Her health only improved when she decided to follow's God's call. She started painting and writing -- music, poetry, and books. She became famous in her time, and is perhaps even better known today. Matthew Fox has brought her works back into public prominence, and many are discovering her again today.
Like Swedenborg, she received a dramatic call in middle age and was given new understanding of the scripture. Because of her willingness to respond to the call, she has enriched the world of spirituality.
Many of her visions, or "Illuminations" were beautiful and complex paintings that contained spiritual meaning. Her music is deeply haunting. Let yourself become immersed in the experience of her illuminations and off her music.
Hildegard's visions are called “illuminations". For Hildegard, it is the Holy Spirit who illumines. She compared her awakening to the experience of Pentecost.
Most researchers now believe that Hildegard suffered from migraines. Her visions were like the visual hallucinations that are part of migraine headaches. After a migraine attack,e sufferers usually experience sickness, paralysis,and/or blindness. Hildegard had all of these symptoms. Hildegard, like other patients, felt a sense of well-being -- even euphoria -- afterwards.
With God's help, Hildegard turned a serious illness into mystical experience and creative outpourings for the world.
Like Swedenborg, Hildegard had a vision that changed her life; she was given an understanding of the meaning of the Bible. She was told to write down everything she experienced during these mystical experiences.
And it came to pass ... when I was 42 years and 7 months old, that the heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming... and suddenly I understood of the meaning of expositions of the books...
Swedenborg wrote about the importance of doing "uses." Hildegard's order, the Benedictines," valued doing good labor. She started out as a nurse, and then illustrated books.
Like Swedenborg, Hildegard felt that her mystical experiences were given to her in order to be shared with others. She did not indulge herself in a "private" mysticism, but rather accepted a mission to educate others.
She valued science as well as mystical experience, and spent her life integrating both aspects of her being.
This is a new center in Lincoln, Nebraska. Here is its mission:
The mission of the Hildegard Center for the Arts is to provide a forum for all who seek to experience God through an appreciation of the visual and performing arts.Hildegard will provide opportunities for artistic expression, education and appreciation which will enrich our community and enhance humanity. It is the goal of Hildegard "to affirm that true beauty, which as a glimmer of the Spirit of God...opens the human soul to the sense of the eternal". *
*John Paul II, Letter to Artists, 1999
Spiritui Sancto
Spiritui Sancto honor sit,
qui in mente Ursule virginis
virginalem turbam velut columbas collegit,
Unde ipsa patriam suam
sicut Abraham religquit.
et etiam propter amplxionem Agni
desponsationem viri sibi abstraxit.
Nam iste castissimus et aureus exercitus
in virgineo crine mate transivit.
O quis umquam talia audivit?
Et etiam propter amplexionem Agni
desponsationem viri sibi abstraxit.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Et etiam propter amplexionem Agni
desponsationem viri sibi abstraxit.
Holy Spirit
Honor be to you, O Holy Spirit,
who, through the mind of the virgin Ursula,
brought together a whirling tumult
of the purest doves.
Thereupon, like Abraham,
she relinquished her homeland,
and releasing herself from worldly betrothal,
she entered into the embrace of the Lamb.
So this pure golden army with flowing hair
passed over the sea.
O whoever heard of such as this?
For she released herself
from worldly betrothal,
and entered into the embrace of the Lamb Himself.
Glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
She released herself from worldly betrothal,
and entered in to the embrace
of the Lamb Himself.
There is a movie about Hildegard! Will it be playing somewhere near you? Here is the official movie website.
Enjoy the movie's trailer:
O Holy Wisdom, Soaring Power, encompass us with wings unfurled, and carry us, encircling all, above, below, and through the world.
--O Holy Spirit, Root of Life
Every element has a sound, an original sound from the order of God; all those sounds unite like the harmony from harps and zithers.
I, the fiery life of divine wisdom, I ignite the beauty of the plains, I sparkle the waters, I burn in the sun, and the moon, and the stars.
The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured, it must not be destroyed.
The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to give it life. Just so, the breath of the air makes the earth fruitful. Thus the air is the soul of the earth, moistening it, greening it.
There is the Music of Heaven in all things and we have forgotten how to hear it until we sing.
Underneath all the texts, all the sacred psalms and canticles, these watery varieties of sounds and silences, terrifying, mysterious, whirling and sometimes gestating and gentle must somehow be felt in the pulse, ebb, and flow of the music that sings in me. My new song must float like a feather on the breath of God.
When the words come, they are merely empty shells without the music. They live as they are sung, for the words are the body and the music the spirit.
Here I Am Lord
Extinguish your candle.
Close the Bible
Go in peace, and remember to worship with Hildegard.
