Monday, October 19 : St Hildegard of Bingen

[Saint Hildegard presents a vision in which vice and virtue answer one another:] The Words of Avarice “I am not foolish, but I am wiser than those who look at the winds and then demand that the air give them everything they need. I snatch all things to myself; I gather all things to my bosom; the more I have collected, the more I have. For it is better for me to have whatever I need than to beg from others. I am not wrong when I carry things away from a person who has more than he needs, for when I have whatever I need, I do not worry about needing something from someone else. When I have all the things I want in my bosom, I fortunately am filled and delighted. At such times I do not fear anybody, but I live in blessedness and do not need anybody’s mercy. I am cleverly wise and no one deceives me when I demand all things. How can this hurt me? I am not a thief or a robber, but I take all the things I want and acquire all of them with my own craftiness.” The Response of Pure Contentment “O diabolical fraud, you are quick to plunder, like a wolf, and you devour another person’s things, like a vulture. ... You lie in hardness and forget God because you do not trust him…You do not want the success of the other, rather you draw your being from the goods of others, for nothing is enough for you. I, however, sit above the stars where all of God’s good things are sufficient for me, and I rejoice in the sweet sound of a tambourine when I trust in him. I kiss the sun when I hold him with joy; I embrace the moon when I hold him in love and when all the things that have come into existence from the sun and moon are sufficient for me. Why should I desire more than I need? Because as a result of my having mercy for all things, I am gentle and used for all things. I participate in the banquet of the King for I am daughter of the King!"