Letter 36: Hildegard to Hermann, Bishop of Constance
The Letters
For both my own will, as well as secular concerns, almost completely pull me away from my service to God.
35r Hildegard to Hermann, Bishop of Constance 1148-66 Hildegard takes Hermann to task for not being just in the performance of his duties.
The most just Light says: Straighten up your mind, O man. For you are disregarding the counsel of the prelates of old, who never, like you, had a mind blown about by the winds of vanity. O, man, what in the world are you thinking! Aren't you ashamed to walk in the darkness of your own appetite? For that Revelation, from whom nothing is hidden, shows through the living eye that the bow of God's zeal is threatening mankind's temerity. Why do you not see where the "mammon of iniquity" [Luke 16.9] lies, through which you justify yourself?1 Many laborers bring their cases before you, seeking the straight and narrow way. But you flap your lips with empty rhetoric, which is your very essence, and you drive them away, angry and indignant.11
And so turn from darkness onto the straight path, and shed some light on the feelings of your heart, lest the Father of all say to you: Why are you stupidly climbing a column that you did not build? For the day grows dark for one who does not labor in the straight path of the journey, and, you especially, beware of this! Rise quickly, therefore, and walk the straight and narrow, before the sun sets on you, and your days wane.
Note 1. The full verse of this scriptural text reads: "And I say to you: Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity; that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings." It was a text frequently used to justify monetary gain, but, as this context makes clear, a text also frequently misused.