Hildegard to the Abbot Ludwig
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Therefore, my lady, do not let our wickedness distress you, for compassionate love will lend you the strength that your physical infirmity denies you. I greatly long for the letter you promised to send me. So please do not delay sending it by the present messenger. I pray you to write back what seems to you best regarding the matter entrusted to you.
215r Hildegard to the Abbot Ludwig
Hildegard writes the abbot to thank him for his sympathy and understanding in her rime of need, and she adds that since her helper (Volmar) has been taken from her by death, she will send the book he had helped her write to the abbot for review and correction, as soon as it is finished.
In regard to your request I looked to the true vision I see in my soul, and I saw and heard these words: You were chosen to govern that church with the rod of chastisement, an election not improper in the sight of God. Therefore, labor in that church to the best of your ability with God's help, for God's justice has grown cold among many who run on the narrow path of spiritual life, because they long to follow their own will. This rime will not show you the perfection of holiness that the Holy Spirit first planted in that community. Therefore, restrain yourself, lest, led astray by the esteem acquired by an honorable name or by secular inclination, you fall short of the stability of your good intentions.
Imitate the gentlest Father in humility, patience, and mercy so that you will deserve to hear Him say to you for your good labors, "Well done, good servant"
[Matt 25.21 ff], and so that you may live blissfully in eternal beatitude. I and all my sisters zealously commend to God the infirmity of your body and all the pressure brought to bear on your heart Therefore, fear not, because God, by Whose grace you are endowed with wisdom and knowledge, will never abandon you.
Gentle father, I give thanks to God, and to you, because you deigned to sympathize with me, a poor little form of a woman, in my infirmity and pain.
Now, like an orphan I toil alone to do God's work, because my helper has been taken away from me, as it pleased God.1 The book that I wrote with his help through the grace of the Holy Spirit according to a true vision is not yet finished. As soon as it is completely written, I will offer it to you for correction.2
Notes 1. That is, Volmar, who died in this year. Volmar had served as Hildegard's secretary and provost for some thirty years. It is scarcely a wonder that she feels like an orphan.