Hildegard to the
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingat will so perfectly complete the labors of holy works with pious discernment that, strengthened by the splendor of unsullied holiness and enkindled by the ardor of God's true love, you will achieve the perfect bliss in which you will live forever.
Note I. On stability versus pilgrimage, see Letter 92, n. 1.
Hildegard to the Congregation of Nuns 1161-70 A long allegorical exhortation for the nuns to cultivate obedience and denial of the world, and return to the pristine purity of their community.
The first plant, which flourished in the first root of Jesse [cf Is 1 l.lff], says to this assembly: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard" [Luke 13.6].
And just as a blessing multiplied the blessings of a noble seed, so God with great zeal and with His blessing planted a spiritual seed in the vineyard of Sabaoth [cf.
Rom 9.29]. And that plant was pleasant and delectable through the beginning of sanctity, and it grew in good reputation like the leaf of the fig tree. But good reputation without fruit will not be profitable unless it appears sweet as an apple in the taste of obedience. A fig tree must be cultivated with great care, lest it wither, for its fruit is bitter at first, but, later, becomes sweet.
So it is with the spiritual life: it must be cultivated with great care, lest the winter of tedium cause it to wither in a person's mind. In the beginning the labor is bitter, because it prohibits the desire of the flesh, the individuality of the will, and other such matters, but contempt for the world is very pleasant and sweet when the spirit, sanctified, envelops itself in sanctity. Still, care must be taken, lest it wither.
Now, that man who had the tree also had a fountain from which many streams flowed. But some horribly black and evil beasts came and tried to keep that fountain from flowing. Some of them picked up weeds with their mouths, and others reeds, and still others took up bellows, and they fanned a fire against the fountain.
O assembly, the Ancient Man brought you forth, a fountain, from which flow streams of sanctity. But terrible beasts of spiritual vices, horrible in their perversity and exceedingly black because they shun the brightness of innocence, come in their malevolence, seeking to influence you so that sanctity will not come forth from you. And some of them pick up weeds of filthy morals in the mouth of their
The Letters
endeavor, and others reeds of vain weariness of good works, and still others take up bellows to puff up arrogance. And they all fan a fire against you, as their minds swell up with great iniquity, so that they regard life in God as punishment. These are the horrible beasts, O daughters of Jerusalem [cf. Cant 1.4], that are seeking to dry you up, and cause you to despair of life.
But the Ancient Man, who planted the fig tree, regards the fruit of His tree in its various works, and He holds the rod in His hand. For through the merits of sanctified spirits that frequently embraced God, He wishes to remove vice from you, and hold you in His hand. But when those precepts of the holy Rule and obedience and good custom established by the saints of old dry up in you, that Man says to the cultivator of the vineyard (that is, to the precepts of discipline),
"Behold, for these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none"
[Luke 13.7] in this tree when I look for the works of love and obedience and perseverance. For it merely gives forth the sound of fame, but does not eat the food of the life of perfection. And it does not bring forth apple blossoms of virtues, nor green leaves of holy works, nor works perfect in the chaste chastisement of the body. And He says with the rod of His correction: "Cut it down therefore: why cumbereth it the ground?" [Luke 13.7], as He chastises it with His scourge. For your convent was sanctified when it was first established, but, later, it became an exile, for it was unwilling to suckle its mother's breasts in sanctity and election. Therefore, it is strangled by tribulations and afflictions.
Yet it will not be cut down. For God remembers that He greatly loved it when it was first planted, and that within it He built up holy works within holy spirits. Therefore, in the admonition of the Holy Spirit, He will not abandon it, since the precepts of discipline say: "Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it, and dung it" [Luke 13.8]. For God has regard for the blood of His Son, as it is written, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance"
[Ps 2.8], because I was well pleased with you [cf. Matt 3.17]. And thus He is gathering this assembly in its tribulation and affliction and poverty to Himself, as it is written: O Jerusalem, "return to the Lord thy God" [Hosea 14.2], and again,
"Arise and stand on high" [Baruch 5.5], and "behold the joy that will come to you from your God" [Baruch 4.36], and be adorned with virtues, because God seeks a sacrifice of praise from you [cf. Ps 49.14;.23], and wishes to keep you as He saw you when you were first planted. The gifts of the Holy Spirit will not desert you, and you will remain in your sanctification.