Hildegard to the Monk Heinrich
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen me some admonition from heaven, so that through it I may have ever before the eyes of my heart a memorial of your saintliness.
What more? Though absent in body, I greet you in spirit [cf I Cor 5.3], earnestly beseeching that you be mindful of me, a sinner, for with the Apostle you always direct the course of your mind to the things that are to come [cf. Phil 3.13].
Farewell.
173r Hildegard to the Monk Heinrich Before 1170 Hildegard relates a parable about proper penitence, and applies its moral to Heinrich.
The Shadow of God's mysteries says: The wind blows, the air shifts, and clouds become so intermingled that sometimes they are stormy, sometimes black, sometimes white, and sometimes luminous. And you are just like that, O knight of God. For sometimes you have worldly sadness like the blowing wind, and sometimes you are caught up in the pleasure that the devil lays down as a trap like the shifting air, and sometimes you are morally astray like the mingling clouds, so that sometimes your morals are squalid in storms, sometimes terrified in darkness, sometimes sweet in whiteness, sometimes wholesome in luminosity.
Therefore, listen. A certain lord stood on a high mountain, and called his servants, saying: Pay your debt [cf Matt 18.34]. One of those servants was standing before him, and the other was seated. And the one who was standing answered:
Lord, I have come as an exile from a far distant land, where I acquired an unstable character through my many vices and sins. O woe that I have broken all your precepts! Therefore, for fear of losing your love, I swear that I will repent with my whole heart Moreover, I have always loved and honored your sun, moon, and stars. And his lord answered him: Good servant, I—an ever-turning wheel— accept your answer, saying: I, who live without beginning or end, will give you great honors above all that you have loved before, and I will not condemn you, because you have called out to me in penitence. But the servant who was sitting answered with disdain: Your sun has burned me, your moon has oppressed me, your stars have beaten me down, your dew has drenched the hairs of my head, and your rains have inundated me. And so impeded by all of these, I could not look to you. Therefore, I do not know what I can say. And his lord answered him: Iniquitous servant [cf Matt 18.32], when I established the sun, moon, and stars, did I need your help? And why do you not blush to respond to me so rashly?
For such temerity you deserve to be bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness [cf. Matt 22.13] until you pay back everything.