This article contains 4 sections:
- Introduction to God’s work. God is always at work to save mankind, to lead it to perfect joy.
- God’s work in Hildegard’s visions. God’s work of salvation is the subject of the book containing Hildegard’s visions, called “The Book of Divine Works”.
- The “Three Mirrors” in Hildegard’s commentary on Genesis. These are the mirrors in which God’s work is reflected: 1. Nature. 2. The Holy History of the Prophets, Christ and the Church. 3. The human soul and its path to God.
- Hildegard’s explanation of the days of creation. Commentary on the first chapter of the book of Genesis.
INTRODUCTION TO GOD’S WORK
Hildegard of Bingen has been proclaimed a saint and doctor of the Church, because her teachings and visions teach us about spiritual reality, that is, about the bond that unites all creation with God. This bond of love is the Holy Spirit of God himself, who gives life to the world, who animates and moves us towards the greatness of God, towards the whole truth. It manifests in us the truth of God’s love for us, the love with which he created us. It is this love that gives us life, makes us live and keeps us alive. Without love our life is dead, without the joy of bearing fruit, the joy of rejoicing in the happiness of others, the joy that multiplies within us when it is shared: it makes us in the image and likeness of God, it manifests our sonship. “May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me,” says Jesus (John 17:21). This means that the Spirit of love that unites Father and Son, their bond of love and God himself, becomes visible to us when the Son takes on human flesh, becomes incarnate. It means that the love that binds him to the Father becomes manifest through his actions and his person. We see that the Father is with him, we see the Father’s work through the Son who came to do the Father’s will, and we see with what love the Son loves him. The Son gives his life out of love, in the trusting obedience of the Son, and the Father raises him from the dead. In this way, the same bond of love that gives life to the Son is the one by which human beings receive life. The Holy Spirit begets Jesus in Mary, the divinity takes on our humanity, takes on flesh, assumes our mortality. And our humanity, following Mary’s example, enters into a trusting relationship with God. “I am his humble servant”, says Mary, in the face of God’s design, in the face of the greatness of love that surpasses us. Jesus’ name means “God saves”, because his coming, welcomed by Mary, offers us an opportunity to enter into a relationship with him, to rediscover our trust and faith, following Mary’s example, and to welcome him into our humanity. He offered his life for and to each one of us, and we too are invited to say: “Let it be done to me according to your word”, as Mary said in the face of a mystery that is beyond us. So we allow God to come into us, to give life to our humanity, to illuminate our darkness, to lead us to the true light of God, from whom we receive our life. He enables us to enter into a filial relationship with God, because his love, his Spirit, has been poured out on mankind, has descended upon us. By accepting Christ, his work of love, we allow ourselves to be transformed by his love, and we allow him to dispel the darkness of our sins with the light of his love. Our darkness is what prevents us from seeing how much we are loved by God, who loves us as he loves his own Son, and who calls us to share his life, that is, to enter into a filial relationship of love like him. This is signified by our baptism. Becoming a child of God means sharing in the love that unites him with all his creatures, and for us, animated by his love, it means living a renewed relationship with our neighbor, it means being introduced to a relationship of brotherly love towards all God’s children. So, when we love one another as God himself loves us, then God’s love will become visible in this world through our own persons we will be a reflection of God’s love for his children, like Christ we will give our lives as children of God, children of light.
This bond of love that unites us to God when we accept him in Christ through faith is the subject of Hildegard’s visions. In her visions we see what the Spirit of God, invisible by nature, accomplishes in us when God takes our human nature and unites it to himself through the mystery of Jesus’ incarnation. This incarnation, this coming into our flesh, into our humanity, is still accomplished in each of us when we welcome God by faith. That is, when through him, who reveals to us the Father’s love for each of his creatures, we enter into a relationship of filial trust with God. Mary experienced this relationship in a unique way, for from the moment of her conception she lived this trusting bond that unites her to God, never separating herself from him, never doubting him, as, on the contrary, the rest of humanity did. In this way, she showed us what it means to live fully our union with God, and God’s presence in her, His love engendered in her Jesus Christ. In this way, Jesus was able to prove God’s love for all His creatures, including humanity, which had separated itself from Him. To those who had been living in darkness, he offered his life, his light: he recreated the trusting bond, the filial relationship by demonstrating God’s forgiveness for the multitude of human beings who had sinned against him. He offered his love anew, he for-gave, that is to say, he offered it again and again beyond or above our sins, in superabundance: “where sin abounded, grace overabounded” (Romans 5:20). What the apostle St. Paul calls grace in Greek kháris (χάρις) is God’s gratuitous love, given by grace with joy.
THE DIVINE WORK IN HILDEGARD’S VISIONS
We call the work of salvation all that divine work by which humanity is saved from its waywardness, its doubt about God, its loss of trust. God comes to us and proves his love for us, in order to restore our trust, i.e. our faith. To have faith in God means to trust him.
It is the immensity of this work, multiplied for each human being, that Hildegard contemplated in these visions. They tell us of God’s concern for each of His creatures through the men and women He has chosen to be His apostles, His messengers, sent to bear witness to a humanity transformed, recreated by grace, by God’s gratuitous love. Rediscovered trust unites us, thanks to Christ, in a union with God that enables us too to say “Our Father” and, like his children, to glorify and sanctify the Father through works that show our resemblance to him. Like Christ, the members of the Church manifest to the world God’s love for his creatures, and “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for those one loves” (John 15:13). This is the love with which we have been loved by God, the love that Jesus showed us by giving his life for us, and the love that dwells in our hearts, renewed by the Holy Spirit, the gift of God’s love poured out by God and welcomed by believers.
Hildegard’s visions reveal God’s work of salvation manifested in his creation, made visible by his works. God’s works are a reflection of his glory, they shine with his light, they manifest his love. Just as in a family we notice in the children the resemblance to their parents, so in this world, made like God by his Spirit, we bear a reflection of his mercy, of his love. This reflection is presented by a mirror, and St. Paul has already explained that we reflect God as in a mirror: “We see now through a mirror in enigma; on that day, we shall see face to face. At present my knowledge is partial; on that day I shall know perfectly, as I have been known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12). But also the image of God in us has been brought into likeness through Christ, in him we have seen the fullness of the goodness of God’s work, so St. Paul affirms: “When we convert to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. And all of us who have no veil on our faces reflect the glory of the Lord, and we are transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, through the action of the Lord who is Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Saint Paul tells us that we reflect God’s glory as in a mirror (κατοπτριζόμενοι) or that we contemplate the image of God as in a mirror and are transformed into it. This image of God (εἰκόνα), we have contemplated in Christ who manifested the goodness of the divine work. Now, the divine work is also to lead us all to this full likeness of Christ’s icon, so that we too may be a reflection of his mercy and goodness in this world and also that the whole of creation may manifest that it is the Creator’s work, that it may give him glory in its beauty. Indeed, God’s beauty is inscribed in creation when we consider every work of creation as a path that leads us to God.
There are many mirrors in which we can contemplate God’s work, his action. Hildegard often offers us superimposed images, in other words, she contemplates God, the spiritual reality as reflected in His creation, in different mirrors.
Following Hildegard, many have spoken of mirrors through which we contemplate God’s work. One of the most illustrious was Vincent de Beauvais, who knew Hildegarde’s work and divided creation into several mirrors. Famous saints such as St. Bonaventure have also shown us the path our spirit takes towards God through the study and contemplation of His work, through the sciences, the arts.
St. Augustine, commenting on the Book of Genesis, which tells us that God created man and woman in his image and likeness, explains that it is not enough to be in God’s image, for someone’s image, his portrait, may be more or less like him. So what image of God do wars and divisions in this world reflect back to us? We do bear the image of God, we could indeed resemble him by loving one another, but instead we divide ourselves. So, as St. Augustine explains, God’s work is to lead us to full likeness, so that God may be sanctified in his works, that is, so that his works may reflect his glory, so that they may shine forth and we may praise him for his work. Jesus also tells us: “My Father is always at work” (John 5:17), that is, he never ceases to come to our aid and to lead us to full likeness with him: between image and likeness lies the whole history of humanity.
But it’s important to say – and we’ll see this in Hildegard’s visions – that even what has been corrupted by evil leads us to God, for in the exercise of the virtues that make us victorious over evil, we also manifest the work of God’s Holy Spirit, who leads us to Him, strengthens and purifies us. From our experience of evil, of the evil we have committed, we can, through faith, call upon God’s forgiveness, convert ourselves, transform our deeds, giving thanks for the abundance of his mercy and glorifying him through the good deeds we can perform in our turn, once united to him in and through the Spirit.
THE THREE MIRRORS IN HILDEGARD’S COMMENTARY ON GENESIS
Here, then, is Hildegard’s commentary on the first chapter of Genesis, the book that recounts the work of creation. St Hildegard was inspired by this text, which she contemplated in her visions. For each of the biblical verses examined, she will give us three explanations, three readings, not so as to take one or the other, but so that in each of the three explanations we can perceive a different reflection of God’s work, manifested in the whole of creation:
- In nature, whose order and life manifest the vital bond that unites it to God, revealing His work, leading to their Creator.
- In the stages of history, through which God’s action is revealed, leading us to our full likeness by calling us to himself through the human beings to whom he entrusted prophecy, then through Christ and then through the Church he formed.
- In human beings who bring God’s likeness to light through their good works.
I will give here a very brief summary of Hildegard’s explanation of the work of creation at the end of the first vision of the second part of the “Book of Divine Works”. The full Latin text is available online in the Latin Patrology edited by Migne, vol. 197, column 915 to 956, paragraph 16 and following to 49. Here is an English translation online by Nathaniel M. Campbell. The complete book with the original Latin text has also been translated into Italian and German (see bibliography at the end of this article).
Hildegard’s prophetic words offer three levels of reading, explaining how to discover in each divine word a revelation, a truth, that reveals the meaning of all creation. Thus, in each sentence of the Scripture, the divine word unfolds its greatness, making itself intelligible. It reveals the mystery of the Creator inscribed in his work, and announces his salvation through Jesus Christ, who continues to act through his Church. In each day of creation, Hildegard invites us to consider three mirrors that reflect the divine work.
- God’s work reflected in the order of nature. Contemplation of creation, of nature, leads us to God. The visible is an image of spiritual reality, of the itinerary of the spirit towards God. The elements of nature speak to us; they are an image of our inner, invisible, spiritual reality.
For example, the prophet Isaiah (55:10-11) tells us that, just as the rain that comes down does not return to heaven without making the earth fruitful and bearing fruit, so the word of God that comes down into us does not return to him without making us bear fruit.
In his parables (Matthew 13), Jesus also uses images of the nature to speak to us of the spiritual reality of the kingdom of heaven. He tells us of the little seed that falls to the ground, dies and then grows into a great tree that is home to many birds. This image of nature is also an image of our spirit, which welcomes the word, the will of God, follows it, is strengthened by it and bears fruit in welcoming its neighbor, whoever he may be, of every people, language and nation, just like the tree whose branches welcome different birds without distinction. Jesus himself, nailed to the tree of the cross, opened his arms to welcome the multitude.
The sunlight before which darkness cannot stand is also the image of God’s love, conqueror of the evil in the human heart. Free love, charity, covers a multitude of sins, the apostle tells us (1 Peter 4:8). For our gratuitous love is the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit, who dwells in our hearts and leads us to perfect likeness to him, who is the light of the world.
Nature offers us a multitude of images through which the Creator’s work is revealed. - God’s work is inscribed in time and history. The whole story of mankind is already told in the seven days of creation. Indeed, as we shall see in Hildegard’s prophetic commentary, the seven days introduce us to the contemplation of God’s plan, which is realized step by step in the history of mankind, but which was already fully present simultaneously in God’s vision. His will is always the same: to share his own joy, the joy of loving, with human beings. His eternal word is valid for all time. He comes to the aid of mankind through his word, announced by the prophets and made manifest in Jesus Christ, the word of God made flesh. Bringing men and women into full likeness with God means leading them to perfect joy through their mutual love. In this way, God’s plan is fulfilled in history through the word of the prophets, and then through Jesus, who transmits his Spirit to the faithful, forming the Church as members of the same body that receives its life from the head, Christ himself. Church, in Greek ekklesía, means the gathering of those who are called, invited, to share God’s joy: it’s the wedding feast to which all humanity is invited to participate through friendship and brotherly love; it’s up to us to respond to the invitation. In this way, the processes inscribed in nature, like the seed that bears fruit, will also be visible in the history of humanity, in which Christ gives birth to the Church, which is his body, that is to say, all the members animated by his Spirit. United with him, the faithful also live the life of Christ, and are also bearers of light. Just as Christ has been rejected, this light can also be rejected by his creatures; we can oppose the light and remain in the shadow. The light, however, will not cease to spread all around, the shadow is surrounded by light, everyone can access the light by opening the door, to welcome it, to welcome God’s gift, God’s for-giveness. This is the story of the Church, its persecution and its victory over darkness, told through the images of creation. In the elements of nature we also see the image of our spiritual adventure and the victory of the light that dispels our darkness. This spiritual reality, that is, the reality of our link with God, of our own spirit that welcomes or rejects the light, is visible through the images described to us by the prophets. Hildegard contemplates this spiritual reality, just as the apostle St John contemplated and described it in the Book of Revelation, through the images of his visions and the words of God that revealed their meaning to him. (See the article The 3 times of Revelation) In the same way, the spiritual meaning of the images of creation found in the biblical text is revealed to us by the initiative of God himself, who poured out his spirit on his faithful. A spirit that leads them to the whole truth, where flesh and Spirit become one in Jesus Christ, where the visible manifests the invisible reality of the Spirit.
- God’s work is to lead the human spirit to be a reflection of His glory. In this third mirror, the Creator is reflected through the life of each of his creatures, insofar as they are moved by his Spirit, i.e. by their desire to love, by their moral choices, by the justice and exemplarity of their conduct. Jesus recommends that we act in spirit and in truth. This means that even our errors, our sins, our selfishness, when recognized as such, lead us towards justice. But this is divine justice, which is of an altogether different order from human justice. If man recognizes his wrongdoing, he acts in truth, enlightened by the Spirit of God, who reveals the shadow that separates him from the light of love. Then, the human being who acknowledges his fault exposes his darkness to the light of divine mercy, which not only dispels it, but brings light where the shadow of death once stood, creating our spirit anew, bringing it back to life, vivifying it. Divine justice resurrects the human being who had fallen into death, separated from the source of life, from the bond of love that unites him to God. This infinite source of love that forgives our sins is represented by water, the water of baptism, which purifies, washes and makes the mirror of the human conscience, the human spirit, shine anew with the glory of God’s love. Accepting God’s forgiveness means being created anew, being reborn to the new life of a child of God, being introduced into the trusting filial relationship that never doubts divine benevolence. In the words that recount the creative act, then, we can read the path by which each of us is invited to rediscover this source of life, acting in truth when we acknowledge our errors, and giving glory to God through our actions that reveal his love for us.
HILDEGARD’S EXPLANATION OF THE DAYS OF CREATION
Here’s a summary of the words addressed to Hildegard, revealing three meanings in each Bible verse. I quote each verse from the first chapter of Genesis in the Latin version found in Hildegard’s own text (for the complete original Hebrew text of the creation story, see the article Genesis 1,1-2,3):
Day 1. Genesis 1, 1-5:
“In principio creavit Deus celum et terram. Terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebræ erant super faciem abyssi : et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas. Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. Et vidit Deus lucem quod esset bona : et divisit lucem a tenebris. Appellavitque lucem Diem, et tenebras Noctem: factumque est vespere et mane, dies unus.“
In principle God created heaven and earth. But the earth was lifeless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and light was made. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness Night: and evening was made and morning, day one.
This is a complex account, because God’s creative work is eternal, embracing all time. Jesus says: “My Father is always at work”, for we receive our life from Him, and true life is to welcome Him. God works out our salvation by leading us to Him.
God’s eternal creative work is reflected in three mirrors:
- God’s work in nature:
First, God conceived all creation, and in heaven and earth we must consider the matter of all heavenly and earthly creatures.
The light created before the sun and stars is not the light of our earthly days, but the light with which God’s face shines, offered to the contemplation of heavenly creatures. Whatever does not receive the light of God’s face must be considered in darkness.
The earth covers the abyss as the body covers the soul.
The Holy Spirit on the water shows that just as water washes, so the Holy Spirit cleanses from sin and is infused into man as into the waters. - God’s work in the Son and the Church:
In principle, that is, in the Son, God creates the Church. He who was eternal before time prepared the creation of the Church from nothing. In the same way he created the world, so he took flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He is the principle of heavenly and earthly justice through baptism and faith in the Trinity, which leads man back to Paradise. Christ is the tree of salvation, bearing fruit through his teaching, and living water springs from the Holy Spirit. On the earth, which is the surface of the abyss, was the darkness of unbelief. After the Ascension, the Holy Spirit hovers over the waters, that is, over the apostles. As Psalm 28:3 says: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters”, so the Holy Spirit is over the prophets. His voice resounded when he sent his Son. The apostles, enflamed by the Holy Spirit and teaching the Trinity, became like a single light. Their doctrine shone in the world. The one day shines forth from preaching; it is the Word, the Son, who shines forth in the flesh. He called the darkness of unbelief night. - God’s work in man:
God created man in his own image with the knowledge of good and evil, but man strayed from God and followed the devil. His desire for heavenly goods makes him like heaven, his desire for earthly goods makes him like earth. The earth is formless and empty because man follows evil earthly inclinations that dominate the body, which is like the surface of the abyss, and the soul is the abyss, for the body is visible like the surface and the soul invisible like the abyss covered by the earth. The spirit hovers over the waters, for man in affliction weeps, and thus the grace of the Spirit is born in him. The waters at the beginning of creation are produced by the breath of God’s Spirit, so the Spirit produces tears (salty like the sea). After affliction, man is ready for good works; man can begin to work in the light, from the darkness he was, he becomes luminous through his good works. Thus, God, seeing that man has begun to accomplish good deeds, removes from him evil, darkness, and calls the luminous deeds day of salvation as man returns to him, and calls the deeds that turn man towards the devil the night of perdition. From the evening of evil deeds, man passes to the morning of virtue, which leads to light.
Day 2. Genesis 1, 6-8.
Dixit quoque Deus: Fiat firmamentum in medio aquarum, et dividat aquas ab aquis. Et fecit Deus firmamentum, divisitque aquas, quæ erant sub firmamento, ab his, quæ erant super firmamentum. Et factum est ita.
Vocavitque Deus firmamentum, Cælum : et factum est vespere et mane, dies secundus.
And God said: “Let the firmament be made in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters that were under the firmament from those that were above the firmament. And so it was done. And God called the firmament Heaven: and was made evening and morning, the second day.
- God’s work in nature:
The firmament is stable, the divine work is unfathomable like the sky. The firmament tells of God’s works, for as in a mirror the sun shows the divine nature, the moon the Son’s humanity and the stars his secrets. Believers, then, will be an innumerable crowd like the stars. The firmament separates the heavenly from the earthly creatures, some represented by the waters that rise to heaven and others by those that descend to earth. - God’s work in the Son and the Church:
Let the firmament of faith be made in the midst of those who have no faith in God. God placed the preaching of the apostles as the firmament that divides those caught up in earthly things from those who were above the firmament, that is, founded on Christ. He called the firmament heaven, that is the stability of faith, the city of the Church, which contains heavenly works. Evening and morning, believers and non-believers. He does not say: he saw that it was good, for the works kindled by faith, the sun and the stars, had not yet manifested themselves. - God’s work in the human being:
God made the firmament, which signifies the ability to discern the difference between spiritual and carnal demands. Man must nurture the desire for heaven and deal with the necessities of the flesh with discernment. Go to heaven with sobs and deal with the flesh to the extent necessary. Vain glory makes him unstable and the Holy Spirit cannot rest in him. God divides heavenly virtues from earthly necessities and irrigates both through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The active life and the contemplative life ordered by discernment, the virtue to hold both in just consideration. He calls the firmament heaven, because virtue governs body and soul. Evening and morning, because the purpose of the virtues is to lead to God. We must aspire to Christ, ask in prayer to reach him like the wise virgins. He does not say that he saw that it was good, for discernment is what sustains the virtues, which in turn bring about what is good.
Day 3. Genesis 1, 9-13:
Dixit vero Deus : Congregentur aquæ, quæ sub cælo sunt, in locum unum : et appareat arida. Et factum est ita. Et vocavit Deus aridam Terram, congregationesque aquarum appellavit Maria. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Et ait : Germinet terra herbam virentem, et facientem semen, et lignum pomiferum faciens fructum juxta genus suum, cujus semen in semetipso sit super terram. Et factum est ita. Et protulit terra herbam virentem, et facientem semen juxta genus suum, lignumque faciens fructum, et habens unumquodque sementem secundum speciem suam. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Et factum est vespere et mane, dies tertius.
And God said, “Let the waters under heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry land appear. And so it was. And God called the dry land Earth, and called the heaps of water Sea. And God saw that it was good. And he said: “Let the earth bring forth green grass, which yields seed, and fruitful wood, which yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth. And so it was done. And the earth brought forth grass that is green and yields seed according to its kind, and wood that yields fruit, each yielding seed according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And it was evening and morning, the third day.
- God’s work in nature:
Hildegard tells us that just as God prepared the earth to bear fruit even before he created the sun and moon, so God’s work remained hidden like the fire that burns in silence before the wind blows, that is, before it is awakened by the virtue of the living word that became flesh. In the same way, the prophets before the Incarnation waited for the fullness of what they were announcing to manifest itself. Prophecy before the incarnation was as if mute, but now after the passion, prophecies are explained and illuminate the firmament like the stars. - God’s work in the Son and the Church:
God gathered the Christian people into a single Church. The uncultivated soil of unbelief germinates by inspiration of the living water of the Holy Spirit, lifted up by the plough of faith. Cultivated, it bears fruit. The Church was called the Promised Land. It was brought together by the waters of the apostles, guided by the pilot of the ship, Christ, in the midst of the storms of the sea. It is with God’s help that storms are weathered. The Church is the crystal sea seen by John (in Revelation 4:6), mixed with fire, on which stand those who have defeated the beast. The living earth is the Church, which produces the fruits of righteousness through preaching. The passage from evening to morning is that which takes place through the trials of faith. - God’s work in human beings:
Let the waters be gathered and the dry appear. Through discernment, man does not exceed in the necessities of the body, but moderates them. They are thus gathered according to a single rule of moderation. Let man call himself earth, and recognize that he fluctuates like the waves of the sea. God makes humility germinate. Let virtue be like the seed of the divine word, placed in man’s soil. The earth deprived of humility produces no fruit. From evening to morning, abstaining from evil and practicing humility, he begins what is good.
Day 4. Genesis 1, 14-19:
Dixit autem Deus: Fiat luminaria in firmamento coeli, et dividant diem et noctem, et sint in signa et tempora, et dies, et annos et luceant in firmamento cæli, et illuminent terram. Et factum est ita. Fecitque Deus duo luminaria magna : luminare majus, ut præesset diei, et luminare minus, ut præesset nocti. Et stellas. Et posuit eas in firmamento cæli, ut lucerent super terram, et præessent diei ac nocti, et dividerent lucem ac tenebras. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum. Et factum est vespere et mane, dies quartus.
And God said: Let the luminaries be made in the firmament of heaven, and let them divide the day and the night, and be the signs for the seasons, and the days and the years: and let them shine in the firmament of heaven, and give light to the earth. And so it was done. And God made the two great luminaries, the major luminary to preside over the day, and the minor luminary to preside over the night. And the stars. And God set them in the firmament to shine above the earth, and to preside over day and night, and to divide light and darkness. And God saw that it was good. And the evening was made and the morning, the fourth day.
- God’s work in nature:
Hildegard tells us to consider this: by divine command the light of the firmament showed God’s work as beautiful and glorious, in the same way also the soul makes the body beautiful and glorious.
In the two luminaries, God has foreseen the way to bring his work to perfection, which is man in his two natures: celestial in the science of good, which is like the day, and terrestrial in the science of evil, which is like the night. Through these two sciences, man learns what is good and moves away from evil, asking forgiveness and doing penance. Thus, in the night, he shines like the stars that remain in their place. Celestial science, like the sun, is stable and comes from above, while terrestrial science waxes and wanes, but when it wanes the stars shine brighter and lead man, beset by night, back into the day. This order of nature is admirable, and reveals the victory of light which dispels darkness, as a reflection of the human nature, therefore it is said that God saw that it was good. - God’s work in the Son and the Church:
As the lights in heaven separate day from night and illuminate the earth, so let priests and doctors of the Church be made to illuminate the Church by announcing the happiness obtained through obedience to faith, and to let understand the night, i.e. eternal torment. Let them show us how to respect the divine precepts throughout the year, how to celebrate His greatness, in the image of the angels who sing God’s praises and illuminate the Church, the land of the living.
Just as God ordained heaven to illuminate the earth, so he gave the Church spiritual masters of higher rank to guide the lesser luminaries who are charged with earthly affairs and exercise minor offices to illuminate the Church. Evening and morning: the Church’s progress on the fourth day, as it is now illuminated by pastors. - God’s work in human beings:
In the words of Scripture we must consider this: like the firmament in heaven, in human discernment too there are two luminaries. These are the precepts to love God and neighbor as oneself. Let them be signs for the inner life. Let this light reign over the day, i.e. over faith, for man cannot see God, but comes to him in the interiority of the soul through his desire to love God, the great luminary, and through the small one of love of neighbor, for he can see his neighbor with his external eyes. This vision through the eyes is inferior to the other because it is nocturnal, i.e. contaminated by sin, whereas the light of faith turns us towards the contemplation of God. The precept of love of neighbor illuminates the night of sin, in which the stars are like the good and upright thoughts by which the human being discerns God’s justice. God saw that this was good, for man’s dwelling place is arranged according to divine justice, and that illuminated by the precepts of love, man reconciles himself with God by doing works.
Day 5. Genesis 1:20-23:
Dixit etiam Deus: Producant aquae reptile animae viventis, et volatile super terram sub firmamento coeli. Creavitque Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem atque motabilem, quam produxerant aquæ in species suas, et omne volatile secundum genus suum. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum; benedixitque eis, dicens: Crescite, et multiplicamini, et replete aquas maris; avesque multiplicentur super terram. Et factum est vespere et mane, dies quintus.
And God said: Let the waters produce those who move with the motion of a living soul and the volatiles (who fly) above the earth under the firmament of heaven. And God created the great cetaceans, and every living soul, moving, which the waters produced according to their kinds, and every volatile according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Grow and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea; and let birds multiply on the earth. And it was made evening and morning, the fifth day.
- God’s work in nature:
Let us consider in the creation of creatures produced by water that water is sanctified before all creatures by the Spirit. Just as water is superior to all things pure and impure, so the human soul penetrates all parts of the body and sanctifies them, for it is in the image of God and superior to the flesh. The generation of animals in water is purer than earthly generation, and is thus an image of generation through baptism, which comes about through the Spirit and water, as it is of Mary’s virginal childbirth. Through the fish that move nimbly in the water, God shows that man is moved by a living soul, and through the birds he shows that through rationality man can fly anywhere. Like the birds that are carried in the air, spiritual men flee the common people and seek spiritual nourishment. Fish and birds carry within themselves the air from which they live, so they are blessed to grow according to their kind, which carries the breath, the Spirit of God. This is how the passage from evening to morning takes place, when the soul that sees what is spiritual purifies man’s senses, and through its view of spiritual realities, through its rationality, understands that it has within itself the similitude (societatem) of angelic spirits. The soul exists, albeit invisibly, and it moves the form of the body like a tunic with which it is clothed, and through it every creature can perceive it through intelligence, for it is the movement of the living. - God’s work in the Son and the Church:
Fish multiply in the waters and birds fly above the earth, under the firmament: the apostles’ preaching calls for abstinence through fasting and prayer, for detachment from earthly things. Heaven is Christ, and by the feathers of virtue, like virgins and widows, we fly in the Church and follow heavenly things. It’s the same when Christ (in Matthew 19:29) invites us to leave our own house and household, i.e. the house of our own will and fleshly desires, for the glory of His name and to possess eternal life, i.e. to receive peace of mind in our bodies by putting away all worldly preoccupations and following Christ.
The spirit of man moves in the waters and rises to heaven, for it never ceases to be converted from evil to good, proceeding from virtue to virtue. These virtues were produced by the waters over which the Holy Spirit descended. These waters are the apostles upon whom the Holy Spirit descended: they showed how, by going beyond earthly things, we can live the heavenly life. It is in faith that man contemplates the height where God dwells, and unites with the celestial harmonies that contemplate and praise God. And the same praise resounds above heaven in every kind of music, because of the miracles God performs in the man who, through his words and deeds, draws crowds to be reborn in God. This man is like water, necessary for mankind; impregnated by the Holy Spirit, he begets spiritually by abstaining from earthly pleasures, so we must consider the separation of water and earth. Therefore God saw that it was good, that the righteous renounce themselves, their own will, and that by the divine blessing their virtues multiply and fill the living waters that pour forth, that is, the apostles whose knowledge produces the streams of divine Scripture in the Church, which is the sea of crystal and fire, in which they perpetuate the memory of the Lord’s incarnation. May the Christian people pass from the evening when they dedicate themselves to the works of the world, to the morning when the fountain of life gushes forth, dedicated to abstinence in the light of faith. - God’s work in human beings:
The men who free themselves from worldly preoccupations, and produce the animals of virtue like the waters, are the souls who live the contemplative life and rise above the rules that govern earthly life. As Isaiah 60:8 says: “Who are those who fly like clouds and like doves to their dovecotes?” Those who despise earthly things and with the simplicity and humility of doves lift their gaze to God. As God knows his work before the creature, he arranged in his creation what was necessary for the creature, and in the water he signified spiritual life and in the earth corporeal life. Water purifies and fertilizes the earth as the soul fertilizes the body. The earth produces greenery because of the water, so God inscribes in the created elements the image of man’s possibility to bear fruit through the virtues and to implement the desires of his soul and aspire to heaven carried by the wind of the Spirit.
In order for the body to nourish itself, the soul moves man through taste, and at the same time, through the desire for heavenly things, the soul regulates overeating. Man must find a balance so that excessive abstinence does not fill him with pride and drive him away from God. Thus, the virtues are in rationality, which is like the celestial vault that governs them so that man’s spirit does not rise higher than it can bear through pride, and fall lower driven by his earthly desires.
The great fish are like the great virtues of virginity and chastity, which under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit desire the ardent love of God. These virtues are good because they lead us to imitate the Son who became flesh and brought justice to its fullness. May good works multiply and strengthen men, who fluctuate according to their fragility. The fifth virtue, contempt for the worldly, is like the fifth day.
Day 6. Genesis 1, 24-30:
Dixit quoque Deus : Producat terra animam viventem in genere suo, jumenta, et reptilia, et bestias terræ secundum species suas. Factumque est ita. Et fecit Deus bestias juxta species suas, et jumenta, et omne reptile terræ in genere suo. Et vidit Deus quod esset bonum; et ait : Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram; et præsit piscibus maris, et volatilibus cæli, et bestiis, universæque terræ, omnique reptili, quod movetur in terra. Et creavit Deus hominem ad imaginem suam; ad imaginem Dei creavit illum, masculum et feminam creavit eos; benedixitque illis Deus et ait : Crescite et multiplicamini, et replete terram, et subjicite eam, et dominamini piscibus maris, et volatilibus cæli, et universis animantibus, quæ moventur super terram. Dixitque Deus : Ecce dedi vobis omnem herbam afferentem semen super terram, et universa ligna quæ habent in semetipsis sementem generis sui, ut sint vobis in escam, et cunctis animantibus terræ, omnique volucri cæli, et universis quæ moventur in terra, et in quibus est anima vivens, ut habeant ad vescendum. Et factum est ita. Viditque Deus cuncta quæ fecerat, et erant valde bona. Et factum est vespere et mane, dies sextus.
And God said: Let the earth bring forth a living soul after its kind, beasts of burden, and creeping things, and the beasts of the earth after their kinds. And so it was done. And God made the beasts after their kind and the beasts of burden and every creeping thing of the earth after its kind. And God saw that it was good; and said, Let us make man in our image and likeness; and let him preside over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the beasts, and over every creature of the universe, and over every creeping thing that moveth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image; in his own image he created him, male and female he created them; and he blessed them and said: Grow and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said: Behold, I have given you every herb that bears seed on the earth, and every wood that has in itself the seed of its kind, that they may be food for you, and for every living thing of the earth, and for every winged thing of the sky, and for all that move in the earth, and in which is a living soul, that they may have food. And so it was done. And God saw all the things he had made, and they were very good. And the evening was made and the morning, the sixth day.
- God’s work in nature :
God created the different kinds of animals so that man could learn different attitudes: domestic animals to learn service, reptiles to learn the fear of God, wild animals to give glory to God.
The Trinity makes man in its own image, that is, in the image of the One who will take flesh in the virgin to save man. The flesh clothed in the virgin birth is called a tunic, because the tunic is the image of the form that God has always known, before time. The divinity will never separate from it, but the human soul will separate from the body at death and take it up again at resurrection. The Trinity makes man in His likeness through science, wisdom and rationality, by which He dominates and is superior to animals. Thus, God puts within man the invisible soul that comes from heaven and can be seen only by faith as the divinity, for it resembles the angelic spirit, while the visible body comes from the earth. Man and woman are one, like body and soul.
The human being is superior to fish and birds in the five senses, and to the animals of the earth in rationality. The purpose of everything is the human being who, at the end of time, will see God, as God intended, by being regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit. The sixth day completes the time at the end of which man will take the place of the fallen angel. - God’s work in the Son and the Church:
Let the earth, i.e. the Church, produce all living virtues through the teaching of the apostles. Every living thing must respect the behavior God has planned for it. Man is made in God’s image through rationality and likeness through science and wisdom, in order to build up the Church. Let him have dominion over the fish, dominating earthly things and obeying the Gospel. May he have dominion over the birds, flying towards the good by practicing the virtues. Let him have dominion over wild beasts and all creatures by putting his body and soul at God’s service, and over reptiles by abstaining from earthly carnal things. As animals do not go beyond their nature, so man must respect the behavior that is allotted to him according to his strength, only then will abstinence from the things of this world be perfect in the exercise of virtue, in moderation.
God makes man in his own image, so that he may build up the Church: so that the divinity may be recognized in the Church, when man accomplishes the works of God through the masculine and feminine virtues.
Let them fill the earth, that is, the Church, by submitting to Christ and following the Gospel, departing from earthly things by the winged virtues and strengthening themselves in the good.
God gave herbs so that men could eat. God ordained the Church through faith in the Son, who was born on uncultivated land, and grew as green as in the virgin’s womb, and was like the flowers that spring from the meadows. The Son bore the seed of God’s Word to be sown on the promised land, the Church, which was built to become the heavenly Jerusalem. He brought a law so that men could feed on the divine will by fulfilling its precepts, for the Son said: “My food is to do my Father’s will” (John 4:34). Christ nourishes himself by doing the Father’s will, by accepting a body subject to passions, that of man, to lead him to Paradise through victory over the devil. Feed, then, on my law, the pastures of life, so that by observing it you may live forever. And this was very good, for in the fullness of grace all things appear good. From the initial instability of the evening, the Church moves on to the morning of righteousness, where the laws are established that man became capable of fulfilling on the sixth day in the light of faith. - God’s work in man:
Let the earth, i.e. man, produce the living virtues of the soul, let it be continually turned towards God.
Let soul and body obey God as domestic animals obey man, and, as animals that crawl and wild beasts are subject to man, so let man be subject to another man by the virtue of obedience in humility that chastises pride.
Man, created in the image of God, dominates the animals, overcomes evil desires and by good works rises to God in the desire to obey God’s law. May man be given the honor of holiness and the knowledge of God, and may he have the love of the holy incarnation through the love of the neighbor, thus giving honor to God who made him in His image.
God creates man for His glory, to be recognized in him, in his humanity and divinity. God’s mercy is reflected in man’s mercy towards his fellow man. Masculinity corresponds to the strength not to give in to iniquity towards others and oneself. Femininity corresponds to the gift of divine mercy, which forgives and heals so that the man afflicted by excessive penitence does not continue to be drawn into evil deeds. Let this man grow in virtue and multiply it within himself, so that the earth, i.e. other men, will be filled with his good works and teachings. He will have to control his desires. Virtues, like herbs bear the seed of God’s word, and like the fruits of trees nourish man and make him grow above carnal desire. These virtues inspired by the words of God are food for the soul.
God sees that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all things are good, for manifesting themselves in man’s virtues they have come to perfection. The sixth virtue is obedience.
Day 7. Genesis 2, 1-3:
Igitur perfecti sunt coeli et terra, et omnis ornatum forum. Complevitque Deus die septimo opus suum quod fecerat; et requievit die septimo ab universo opere quod patrarat.
Thus were heaven and earth perfected, and all their ornaments. And on the seventh day God completed the work he had done; and on the seventh day he rested from all the work he had done.
- God’s work in nature :
God brings the upper and lower elements of creation to perfection. He blesses and sanctifies the seventh day, for in it, through the work of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, every creature is fully created, led to perfection by the virtue that corresponds to each of the days. - The work of God in the Son and the Church:
The heavenly works that lead to heaven and the earthly works necessary for mankind are brought to perfection. It is the coming of the Son who accomplishes all the work of creation. In Him is the fullness of all good, and through Him the people of the Church learn what they must do according to God’s precepts. By fulfilling the divine dispositions, the Son and his apostles manifest what the prophets had foretold in the shadow. It is then that the day of rest shines forth in the Church, for in the Son all the work of life is manifested, present, future and past. God blessed the seventh day when he sent his Son to become incarnate in the virgin’s womb. It is with the Church that the work comes to completion in the holiness of the works of the faithful, who freely choose to imitate Christ and shine forth as rose and lily blossoms. God’s perfect work shines forth in the holiness of works. - God’s work in human beings:
Heavenly and earthly virtues are fulfilled in man in righteousness and truth through good works. The seventh day is the Son who manifests the perfection of good works and fulfills them in man through the perfection of all virtues. Like a goldsmith, God places the precious stones of good works accomplished by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which are the ornament of mankind.
God blesses the seventh day in the perfection of his works, that is, in the man who is a member of the body of Christ, animated by his spirit. For in the imitation of the Son, man is brought back to life. As, in the Son, God forgives the debts of men, so man now forgives the debts of his neighbor.
Related article
Hildegard and the spiritual path
Bibliography:
About Hildegard:
– In German: Hildegard von Bingen (Zugänge zum Denken des Mittelalters, 8) by Maura Zátonyi (in German)
– In French: Hildegarde de Bingen, Le livre de Poche, by Régine Pernoud (in French)
– In Italian: Ildegarda, la potenza e la grazia, Città Nuova, by Lucia Tancredi
Studies on Hildegard’s visions and miniatures:
– Hildegard von Bingen, Nel cuore di Dio, ed. Skira, by Sara Salvadori
– Hildegard von Bingen, Viaggio nelle immagini, ed. Skira, by Sara Salvadori
– Vidi et intellexi. Die Schrifthermeneutik in der Visionstrilogie Hildegards von Bingen, Aschendorff Verlag, by Maura Zatonyi (in German)
Biography:
Vita Sanctae Hildegardis/Leben der Heiligen Hildegard von Bingen, Fontes Christiane, ed. Herder (Latin text and German translation of the biography written by the monks Theoderich of Echternacher and Guibert of Gembloux, contemporaries of Hildegard).
Translations of the “Book of Divine Works”:
– Das Buch vom Wirken Gottes – Liber Divinorum Operum, Abtei St. Hildegard, Eibingen, Beuroner Kunstverlag (vol.6 of the complete works in German).
– Il libro delle opere divine, Mondadori (complete original Latin text, Italian translation by Michela Pereira and notes by Marta Cristiani and Michela Pereira)
– The Book of Divine Works by St. Hildegard of Bingen, translated and introduced by Nathaniel M. Campbell, The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.