By Sr. Doreen, SSJD
“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind with all these things .
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it. For
without we cannot survive.”
This is another theme of Hildegard of Bingen’s spirituality. Earth’s greenings … and her call to a “Green and Juicy Spirituality” and also how this is connected to the “Greening power of Justice.” It made me take a look at my own life, to ponder the question, was my spirituality a green and juicy spirituality?
It evokes an image of something living, lush, and cool! To have a spirituality like that is a remarkable image! And to understand justice in the context of a greening power, shines a new light on what we are called to be and do.
She is said to have taught: “If we desire a green and juicy spirituality, the well of our life must always be replenished by the power of faith and an understanding of scripture. Each thing gives out the inner quality of ‘isness’. When we live in concert with our true nature, there is our noblest calling and surest happiness. We live in Christ and Christ lives in us. Our entire being cries out: ‘what I do is me, for that I came.’ Let the juice of creation flow freely through you. Know the joy of the Creator’s kiss.”
Hildegard understood the wonderful harmony and balance of things in creation; her life, her songs, and her example all demonstrated the wisdom that ‘enough is enough’. For her there is an interdependence of all things as she says, “God has arranged all things in the world in consideration of everything else.” She was grounded in peaceful and gentle ways of living.
She often talks about the ‘sweating power’ of the earth, the need to stay juicy, wet, green, moist and also good humoured. Pondering this today, she offers us, I believe, a refreshing spirituality. She brings new life by talking of the juice of creation, the juice of the soul, the juice of humanities work. She wrote: “when a forest does not green vigorously, then it is no longer a forest. When a tree does not blossom, it cannot bear fruit. Likewise, a person cannot be fruitful without the greening power of faith, and an understanding of scripture.” She goes on to point out something that you and I have experienced in our own lives: to maintain anything of value, it must be nurtured. We need to make sure that we replenish ourselves through scripture, prayer and reflection, and a contemplative pondering presence to the living gospel around us – to see life and to see each other, in our dailyness, as held in the joy of the Creator’s kiss. To be held in that joy – we need to nurture it.
Her prophetic voice calls us to see the promise that God will never abandon us. God will never stop giving us another chance to enter into a new relationship with ourselves, each other and God. She believed, she knew, that goodness will prevail – this is the hope and the joy that she holds out to us today – like Julian of Norwich, all shall be well because God said so! And you and I are challenged by her to give the same message through our love for one another and all of creation, and through our faithfulness to the faithful God.
For Hildegard, the flourishing of justice brings a greening to the soul. I believe that she makes a rich contribution to our spiritual lives today. Today as we face environmental pollution and deterioration, climate change with all its devastation, and our social, political, and ethnic violence, and personal alienation on such a large scale, it is Hildegard’s wisdom that also reminds us to keep in balance also that there is a growing ecological awareness, a new sense of the comprehensive community of all things and of our interdependence: the knowledge that we need each other. In the face of what seems falling apart, we need to nurture and support all that is working to create new life and hope in a growing ecological community.
She offers us a radical opportunity for global religious ecumenism because she is so true to her own mystical roots and her own creative process – that there is a cosmic oneness – a oneness held in the joy of the Creator’s kiss: she models a role of reintegration and holistic cosmic consciousness and relating that is fundamentally one of unity. Like Hildegard, I believe that it is when we are in touch and grounded in our own roots that we can be ecumenical in its fullest sense – a freedom that can bring together all the creativity of humankind in touch with each other and the whole cosmos. It is together that we each in our own small way can make a big difference: together.
Liberation was, for her, the re-establishment of harmony – the acknowledgement of every human being of their co-creative responsibility with God for the earth and everyone and everything in it. For her spirituality was communal, not simply a personal relationship with God. So it is with us, Christian spirituality focuses our relationships on other persons and on all creation. Our just actions nourish these relationships.
Hildegard begs us, encourages us to “let the juice of creation flow through you. Know the joy of the Creator’s kiss – that we are ever held, carried, by the power of God.
Hildegard believed that God was the source of all viriditas, (the word means greening power) God’s greening power. But she also believed that we all have viriditas, this creative life power, within us. Healing comes when we figure out what is blocking our viriditas. So I will ask what Hildegard might have asked: where are the brown, dead spots in your life or your spirit? What area is in need of greening? What is getting in the way? What needs to grow in you?
I suspect the Hildegard is singing somewhere still. And I suspect that she is eager to make music with all of us today! In the midst of a world that clamours for answers, she reminds us that we must live with questions, stay connected and integrated on a healing journey toward wholeness. Hers was a happy life because it was a life lived for others – and she shows us how to find happiness in enjoying the beauties of creation (in ourselves, others, and all around us). This is the way to healing and wholeness in and with the world in which we live. I thank God for her wisdom message.