Hildegard of Bingen was born at the end of the 11th century, more than 900 years ago, at a time when women did not have a lot of opportunities. Yet, she was an Abbess of a Benedictine monastery, an artist, a poet, a composer, an author, a musician, a pharmacist, a poet, a mystic, a preacher, and a theologian. She was not officially canonized a saint in the Church until Pope Benedict XVI named her as a Doctor of the Church in 2012. She became a nun at the age of 18. She was asked to write down the spiritual visions she had been having since the age of 3. She spent 10 years writing all of that down. Through her visions, she saw human beings as sparks of God’s love, coming from God just as the daylight emanates from the sun. In her mystical view of creation, she looked for harmony and unity between men and women and with all God’s creation. She was ahead of her time in a lot of ways. You can imagine that these views often caused tension with the authorities. Yet, when she was canonized, Pope Benedict XVI praised the humility with which she received her gifts from God and the rich theological content of her mystical visions.
St Paul talks about the body being comprised of many parts, but that in one spirit we are baptized into the one body of Christ, even though God bestows upon us different gifts. We see many unique gifts at work in Hildegard of Bingen. Even when we are called by God in different ways, may we put his gifts at work as we work together united as one Church.
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