Matthew Fox on how Hildegard of Bingen advises us to recover a sense of the sacred in all things.
Matthew Fox is a popular and controversial speaker, spiritual teacher, and author of more than 30 books. He was a member of the Dominican Order for 34 years until silenced by the Vatican in 1989 and formally dismissed in 1993. Now an Episcopal priest, he travels extensively sharing his vision of a spirituality that includes mysticism, social justice, and the marriage of the Divine Feminine and the Sacred Masculine.
In this passionately presented book, Fox looks at Hildegard of Bingen as harbinger, prophet, and template of our own age even though she was born almost 1,000 years ago. In his third book on this saint and Doctor of the Church, he celebrates her as a herald of the Divine Feminine, a green prophet, and a church reformer. She represents an alternative to the fundamentalism which has hobbled all the world’s religions and has tried to keep alive the albatross of patriarchy.
Fox begins with a stirring five-page tribute to Hildegard of Bingen’s many talents and accomplishments and ends the book with an appendix of spiritual practices in the spirit of this faithful servant of God.
In a dazzling series of thought-provoking chapters, Fox shows the relevance of this 11th century dynamo to our times. He creatively sets her multidimensional ministry alongside the panentheism of Mary Oliver, Howard Thurman’s God of life and light, the eco-warrior defenders of the earth, Einstein’s science, creation spirituality, the wild woman spirit of Clarissa Pinkola Estes, the prophetic challenge, and Dorothee Soelle’s advocacy of the Divine Feminine.
Along the way, Fox quotes Hildegard of Bingen. Here is a sampler of her vision:
• “No creature, whether visible or invisible, lacks a spiritual life.”
• “There is no creation that does not have a radiance. Be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty — it could not be creation without it.”
• “The blowing wind, the mild, moist air, the exquisite greening of trees and grasses — in their beginning, in their ending, they give God their praise.”
• “It is in praise and service that the surprise of God is consummated.”
• “The prophets are a royal people, who penetrate mystery and see with the spirit’s eyes. In illuminating darkness, they speak out.”
An Excerpt from Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times, Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century by Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox pays tribute to the talents and accomplishments of Hildegard of Bingen. Here is an excerpt on reverence.
“Hildegard advises us, ‘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. Who gives all these shining, wonderful gifts, if not God?’
“Shining and wonderful, luminous and fiery, and filled with doxa — the Greek word for ‘glory’ or ‘radiance,’ used at special times in the Scriptures — are these gifts of sun, moon, stars, and green things that flourish on the earth. They evoke in us delight. Joy is attached! Pleasure is among us. Enchantment surrounds us. The moon speaks to us. The sun blesses us with warmth, nurture, and food (as plants and animals absorb or ‘eat’ sunlight and thereby flourish via photosynthesis). Delight indeed! Tasty things come home to our intimate breakfast and dinner tables. Many shining, wonderful, delicious gifts. Pay attention, and by so doing learn to praise.
“Hildegard celebrates the glory — the radiance, or living light — that’s in all beings. ‘There is no creation that does not have a radiance,’ she says. ‘Be it greenness or seed, blossom or beauty — it could not be creation without it.’ All creation contains radiance or ‘glory.’ All beauty contains the same. We are struck with beauty and radiance many times every day. Hildegard is echoing the prophet Isaiah’s awareness that ‘all of creation contains the glory of God’ (Is 6.3). She tastes and breathes this glory.
“Wisdom speaks to Hildegard: ‘I, the fiery life of divine wisdom, I ignite the beauty of the plains, I sparkle the waters, I burn in the sun, and the moon, and the stars. With wisdom I order all rightly. Above all, I determine truth.’ There’s a fiery life to wisdom, one that ignites, sparkles, burns, and keeps things in order. Even truth itself is full of this radiance and fire. Hildegard is deeply sensitive to this ‘living light,’ which so often appears in her visions and speaks to her in the first person.
“When Hildegard was seventy-seven years old, she wrote the following description of her experiences: ‘From my childhood days, when my limbs, nerves, and veins were not yet strong, the gift of this vision brought joy to my soul; and this has remained true up to this very time when I am a woman of more than 70 years . . . The light which I see is not bound by space. It is much, much more light-filled than a cloud that carries the sun in itself. There is nothing in it to recognize of height, length, or breadth. It was described to me as the “shadow of the living light.” And just as the sun, the moon, and the stars are reflected in water, so writings, talks, powers, and certain actions of people are illuminated for me in this light. . . .
” ‘It is in this light that I sometimes see, though not often, another light that I call “the living light.” When and how I see this, I cannot say. But as long as I see this “living light” all sadness and anxiety are taken away from me. The result is that I feel like a simple young girl and not like an old lady. . . .’
“Words like ‘radiance,’ ‘numinosity,’ ‘glory,’ and ‘doxa’ are synonyms for the Cosmic Christ, the image of God present and shining in all beings. This is like the Buddha Nature, which is also said to be present in all things, heightening our sense of reverence and respect. This teaching is about recovering a sense of the sacredness of all things. The Cosmic Christ is the Logos, or Word, that we have seen dwells in all things not passively but actively, urging them on to their rich fecundity and generativity — to the implementation of their greening powers.”
Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times
Unleashing Her Power in the 21st Century
Matthew Fox
Namaste Publishing 10/12 Paperback
ISBN: 9781897238738