A Concord Pastor Comments: NIGHT PRAYER: Tuesday 9/17

Today is the feast of Saint Hildegard of Bingen. Born in 1098, Hildegard was a German Benedictine abbess and was active as a theologian, composer (77 musical works), philosopher, poet, mystic and visionary. Her works include three great volumes of visionary theology; a variety of musical compositions for use in the liturgy, as well as a musical morality play Ordo Virtutum; one of the largest bodies of letters (nearly 400) to survive from the Middle Ages, addressed to correspondents including popes and emperors; records of many of the sermons she preached in the 1160s and 1170s; two volumes of material on natural medicine and cures; an invented language called the Lingua Ignota ('unknown language'); and various minor works, including a gospel commentary and two works of hagiography. Regional church calendars have celebrated her feast for centuries but it was only in 2012 that Benedict XVI extended her feast to the universal church calendar and named her a Doctor of the Church.

You were so generous, Lord,

in the wisdom and gifts, the talents and skills

the love and the grace

bestowed on your daughter, Hildegard...

In her life and her words, her visions and songs,

she disclosed and revealed your Spirit at work

and the glory you show and share with us

in our lives, in creation and in all the arts...

Your gifts are so many to all of us, Lord,

given for blessing and healing the world,

for lifting up peoples of every faith

and for shaping the life of the church,

your people gathered for worship and work...

Help each of us know the gifts we've been given,

help us use and share them in service of all,

help us open those gifts that pour out your glory

revealing your presence at every turn...

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts

but the same Spirit;

there are different forms of service

but the same Lord;

there are different workings

but the same God

who produces all of them in everyone.

To each individual

the manifestation of the Spirit

is given for some benefit.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

Protect us, Lord while we're awake

and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.

Tonight's music is one of Hildegard's compositions, O Ignis Spiritus. It's sung in Latin but I've provided a translation below. Don't let the unfamiliar language put you off... Listen, and let the music you hear take you back to the chapel in Hildegard's monastery where she prayed in the Middle Ages: she's still praying with us this night... Just "sit in the monastery with Hildegard" and let the music draw you into a prayerful place in your heart...

O Ignis Spiritus by Hildegard of Bingen

recorded by Sequentia

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1a. O fire of the Spirit and Defender,
the life of every life created:
Holy are you—giving life to every form.

1b. Holy are you—anointing the critically
broken. Holy are you—cleansing
the festering wounds.

2a. O breath of holiness,
O fire of love,
O taste so sweet within the breast,
that floods the heart with virtues’ fragrant good.

2b. O clearest fountain,
in which is seen the mirrored work of God:
to gather the estranged
and seek again the lost.

3a. O living armor, hope that binds
the every limb,
O belt of honor: save the blessed.

3b. Guard those enchained in evil’s prison,
and loose the bonds of those
whose saving freedom is the forceful will of God.

4a. O mighty course that runs within and through
the all—up in the heights, upon the earth,
and in the every depth—
you bind and gather all together.

4b. From you the clouds flow forth, the wind takes flight,
the stones their moisture hold,
the waters rivers spring,
and earth viridity exudes.

5a. You are the teacher of the truly learned,
whose joy you grant
through Wisdom’s inspiration.

5b. And so may you be praised, who are the sound of praise,
the joy of life, the hope and potent honor,
and the giver of the gifts of light.