Reflecting on the First Sunday of Advent

Musings on the gospel of the First Sunday of Advent (Mark 13:33-37), based on the model of Hildegard of Bingen

         Jesus said to his disciples: a circle of men and woman, Jesus sitting with them; perhaps several concentric circles.

         Be watchful! Be alert! St. Benedict would say “Ausculta! Listen!” I often think of the German achtung! which very sound makes me sit taller.

         You do not know when the time will come. Should I fear as some in our culture preach or should I be joyful for the kingdom is near?

         It is like a man traveling abroad. Strangely, I never wished to do that.

        He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, Maybe because there are too many preparations.  Just leaving town for the weekend carries its burdens.

        and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. Let someone else carry the responsibilities. Perhaps the traveler is someone else and I am the gatekeeper. Community calls forth many gifts.

       Watch, therefore; That word is back again. Are we slow at accepting the message; do I need to change some behaviors?

       you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, St. Benedict bids us to welcome the guest as Christ and provides a porter to welcome the guest.

      whether in the evening, or at midnight, We don’t always get to pick the time of interruptions or inconveniences.

       or at cockcrow, Sorry, but I hate that sound.

       or in the morning. May I welcome the day and praise God for the opportunities it will bring.

      May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.  Or find me reluctant to respond.

      what I say to you, I say to all: ’Watch!’’’ Thank God, we are in this together. .

             Sr. Mary Rabe, OSB

Greenness

          Spring is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Each year I have waited and watched for the first violet and the first daffodil. This spring, however, something changed. It was the grass that caught and held my attention. I stood in front of our monastery and looked around in amazement and delight at the greenness of the grass. I don’t remember ever having seen it look so green. When I casually mentioned that to a friend she gave me a book about St. Hildegard of Bingen, a highly gifted and holy Benedictine woman who lived in the twelfth century. 

           One of Hildegard’s terms may have given a name to what I was sensing. For greenness she uses the Latin word viriditas which is a dynamic and energetic word. According to Hildegard this viriditas enters into the very fabric of the universe. The world in the height of the spring season is filled with it. Even “the smallest twig on the most insignificant tree is animated with viriditas.” (God breathed the breath of viriditas into Adam and Eve, of course, but that is subject for another blog!) Finally, Hildegard writes, it is the sun that brings the life of viriditas into the world. That thought is beautiful to me and immediately my mind transfers “the sun” into “the Son”. 

            Our monastery, like Hildegard’s, is enclosed by trees of all shapes and sizes and shades of green. All are rooted deeply, except for the newly planted saplings, in earth covered by a blanket of green. We sisters find it a blessing to gather in chapel four times daily to praise the Creator from whom all greenness comes.

        Sr. Justina Franxman, OSB

Benedictine Woman to be Doctor of the Church

           During the last weeks of 2011 pundits have had a grand time raising our hopes and anxieties by forecasting trends for 2012. My favorite forecast came from the Vatican, announcing on December 16, that in October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI plans to canonize Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), a Benedictine abbess from the 12^th century, and make her the fourth woman Doctor of the Church. In Germany and the Benedictine order Hildegard has been considered a saint for centuries, and since 1940 her feastday has been celebrated on September 17. You can read more about the long and convoluted attempts to canonize Hildegard at the following link http://www.churchhistory.org/blogs/blog/2011/12/19/behind-the-elevation-of-st-hildegard/ by Barbara Newman, noted Hildegard scholar.

            Hildegard was complex woman—a visionary, a prophet, writer, composer, philosopher, naturalist, preacher in a time when to be a woman and to be engaged in any one of those activities would be astonishing. Known as the Sybil of the Rhine, she was consulted by bishops, abbots, kings, emperors. She moved her community from Disibobenberg to Ruperstberg in spite of the opposition of the monks at Disibobenberg and built a new monastery. She undertook three preaching tours, ending the third one at the age of 73. She was fierce in her public condemnation of lax and sinful priests.

            In 1998 there was a great burst of interest and writing about Hildegard because it was her 900^th year. 2012 will also see a great burst of interest in her. Googling “Hildegard of Bingen” will take you into reams and reams of documents on her. If you want to start with a very brief chronology, summary, discography and bibliography of Hildegard, please email me at sdhosb@yahoo.org and I can give you a start

.  Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB