DC29 St. Hildegard pt 2 – The Doctors of the Church: The Charism of Wisdom w/ Dr. Matthew Bunson
Summary: <br> <br> Dr. Matthew Bunson discusses the life, times and teachings of St. Hildegard von Bingen<br> Born: September 16, 1098, Bermersheim vor der Höhe, Germany<br> Died: September 17, 1179, Bingen am Rhein, Germany<br> Film music credits: Vision – From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> For more on St. Hildegard von Bingen and his teachings<br> <br> From <a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20121007_ildegarda-bingen_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vatican.va, </a>an excerpt from the teachings o<a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20121007_ildegarda-bingen_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">f Pope Benedict XVI </a><br> APOSTOLIC LETTER<br> <br> <a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20121007_ildegarda-bingen_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Proclaiming Saint Hildegard of Bingen, </a><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20121007_ildegarda-bingen_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">professed nun of the Order of Saint Benedict, </a><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_letters/documents/hf_ben-xvi_apl_20121007_ildegarda-bingen_en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Doctor of the Universal Church</a><br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> 5. Hildegard’s anthropology begins from the biblical narrative of the creation of man (Gen 1:26), made in the image and likeness of God. Man, according to Hildegard’s biblically inspired cosmology, contains all the elements of the world because the entire universe is recapitulated in him; he is formed from the very matter of creation. The human person can therefore consciously enter into a relationship with God. This does not happen through a direct vision, but, in the words of Saint Paul, as “in a mirror” (1 Cor 13:12). The divine image in man consists in his rationality, structured as intellect and will. Thanks to his intellect, man can distinguish between good and evil; thanks to his will, he is spurred to action.<br> Human beings are seen as a unity of body and soul. The German mystic shows a positive appreciation of corporeity and providential value is given even to the body’s weaknesses. The body is not a weight from which to be delivered. Although human beings are weak and frail, this “teaches” them a sense of creatureliness and humility, protecting them from pride and arrogance. Hildegard contemplated in a vision the souls of the blessed in paradise waiting to be rejoined to their bodies. Our bodies, like the body of Christ, are oriented to the glorious resurrection, to the supreme transformation for eternal life. The very vision of God, in which eternal life consists, cannot be definitively achieved without the body.<br> The human being exists in both the male and female form. Hildegard recognized that a relationship of reciprocity and a substantial equality between man and woman is rooted in this ontological structure of the human condition. Nevertheless the mystery of sin also dwells in humanity, and was manifested in history for the first time precisely in the relationship between Adam and Eve. Unlike other medieval authors who saw Eve’s weakness as the cause of the Fall, Hildegard places it above all in Adam’s immoderate passion for her.<br> Even in their condition as sinners, men and women continue to be the recipients of God’s love, because God’s love is unconditional and, after the Fall, acquires the face of mercy. Even the punishment that God inflicts on the man and woman brings out the merciful love of the Creator. In this regard, the most precise description of the human creature is that of someone on a journey, homo viator. On this pilgrimage towards the homeland,
