Monday, July 6 : St Hildegard of Bingen

I am a stable and sure pillar, [said the Lord to Saint Hildegard in a vision] and I never abandon those who seek me. He who takes hold of me and clings to me with confidence will never fall into perdition. But he who relegates me to the oblivion of his soul and who, by puffing himself up, elevates himself above me, that is to say, he has more confidence in himself than in me and, for this reason, does not care about having confidence in me, because he counts the grace of God for nothing, I am in his soul like a whirling wind because he despises me and mocks me with superb pride. In his despair, not because of the seriousness of the sins he has committed, but because of his pride, he mocks me, saying, “What is the grace of God? “I will destroy this one by rejecting him and I do not want to elevate him by my choice, because he died for eternal happiness. And those men who do not firmly believe that they can recover from all the heavy faults of their sins, and who thus reject Almighty God and his grace, that is to say, those who, in immense sadness, despair thinking that they can no longer escape the enormity of their crimes, these are cast down and rejected, and they rush fiercely towards death. But my beloved sons who receive me with an open mind, the good will of their soul, a keen intelligence, who touch me with their groans and their tears, embracing me with joy, in an unrestrained enthusiasm, these are like flowers. As soon as they feel that I am there, immediately they rejoice in me and I in them… I want to polish and purify them constantly, until they are placed honorably and gloriously in the heavenly Jerusalem… Often I abandon them, so that in them the external man may not be puffed up with pride… in this way, I subject their faith to a harsh examination.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team