Daily Prayers for September 17
Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179)
Hildegard was sent to the convent at the age of eight, where she learned to read Scripture, pray, and chant. Even as a child, she experienced supernatural religious visions in which she saw things invisible to others, foretold the future, and was filled with a luminosity she later called “the reflection of the Living Light.” At age thirty-eight, she became abbess of the Benedictine community in which she was raised and, five years later, received her call to prophesy when she saw a fiery light that infused her heart and mind with knowledge. She finally was able to understand her visions as a means of divine revelation and began to write extensively about them. Her term for the grace of God inherent in all living things was viriditas, or greenness, endearing her in our generation to followers of creation spirituality. Hildegard’s holistic approach to God and humanity is relevant today, particularly to those longing for wholeness and healing for all of creation.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “We Are Marching in the Light of God”
Your word is in all the world : it flashes out in every creature.
Psalm 89:5 – 8
The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O Lord : and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;
for who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? : who is like the Lord among the gods?
God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones : great and terrible to all those round about him.
Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? : O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.
Your word is in all the world : it flashes out in every creature.
Hosea 10:1 – 15 Matthew 8:28 – 34
Your word is in all the world : it flashes out in every creature.
Hildegard of Bingen wrote, “We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, when you invited Adam to name the animals, you invited us all to participate in your creative work. Teach us to rejoice in your creation and assist in its care, that we, your humble creatures, may in all things give you praise. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
