Matthew Fox writes that he was given Sister Dorothy Stang's copy of the book, Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen, written by Sister Gabriele Uhlein,OSF, and published in 1983 by Bear and Co. This book was found at Sister Dorothy's bedside after her assassination in Brazil in 2005 where she had been working with the indigenous people to help protect the Amazon from complete deforestation by large multinational interests.
It seems that as Sister Dorothy read and pondered the meditations in the book, she added her own sketches. I can understand why Sister Dorothy would feel the pull to draw her sensations and musings as she read, and that is surely a practice that St. Hildegard would approve of. The book has lots of blank spaces and even whole pages for such reflections. I may attempt that practice myself, but for now, I will do what I have done for years, and that is to share some of these writings and attach a photograph.
I believe Sister Dorothy, St. Hildegard, and it seems Sister Gabriele, are trustworthy guides in these times when the earth is being maimed by greed and ignorance. However, I cannot help but sense that we are being offered an abundance of help. The Holy One speaks in surprising ways, and the earth, as wounded as she is, can still heal and teach us. May we listen with humility, and respond with joyful gratitude.
"A wheel was shone to me,
wonderful to behold...
Divinity is in its omniscience and omnipotence,
like a wheel, a circle, a whole,
that can neither be understood, nor divided, nor begun nor ended."
image: San Leandro, June 2024
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