From her early life, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was sensitive to God’s illuminating presence. Before she turned five years old, she began to experience God’s presence enlivening and enlightening her. She experienced divine energy permeating her mind, body, and spirit, and revelations coming to her through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. In her forties, Hildegard experienced a profound vision that joined theology and spirituality with God’s command to write down what she experienced. Hildegard heard God tell her to “transmit for the benefit of humanity an accurate account of what you see with your inner eye and what you hear with the inner ear of your soul…” For the rest of her life, Hildegard inscribed her experiences in texts such as Scivias, “know the way,” and De operatione Dei, “the book of divine works.” Hildegard’s multifaceted spirituality speaks to twenty-first-century seekers in her affirmation of God’s intimate and enlivening presence in our lives and the world.
