Today is the Feast Day of St Hildegard, I picked up from Twitter this morning. I decided to make time to delve into my copy of her Scivias I had bought myself with my birthday spends, a nice reason to do so. Boy am I glad I did.
So this woman was in a tough spot in her life, and felt compelled by the Spirit to write as an outlet and a way to speak truth to power.
This woman was a marginalised minority, seeking to find ways to improve the system for herself and others, finding the courage to do so through the written word.
This woman was a creative, an innovative musician, writing in ways which did not strictly adhere to the conventions of the time but bore oh so beautiful results.
This woman lived with chronic illness, perhaps even a form of migraine, that certainly impacted how she interacted with the world and likely how the world interacted with her.
This woman had cishet white men telling her what to do, and what she couldn’t do, all around her, yet she found ways around them to follow God’s call anyway.
I like this woman. I like the sound of her. I like the sound of thousands like her I see every day, throughout history and in this moment here, right now. And maybe, on my good days, when I’m confident enough to own it, in my mirror.
Peace be with you.
Deconstructing Church 