Today we celebrate a VERY unusual woman name Hildegard of Bingen. She was unusual for many reasons. First, she had a very close, mystical relationship with God from an early age. She heard God speaking to her, and she thought that was normal - that everyone talked to God and heard from Him like she did. When she found out that most people did NOT in fact hear from God, she kept her visions and messages to herself.
Even though she was never formally educated, she became a Doctor of the Church! She was the abbess of two monasteries, she learned to read and even SING in Latin, and she became well known as a preacher! Even though she was a cloistered nun! And this was all in the 12th century, when it would be a huge understatement to say that women were not usually well known preachers at that time. You can read more about her here.
But I think the thing I want to focus on from St Hildegard is that her first assumption should be correct. I think God DOES speak to all of us... and I think that children often hear Him, but don't understand what is happening and don't have good spiritual leadership to help them understand, and so they also "keep it to themselves" so long that they stop hearing Him.
I also believe that all of us can and should open our hearts back up to Him. We should be talking TO Him constantly - pray without ceasing - and also LISTENING for Him to speak to us. He might not speak in a voice that we hear, so much as impressions or desires that we suddenly experience. God speaks to different people in different ways. But we should all be listening. What is He saying to you today?
God, thanks for the wonderful assumption of this young woman. St Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us.
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