From Heavenly Harmony
The Harmony of Celestial Revelations
by Ken Myers
In 1146, the abbess of a small Cistercian convent in the Rhineland sent a letter to the abbot of a large and influential Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté in northeastern France. The nun was both comforted and disquieted by a series of visions she had experienced, visions that conveyed to her a deep theological understanding of the Scriptures, which she was laboring to set down in writing. But she did not want to be presumptuous in transmitting this knowledge to others. As she was only an unlearned nun, was her assumption of the role of teacher an expression of unseemly pride?
The poetic disposition of this humble mother superior must have made an impression on the letter's wise and worthy recipient. As her appeal for counsel intensified, she implored him "by the sacred sound through which all creation resounds" and "by the Word from which all the world was created, by the height of the Father who through the sweet power of green vigor sent the Word to the Virgin's womb where it took on flesh like the honey in the honeycomb."
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Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal. Formerly an arts editor with National Public Radio, he also serves as music director at All Saints Anglican Church in Ivy, Virginia. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
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