Pope urges strengthening of friendship with God through prayer and participation in the liturgy
Vatican City (AsiaNews) –“ A strong call to strengthen our friendship with the Lord, especially through daily prayer and careful, faithful and active participation in Mass", this is the example set by Saint Matilde of Hackeborn, the thirteenth century mystic of whom Benedict XVI spoke today during the general audience to 20 thousand people in St. Peter's Square. Among them a group of Haitians, to whom the Pope said: "I continue to carry the Haitian people in my prayer of supplication to God so that he may raise them from their misery."
In his address, Benedict XVI, continuing his series on the great female figures of the Middle Ages, described the Cistercian nun as being gifted "with high natural and spiritual qualities, such as science, intelligence, knowledge of the humanities, a voice of wonderful sweetness”, so much so she was known as “God’s Nightingale".
She was born in 1241 or 1242 in the castle of Baron von Hackeborn, one of the most noble families in Thuringia, a relation to Emperor Frederick II. This family already had another great nun in the formidable figure of Getrude of Hackeborn, an abbess for 40 years. Gertrude was "capable of giving a distinctive spirituality to convent life, leading to its extraordinary flourishing as a centre of mysticism and culture, a school of scientific and theological formation."
Matilde, from early childhood, received the spiritual and cultural climate created by this religious sister, later adding her own imprint. At 7 years of age, accompanying her mother on a visit to the nun in the convent of Helfta, she was so fascinated by the life of the place that she decided to enter, which she did at 17, in 1258. "She distinguished herself for her humility, enthusiasm, kindness, purity and innocence of life, the familiarity and intensity with which she lived her relationship with God, the Virgin, the Saints. She was gifted with exceptional natural and spiritual qualities, "so that, despite her youth, she became director of the convent school, the choir director, mistress of novices, all "tasks she carried out with talent and unflagging zeal, not only for the benefit of the nuns, but anyone who wished to draw on her wisdom and goodness. " "Enlightened by the divine gift of mystical contemplation, Matilde composed many prayers. She is a teacher of faithful doctrine and of great humility, counsellor, comforter, a guide in discernment”.
In 1261 a five-year-old child by the name of Gertrude came to the convent: she was placed under the care of Matilda, in her early twenties, who educated her. In 1271 or 1272 Mechtild of Magdeburg also entered the convent. "Thus this place welcomed four great women - two Gertrudes and two Matildes - the glory of Germanic monasticism. In the long life spent in the convent, Matilde was plagued by constant and intense pain coupled with her choices of harsh penance for the conversion of sinners. In this way she participated in the passion of the Lord until the end of her life. "
"Prayer and contemplation were the bedrock of her life there: the revelations, her teachings, her service to others, her journey in faith and love have their roots and their context here". "This saint has an impressive ability to live the liturgy in its various components, even the simplest ones, bringing it to her daily monastic life. Some images, expressions, applications are sometimes far from our sensibility, but, given the monastic life and her job as a teacher and choir director, we can come to glimpse her unique ability as an educator and formator, who helped her sisters to live every moment of the monastic life intensely, based on the liturgy. " Saint Matilde "followed a path of intimate union with the Lord, always in full fidelity to the Church. This is also a strong call for us to strengthen our friendship with the Lord, especially through daily prayer and careful, faithful and active participation in the Mass. The liturgy is a great school of spirituality".
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