“Flames for meditation” are snippets I encounter in my reading that contained a touch from God. I pray they help to move your heart towards contemplation, to an inward experience of God.
O Holy Spirit,
the very root of creation that shakes each realm awake and brings life itself alive,
cleansing filth,
wiping guilt clean, and
soothing wounds.
This is the radiant way, the laudable way, awakening and reawakening all that lives!
—Hildegard of Bingen, in Symphonia
Hildgard is an amazing gem to discover. One of the few historical woman mystics that was not totally overlooked (along with Julian of Norwich), she received visions from God with crystal clear prophetic clarity, wrote songs, made scientific discoveries, found healing properties in plants and minerals, produced art and ‘spoke truth to power’ in the highly patriarchal society of the 12th century. She was effectively the forerunner of the ‘Rhineland mystics’ who made an important mark on spiritual history.
Rob Gerhard 