MARFAM WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 16 SEPTEMBER 2026

Who would have thought that in the 11th century a woman abbess was already a “greenie?”   She has even been described as the first naturopath and ieven a polymath, i.e. a person with wide knowledge and expertise on many unrelated subjects. Hildegard von Bingen was certainly such a person in fields of philosophy, theology, nature, healing and the arts. She was already a very special child, blessed with particular insights, experienced visions and and developed a spirituality of God and creation. She lived in Germany, even before St Francis in Italy. 

We will hear more about Hildegard von Bingen on Radio Veritas Family Matters programme from Judy Stockill, a selfstyled greenie. She is responsible for many Justice and Peace and environmental projects in Bryanston parish in Johannesburg, which I believe, must be amongst the greenest parishes in the Archdiocese with its ancient olive tree as a centrepiece. .   

Judy describes St Hildegard as an extraordinary woman of the Church in Germany in the highly intellectual “High Middle Ages. During and after her life she was revered for centuries for her knowledge of plants and their healing properties, her music and her spiritual writings. She was canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI who named her a Doctor of the Church and a Patron Saint of Ecology.

During the 2026 Season of Creation with its theme of Living Water one can’t help being struck by both the beauty and the ugliness, the power, destructive and for good, and the peaceful joy one can experience in, on and around water, in its various settings. St Francis called it Sister Water, precious, humble, pure and chaste.   

St Hildegard was practical and spiritual, a mystic, visionary, scientist, philosopher, theologian, poet, musician, healer and an abbess in her religious congregation acting too as a mother figure, lovingly responding to health needs of her community from her vast knowledge of natural healing in her time. In her copious writings on medicine and health she addressed the special needs of women, sexuality and the equality of men and women.

The medicine she created was based on balance, harmony, and holistic healing. The natural world and the human body, tightly intertwined, both contain the life essence of things given by God and which nature, through medicine, could restore. She believed that the natural state of the body, when nurtured correctly, was wellness, and disease is a failing in the course of nature.  She advocated for moderation, a good diet, and rest, all components of preventive medicine today. She incorporated her spirituality with prayers and charms into her work, but unlike other religious medical writers, she focused specifically on material cures. https://hekint.org/  Of particular relevance, as we focus on Living Water and the Season of Creation, is a report that water, from a variety of sources played an important role in her healing work, e.g. river, well or rain water she understood to contain different healing properties. Indigenous knowledge like hers is being revisited and recognised for its potential benefits today.

Apart from science and healing, her spiritual visions involved experiencing sparks of light and focused on God and creation.  Her artistic gifts included literature, poetry, music and song.  Many of her musical compositions, not unlike Gregorian chant in style, have been recorded and are used today.  Quite unusual to our ears they express the particular kind of beauty we may tend to associate with this historical era.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zScfIqQkjUk

As a patron saint of ecology together with St Francis, her approach was quite different but resonates well with many eco-conscious greeniss of today, where the need for restoration at this time of climate change and its often negative impacts is the reality of our lives. Water is becoming a scarce commodity over which conflict and wars are happening, while corruption and greed can control access, management and distribution.  

Beauty and wellness expressed spiritually and practically are seen as the essence of the life of this uniquely gifted woman of the 11th century, appreciated in her own time, but forgotten and rediscovered in our time, when in 2012 Pope Benedict canonised and proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, one of only a few women. Her relevance is invaluable for ecology and the current Season of Creation’s theme of Living Water.  As we promote and focus on MARFAM’s resources of Becoming Eco-Friendly Families let us hold on to her example and to her visions to enlighten us in our frequently dark days and devastated lives. We owe it to our children, to our and to their future. TR 16 September 2026

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.

September 16.  LOVE GIVES LIFE – LOVE KEEPS US TOGETHER.   (From Becoming Eco-Friendly Families)                      

Ask yourselves or one another, “What do I really love?”  Human beings have been created by God with inherent needs to love, to belong and to be in relationship. God, as the Trinity, is the first and most perfect love relationship and our model for loving. Family relationships, marriage and parenting in particular, are ideally prime examples of unconditional love and acceptance, because they naturally last across the years, even if members don’t see each other all the time. Other relationships between people of all ages, friendships, interest groups and physical attraction are aspects of love and deep commitment too but may change over time.

God’s love is the life force in all of creation. Lifegiving is a very special attribute and gift from God. Sexuality, as God’s gift, is primarily a family gift. The ideal loving marriage relationship gives life to the spouses and children. Sex is a physical expression of life-giving in almost every form of created life. Love is present in different degrees in all of creation, human, animal and even plant life, as is now being studied. A visit to a National Park and observing the behaviour of a family of elephants or warthogs or a wounded cheetah, still striving to protect her cubs are heart-warming and teaches about life and love in nature. Humanity is greatly blessed by its greatest potential for llife-givine and life-sustaining ove, making us most God-like.  

Reflect, share, act. Scripture: Love is patient, love is kind………….Faith, hope and love, these three remain and the greatest of these is love.  1 Cor 13 ………..   Pope Francis:  Love always gives life.  Conjugal love does not end with the couple.   They, in giving themselves to one another, give not just themselves but also the reality of children, who are a living reflection of their love, a permanent sign of their unity. AL 165. The family protects life in all its stages, including the last. The Church not only feels the urgency to assert the right to natural death without aggressive treatment and euthanasia, but likewise firmly rejects the death penalty. AL 83. For Christians, believing in one God who is trinitarian communion suggests that the Trinity has left its mark on all creation. Creatures tend towards God, and in turn it is proper to every living being to tend towards other things, so that throughout the universe there are any number of constant and secretly interwoven relationships. LS 239-240.   Eco-tip: Carefully read and share on the famous passage on love.  1 Cor 13.Explore how animals and plants are also able to relate and communicate.  Thank God for this ability.

DAILY FAMILY PRAYER from Season of Creation 2026.  May God our Father, who brought water from a rock, sustain us in the desert. May Christ our Lord, who is Living Water, refresh us for the work of restoration.  May the Holy Spirit carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen. St Francis guide and inspire us on our way.