St. Hildegard was a popular mystic and prophet in 12th-century Germany, but she initially doubted God's activity in her life.
She was worried that what she was receiving was not of God. and had much anxiety that she wasn't following God's will.
Instead of relying on her own judgment, St. Hildegard sought the advice and counsel of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
She wrote in her letter, "I beseech you in the name of the Living God to give heed to my queries. Father, I am greatly disturbed by a vision which has appeared to me through divine revelation, a vision seen not with my fleshly eyes but only in my spirit."
St. Hildegard received many visions in her lifetime, even a vision of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.
St. Bernard responded to her requests and sent a short letter back affirming the divine inspiration of her visions.
St. Bernard's letters encouraged St. Hildegard, and she would go on to be highly influential in the Church throughout Europe, advising emperors and even the pope himself.
Sometimes all it takes is a little encouragement from someone we trust and admire.
