De duobus, quae sunt in ligno, et de libro, et ligno vitae.
The Twofold Gift of the Wood
The wood offers fruit to feed and leaves to shade, just as divine power refreshes the illuminated and shelters the weak.
Wood itself has two things: fruit and leaves. With its fruit it feeds, and with its leaves it gives shade. So the power of divinity is the refreshment of illuminated minds and the shading of the weak.
The Book of Life and the Tree of Life
The book of life faces north to enlighten those in death's shadow, while the tree of life faces south to nourish the strong and shelter the weak from temptation's heat.
The book of life looks toward the north, because through the humanity of the Savior a light has risen for those who dwell in the region of the shadow of death. And the tree of life is turned toward the south, so that it may feed and strengthen the strong with the taste of its own sweetness, and still shelter the weak under the wings of its protection, so they don't give way under the heat of temptations, as if hidden in the shade of midday.
A Promise of Further Explanation
The author invites the reader to pursue the meaning further, promising a plain and lively exposition that moves between explanation, meditation, doubt, and resolution.
If we pursue these things a little further, it won't be burdensome. For we now want to open up the meaning in plain and few words, in the manner of someone explaining, now of someone meditating, now as if raising doubts, now as if finding answers, running back and forth with the keenness of the mind.
Read the original Latin
Lignum in se duo habet, fructum et folia, fructu pascit et foliis obumbrat. Sic virtus divinitatis illuminatarum mentium refectio est, et infirmantium obumbratio. Liber vitae ad aquilonem respicit, quia per humanitatem Salvatoris exortum est lumen habitantibus in regione umbrae mortis. Et lignum vitae ad austrum vertitur, ut robustos gustu suae dulcedinis pascat et provehat, et infirmos adhuc, ne deficiant in aestu tentationum, sub alis protectionis suae quasi in umbraculo meridiano abscondat. Haec ipsa si paululum prosequamur non sit onerosum. Volumus enim nunc more exponentis planis, et paucis verbis sensum aperire, nunc meditantis, nunc quasi dubitationes, nunc quasi invenientes huc illucque acie mentis discurrere.
De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah) companion
Keep the ark under construction
Hugh's method only works with daily practice — the Chosen Portion app gives you a short, structured devotional every morning, free.
Hugh's daily discipline of ordered meditation continues in Chosen Portion, which serves one structured devotional portion each day so the mind returns to the same interior work Hugh prescribed.
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