De arbore sapientiae, et vero ligno vitae, ejusque incrementis, et profectu.
The Tree of Life Planted Within
Christ, the true tree of life, is planted in the hearts of the saints and grows through every stage of the spiritual life from fear to contemplation.
So this is truly the tree of life: the Word of the Father, the wisdom of God on high, which in the hearts of the saints is as though planted in an invisible paradise — sown through fear, watered through grace, it dies through suffering, takes root through faith, sprouts through devotion, rises through compunction, grows through desire, is strengthened through love, flourishes through hope; it leafs out through watchfulness and spreads its branches, blossoms through discipline, bears fruit through virtue, ripens through patience, is plucked through death, and is fed to us through contemplation.
Pause, Prayer, and Praise
The author pauses to pray for a taste of divine wisdom's sweetness and closes with a brief doxology.
But because our reflection has gone on a bit long, let us pause for a moment, at the same time praying to God's wisdom itself that it would deign to satisfy us with the taste of its own sweetness — the same wisdom that did not disdain to redeem us through the bitter taste of death. To whom be honor and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Read the original Latin
Hoc est igitur vere lignum vitae verbum Patris, in excelsis sapientia Dei, quae in cordibus sanctorum tanquam in paradiso invisibili per timorem seminatur, per gratiam rigatur, per dolorem moritur, per fidem radicatur, per devotionem germinat, per compunctionem oritur, per desiderium crescit, per charitatem roboratur, per spem viret; per circumspectionem frondet, et expandit ramos, per disciplinam floret, per virtutem fructificat, per patientiam maturescit, per mortem carpitur, per contemplationem cibat. Sed quia longius sermo processit paululum respiremus, simul orantes ipsam Dei sapientiam, ut nos gustu dulcedinis suae dignetur satiare, quae nos per gustum amarae mortis non dedignata est redimere. Cui honor, et imperium in aeterna saecula saeculorum. Amen.
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.
- A 10-minute structured meditation delivered each morning
- Progress through classic texts like Hugh's in small daily portions
- Build a 30-day streak of ordered prayer instead of improvised moments