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Chapter 30SermC.1.30

Sermo 30

The Church's Guarding of the Vineyards

The preacher introduces the bride's confession of failing to guard her vineyard and shows how the Church's opponents, even with hostile intent, became instruments of her expansion.

They placed me as a guard over the vineyards. Who? You mean those assailants you mentioned recently? Hear and understand, if these things don't confess of themselves to have been advanced by the very ones through whom she also suffered. And yet it's no wonder, since the intention to correct was itself the reason for fighting. For who doesn't know how many people have been assailed many times in a friendly and helpful way? How many do we see every day advancing toward better things through the pious attacks of prelates, being carried forward to higher things? Therefore let us rather show, if we can, how the Church was fought against by the sons of her own mother, and that with a hostile mind, yet with useful harm. This is more pleasing in a way — when those who intend to harm end up doing good, and that against their will. Either sense is supported by the previous interpretation. Indeed, there has been no shortage of people who opposed her — some with good will and some with ill will, fighting with different aims — but both sides profited. In short, she boasts of having advanced so much from the things she suffered at the hands of her rivals that, for the single vineyard they seem to have taken from her, she rejoices to now be established over many. This, they say, those who fight against me and against my vineyard have done for me — they who say: 'Strip it bare! Strip it bare to its very foundation!' — so that I might exchange the one for many.✦ This is indeed what the charge brings: 'I have not kept my vineyard.' As if, in adding the reason, he were explaining how this happened to them — that the guardian now stands not over one vineyard alone, but over many. And the literal sense is indeed like this.

Vineyards as Churches: A Spiritual Reading

The preacher rejects a merely earthly reading of vineyards and interprets them spiritually as the Churches—the faithful peoples—showing how the bride's guardianship extends across the whole world through persecution, migration, and divine cultivation.

But if we simply follow it, satisfied with just that much alone which seems to sound on the surface, we'll think we're reading in Holy Scripture about these physical and earthly vineyards which we see every day receiving from the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth, from which they pour out the wine in which there is lust: and so we'll seem to have brought forth nothing — I don't mean anything worthy of the Lord's bride, but nothing even fitting for any of the others — from so holy and divine a Scripture. What fitness is there for bridegrooms and for the guarding of vineyards? But even if it should seem fitting, how will we show that there was once a Church assigned to this kind of duty? Is God concerned at all about vineyards? But if in a spiritual sense we interpret the vineyards as Churches — that is, the faithful peoples — according to the prophet's meaning as he says, 'The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,' then perhaps it will begin to become clear to us how it may not at all be unworthy for the bride to become a guardian in the vineyards.✦ I think this too will show no small advantage, if anyone cares to consider more carefully how far and wide, everywhere across the world, he has stretched the boundaries of such vineyards — I mean the multitude of believers, of whom it is recorded that they were of one heart and one soul — from that day on which she was stormed and driven out in Jerusalem by the children of her mother, along with that first new planting of hers.✦✦ And she is the very one who now confesses that she has hardly kept watch over it — but not to her own shame. For she was not uprooted from there in persecution in such a way that she was not planted elsewhere and entrusted to other farmers who would yield her fruit in their own times.✦ Not entirely — she did not perish, but she migrated; she even grew and expanded, as one whom the Lord has blessed.✦ Finally, lift up your eyes and see whether her shadow has not covered the mountains, and her boughs the cedars of God; whether her branches have not stretched out to the sea and her shoots to the river.✦ No wonder, for it is God's building, it is God's farming.✦ He himself makes her fruitful, he himself propagates her, he himself prunes and cleans her so that she may bear more fruit.✦ When, after all, would he abandon the care or the work that his right hand has planted?✦

The True Vine and Its Fruit

The preacher unfolds the vine as a Trinitarian and ecclesial mystery: the Lord as vine, apostles as branches, the Father as vinedresser, with penitential tears becoming the wine that gladdens both human hearts and angels.

It shouldn't be dismissed as insignificant, this vine in which the apostles are the branches, the Lord is the vine itself, and the Father is its vinedresser. Planted in faith, it sends down roots in love, dug over with the hoe of discipline, enriched with the tears of penitents, watered with the words of those who preach—and so, truly overflowing with wine: a wine in which there is joy, but not excess; a wine of complete sweetness, without any lust. This wine, surely, gladdens the human heart; this is what the angels, too, are known to drink with joy. In the end, they rejoice in the conversion and repentance of sinners, thirsting for the salvation of humanity. The tears of penitents are their wine—a wine that, in them, may be the fragrance of life, the taste of grace, the savor of indulgence, the sweetness of reconciliation, the healing of a returning innocence, and the calm sweetness of a conscience set right.

Comfort for the Bride: From One Vineyard to Many

The bride is comforted for the loss of her first vineyard: the blindness of Israel has become the fullness of the nations, and Moses's refused offer of becoming a great nation was divinely reserved for the Church.

So from that one vineyard, which the storm of fierce persecution seemed to have destroyed, how many shoots have spread out and flourished again across the whole earth? And in all of these, the bride is appointed as guardian, so that she may not be saddened because she did not guard the first vineyard.✦ Take comfort, daughter of Zion: if a partial blindness has come upon Israel, what are you losing?✦ Wonder at the mystery, and don't lament the loss: open wide your bosom, and gather the fullness of the nations.✦ Say to the cities of Judah: It was fitting for the word of God to be spoken to you first; but since you rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the nations.✦ It was indeed offered to Moses by God that, if he wished to let the transgressing people go and expose them to divine vengeance, he himself could become a great nation; but he refused.✦ Why? Because of his truly immense love, by which he was strongly bound and held to the people; and since he did not seek his own interests, but the honor of God, and not what would be useful to himself, but what would be useful to many.✦1 And so he did just that.

Grace Sent to the Whole World

The bride, not Moses, was sent to the whole universe with the sweet yoke of grace, which differs utterly from the severity of the law: shadow and light, wrath and peace, figure and truth cannot be received with equal desire.

But I think, by a more hidden counsel, that this gift was divinely preserved for the bride, so that she herself, rather than Moses, would be sent to a great nation. For it wasn't right for the bridegroom's friend to snatch the blessing away from the bride; and so it was not Moses, but the new bride—to whom it is said, Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature—she herself, I say, who has been sent to a great nation.2 Could she have been sent to any greater realm than the whole universe? And the whole world easily yielded to the one who bears peace and offers grace. But grace and law are not alike. How different the face they show to every conscience: the sweetness of grace and the severity of the law. Who could look with equal regard on the one who condemns and the one who consoles, who demands repayment and who forgives, who punishes and who embraces? Shadow and light, wrath and peace, judgment and mercy, figure and truth, rod and inheritance, restraint and a kiss—these will not be received with equal desire.

The Heavy Yoke and the Bride's Welcome

The law's unbearable yoke is contrasted with the Church's sweet yoke and lofty kingdom; driven from one city she is received by the whole world, and the loss of a single vineyard is repaid with prophetic promises of eternal joy.

In the end, Moses' hands grow heavy, with Aaron and Hur as witnesses; the yoke of the Law is heavy, with the apostles themselves as witnesses, who cry out that this yoke is unbearable both for themselves and for the fathers; the yoke is heavy, and the reward is worthless — for the land is only a promise.✦✦✦ For a task like this, Moses wasn't sent into the great nation. But you, mother Church, holding the promise of the life that is now and is to come, easily obtain from all people that you be received — both because of the sweet yoke, and because of the lofty kingdom.✦ Driven out from the city, you are received by the whole community, while in this way what you promise provokes, so that what you impose does not terrify.✦ Why do you still mourn the loss of a single vineyard, when it's been repaid to you with such great interest?✦ Because you were forsaken and hated, and no one would pass through you: I will place you, he says, in the pride of the ages, a joy from generation to generation; and you will suck the milk of nations, and be nursed at the breasts of kings; and you will know that I am the Lord, saving you, and your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.✦✦✦ And so, the bride says she was appointed guardian over the vineyards, and yet she didn't guard her own vineyard.✦

The Preacher's Own Neglected Vineyard

The preacher turns the text inward, reproaching himself for guarding others' souls while his own vineyard lay barren: faith was dead without works, and even after turning to the Lord he could not guard it adequately, beset by snares and secret arrows.

I'm in the habit of reproaching myself on this occasion, because I've taken charge of souls — I, who wouldn't have been enough to guard my own vineyards; I'm interpreting souls as vineyards. But if you approve — you, too — this interpretation of ours, then consider on top of that whether we might rightly say: faith is the vine; virtues are the branches; the cluster is work; devotion is wine. Since a branch without a vine is nothing, and virtue without faith amounts to nothing. Without faith it's impossible to please God — and perhaps displeasing him will prove unavoidable. In short, everything that doesn't come from faith is sin. So those who appointed me guardian over the vineyards should have considered this — whether, that is, I had guarded my own. But how long it lay uncultivated and abandoned, reduced to a wasteland! The wine had completely dried up from it, the branches of the virtues withered away because faith was barren. There was faith, but it was dead. For how could it not be dead, without works? And that, in the midst of secular life. But once I turned to the Lord, I began—I confess—to guard it a little better; yet still not as I should have. And who, after all, is fit for this? Not even the holy Prophet, who says, Unless the Lord has guarded the city, the one who keeps watch over it labors in vain.✦ With how many snares, too, I remember myself being exposed at that time by the one who shoots arrows in secret at the blameless. How much, O my vineyard, has been stolen from us by stealthy schemes at the very moment we began to give ourselves more vigilantly to its care and keeping!

Thorns, Foxes, and a Broken Wall

The preacher laments the corrupt fruit of his vineyard—choked by anger, carried off by boasting—and the many spiritual trials that tear it apart: anxieties, suspicions, and the drought of barrenness that leaves him no room even to cry out to Christ.

How many — and what sort — of godly clusters of works has anger choked, or boasting carried off, or empty glory defiled? How much we've endured from the enticement of gluttony, from the spirit of sloth, from faintheartedness, and from the storm and tempest of the soul! That's how it was with me: and yet all the same they placed me as a guardian over the vineyards, never considering what I was doing or would have done about my own affairs, never listening to a master who reproved me and said: 'Anyone who doesn't know how to be in charge of his own household — how will he care for the church of God?'✦ I'm amazed at the boldness of so many people — we watch them gather nothing but thorns and thistles from their own vineyards, yet they don't hesitate to thrust themselves into the Lord's vineyards as well. They're thieves and robbers, not guardians or cultivators. That's what happens to them. But woe is me, even now, because of the danger to my vineyard! In fact, it's even worse now: pulled in many directions, I'm less devoted to the one thing that matters, and I'm forced to become less anxious about it. I'm not allowed to build up its hope or dig out its winepress. Alas! Its wall is broken down, and everyone who passes by harvests from it! It's exposed, wide open to sadness, anger, and impatience. Certain persistent little foxes of pressing need tear it apart; anxieties, suspicions, and worries rush in from every side — crowds of discordant, troublesome causes — and rarely is an hour free of them.✦34 There's no way to keep them out, no means of avoiding them — and not even room to pray. With what rain of tears can I drench the barrenness of my soul? I meant to speak of my vineyard, but a psalm came to mind through habit — and the meaning is the same. Nor do I regret the slip that points to the likeness, because the discourse isn't about a vineyard but about the soul.5 So when a vineyard is read, let the soul be understood — since under this image and name that barrenness is lamented. With which tears, then, will I water the barrenness of my vineyard? All its branches have withered from drought; they lie fruitless because they have no moisture. Good Jesus!✦6

The Sacrifice of a Broken Heart

The preacher offers his daily sacrifice to God: a broken and humbled heart consumed like withered branches, imploring God not to despise it.

What bundles of branches from them do I burn up in your daily sacrifice, as a broken heart is consumed, with you as my witness? Accept, I beg you, the sacrifice of a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart, God, do not despise.

Losing One's Soul to Find It

The preacher applies the chapter to himself and then to the perfect disciple: one who loses his soul for Christ's sake truly keeps the vineyard, like Peter and Paul, who did not seek their own interests but were ready even to die.

And so, given my own imperfection, I apply this present chapter to myself. But anyone will be perfect who can say in those very words: 'I have not kept my vineyard' — namely, in that sense in which the Savior speaks in the Gospel: 'Whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.'✦ Clearly fit and worthy is the one appointed as a keeper in the vineyards, whom the care of his own vineyard does not hinder or slow down through diligence and anxiety for those entrusted to him, since he does not seek his own interests or what is useful to himself, but what serves the many. For this reason, then, this charge was entrusted to Peter across so many vineyards — those drawn from circumcision — because the man was prepared to go both to prison and to death, to such a degree that he was not held back by love of his own vineyard, that is, his own soul, from devoting himself to the care of those entrusted to him. Rightly, too, among the nations so vast a forest of vineyards was entrusted to Paul, because he himself was found utterly unconcerned in the care of his own vineyard, so that he was prepared not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.✦ In the end: 'I fear none of these things,' he says, 'nor do I value my soul more than myself.'✦ The best judge of things is the one who considers nothing of his own to be preferred to himself.

Paul's Distinction Between Self and Soul

The preacher explores Paul's words 'I do not value my soul more than myself,' distinguishing the higher, spiritual self—the mind in which Christ lives—from the lower, carnal soul that clings to the body and its desires.

How many people have put a small and trifling sum of money ahead of their own salvation! Paul did not even put his own soul ahead of it. I do not, he says, value it more than myself. So you're drawing a distinction between yourself and your soul? You're certainly wise in your own eyes: you matter more to yourself than anything else you could name as yours. But how is your soul not your own? I think it's because Paul was already walking in the spirit and his mind was consenting to the law of God, since it is good; for that reason he considered this very mind of his, as the principal and highest part of himself, something worthy to be designated by his own name rather than by the name of any other thing he possessed. The remaining part, on the other hand — which is clearly of a lower nature and therefore of a lesser and more worthless essence, since it is the body that clings to it — not only by the office of giving life and sensation, but also by the desire to cherish and nourish it: this, I say, the spiritual man judged unworthy of bearing his own name, and considered it to be counted among his possessions rather than expressing who he personally is through it. When I say 'me,' he says, understand it as the more excellent part of me, the part in which I stand through the grace of God — that is, the mind and reason. When I speak of my soul, take it in this lower sense: what you see assigned to give life to the flesh, and also joined to it in desire. I acknowledge that I once was that, but I'm not anymore, because I no longer walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.✦ I live, yet not I; rather, it is Christ who lives in me.✦ According to the mind, I am myself; according to the flesh, I am not myself. For what if the soul still desires carnally even now? It's no longer I who do that, but the sin that dwells in me.✦ And so I wouldn't say it's me, exactly, but I would say it's mine—what tastes carnally in me, and that is nothing else but the soul itself. For truly its carnal affection is a portion of the soul, and so is the life it administers to the body.

Imitating Paul by Losing the Soul

Paul was ready to lose even this lower soul for the Lord's sake, and the preacher calls listeners to prove themselves imitators of Paul and disciples of Christ by losing their souls to their salvation.

So this is the soul Paul was putting behind him, ready for the Lord's sake not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem — and so to lose his life according to the Lord's purpose.✦

Crucifying the Flesh to Save the Soul

The preacher exhorts hearers to renounce bodily pleasure, crucify the flesh, and lose their souls wisely; he contrasts Christ's teaching—'whoever wishes to save his soul will lose it'—with Hippocrates' worldly concern for bodily health.

You too, if you abandon your own will, if you completely renounce the pleasures of the body, if you crucify your flesh with its vices and desires, and if you put to death your members that are on earth — you will prove yourself an imitator of Paul, who did not count his own soul more precious than himself; and you will prove yourself a disciple of Christ, even by losing it to your salvation.✦✦✦ And indeed you lose it more wisely in order to guard it than you guard it in order to lose it. For whoever wishes to save his soul will lose it.✦ What do you say to this, you who watch over what you eat but neglect how you live? Hippocrates and his followers teach people to keep their souls safe in this world; Christ and his disciples teach them to lose their souls. Which of these two masters do you choose to follow? But it makes itself perfectly clear when someone argues like this: this food harms the eyes, this one the head, and that one the chest or the stomach. Surely, everyone brings forward in public what they have learned from their own master.

Fleshly Wisdom and the School of Christ

The preacher rejects fleshly wisdom—revealed by flesh and blood, not the Spirit—and refuses to cite pagan physicians, declaring himself a disciple of Christ whose Master teaches contempt for both pleasure and bodily health, and advises losing the soul.

Have you ever read these distinctions in the Gospel, or in the prophets, or in the letters of the apostles? Flesh and blood have surely revealed this wisdom to you, not the Spirit of the Father; for this wisdom belongs to the flesh.✦✦7 But hear what they think about this very thing — our own physician. Wisdom, they say, is the death of the flesh; likewise: the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God.✦8 Should I have put before you the opinion of Hippocrates or Galen, or certainly a teaching from the school of Epicurus? I am a disciple of Christ; I speak to the disciples of Christ: if I introduce a foreign teaching, I myself have sinned. Epicurus and Hippocrates prefer — the one pleasure, the other sound health of the body; my Master preaches contempt for both. The Savior searches out and teaches how to search out the life of the soul in the body — which of these two things it may sustain the soul with the greatest zeal, and which may also delight it — and advises us to lose it.✦9

The Wisdom That Condemns the Flesh

The preacher returns to Christ's saying 'whoever loves his soul will lose it,' interpreting it as both martyrdom and repentance, and condemns the fleshly wisdom that pursues pleasure or health beyond what is proper, asking what good abstinence is if one still obsesses over foods.

So what else has the school of Christ taught you about him, when just a short while ago the cry went out: 'Whoever loves his soul will lose it'? 'Will lose it,' he said — whether by laying it down as a martyr, or by afflicting it as one who repents. And yet, although there is a kind of martyrdom that mortifies fleshly deeds done by the spirit — I mean the kind where the members are cut with iron — this other is certainly milder in its horror, but more troublesome in how long it lasts. Do you see, by this saying of my Teacher, how the wisdom of the flesh is condemned — the wisdom through which a person either dissolves into the excess of pleasure, or even good bodily health itself is pursued beyond what is proper? In fact, that true wisdom should not flow into pleasures — you have surely heard this from the Wise One, lest this wisdom be found at all among those who live sweetly on earth. And whoever finds it says: 'Above salvation and every beauty I have loved wisdom.' If above salvation and beauty, then how much more above pleasure and shamefulness? What good, then, is it to abstain from pleasures, yet spend your daily care investigating the differences of bodily constitutions, inquiring into the varieties of foods — what good is that?

Satire of Monastic Dietary Scruples

The preacher satirizes the monk who, like a physician, finds fault with every food—legumes, cheese, milk, water, cabbages, leeks, and fish—so that scarcely anything in creation seems edible.

Legumes, he says, are windy; cheese weighs down the stomach; milk harms the head; drinking water doesn't sustain the chest; cabbages nourish melancholy; the bile of leek inflames; fish from a pond or from muddy water aren't at all suited to my constitution.10 What kind of thing is this, that in all the rivers, fields, gardens, and cellars, what you could eat can scarcely be found?11

A Monk, Not a Doctor

The preacher exhorts the monk to remember his profession, spare his own rest and others' labor, and avoid scandalizing a brother by singular fasting; he corrects those who misuse Paul's advice to Timothy, noting it was counsel for a bishop, not a monk.

Consider, I beg you — and I mean this — that you are a monk, not a doctor. What's being judged isn't your physical constitution, but your profession. Spare, I implore you — first, truly, spare your own rest; then spare the labor of those who serve; spare the burden on the household; spare your conscience. I say conscience — not your own, but someone else's. That is, the conscience of the person sitting nearby, eating what's set before him, grumbling about your singular fasting practice. Your singular behavior becomes a stumbling block to him — whether he sees it as hateful superstition or as harshness — and he likely thinks this about the person who's supposed to be looking out for you. A brother is scandalized, I tell you, by your singularity — judging you superstitious, as though you're chasing things that don't matter — or at the very least complaining that I'm harsh, when I'm not the one who inquires into what you need to live on. Some people flatter themselves in vain by appealing to Paul's example — he was exhorting his disciple not to drink water, but to use a little wine because of his stomach and his frequent ailments. Those who pay attention to this should first of all recognize that the Apostle was by no means recommending this practice to himself, and that he didn't demand it of his disciple either. And further, this counsel wasn't directed at a monk, but at a bishop — a man whose life was still needed by a Church just now tender and newly born.

Timothy and the Return to the Bride

The preacher names Timothy, warns against the flesh's false discretion, and returns to the bride, concluding that it is not useful for guardians of the Bridegroom's vineyards to keep watch over their own, and closes with a doxology to Christ.

This was Timothy. Give me another Timothy, and I'll feed him—if you like—even with gold, and give him balsam to drink. But you manage things for yourself, taking pity on yourself. Your own way of managing things for yourself has made me suspicious, I confess, and I fear you're being mocked under the cover and name of discretion by the flesh's prudence. At least this much I want you to be warned about: if the Apostle's authority about drinking wine pleases you, don't overlook the qualifier 'in moderation' that he added.✦ And enough about that. But let's return to the bride, and learn from her that it's not useful to keep watch over their own vineyards—especially for us who seem to be appointed as guardians in the vineyards of the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.✦✦ Amen.

Read the original Latin

Posuerunt me custodem in vineis. Qui? Tuine illi oppugnatores quos proxime memorasti? Audite et intelligite, si non se ab illis ipsis fatetur ista promotam, a quibus et passam. Nec mirum tamen, siquidem fuerit causa pugnandi intentio corrigendi. Nam quis nesciat multos amicabiliter utiliterque multoties oppugnatos? Quam multos quotidie experimur piis impugnationibus praelatorum ad meliora proficere, provehi ad altiora? Ergo illud potius demonstremus, si possumus, quemadmodum adversus Ecclesiam pugnatum sit a filiis matris suae, et hostili animo, et damno utili.

Id enim iucundius, cum qui nocere intendunt, prosunt et nolentes. Utrumque vero sensum tenet superior interpretatio: quoniam quidem non defuerunt, et qui bene, et qui male aemularentur eam, diversa intentione pugnantes; sed utrique profuerunt. In tantum denique se profecisse ex iis quae ab aemulis passa est gloriatur, ut pro una vinea, quam sibi abstulisse visi sunt, super multas se gaudeat constitutam. Hoc mihi, inquit, praestitere pugnando contra me et contra vineam meam, qui dicunt: Exinanite, exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea, ut unam pluribus commutarim. Hoc quippe est quod infert, Vineam meam non custodivi: tanquam causam subiungens unde hoc illi contigerit, ut non in una iam, sed in pluribus custos posita sit. Et littera quidem sic est.

Sed si eam simpliciter sequimur, contenti eo solo quod sonare in superficie illa videtur, putabimus nos legere in Scriptura sancta de his vineis corporeis et terrenis quas quotidie cernimus de roro coeli et de pinguedine terrae accipere, unde fundunt vinum, in quo est luxuria: et sic nihil, non dico Domini sponsae dignum, sed nec cuivis caeterarum congruum quid de tam sancta et divina Scriptura attulisse videbimur. Quae enim convenientia sponsis et custodiae vinearum? Sed etsi convenire putetur, unde docebimus fuisse aliquando Ecclesiam istiusmodi deputatam officio? Nunquid de vineis cura est Deo? Si autem spirituali sensu vineas Ecclesias, id est fideles interpretamur populos, iuxta prophetae sensum dicentis, Vinea Domini sabaoth domus Israel est, incipiet fortassis elucere nobis quomodo sponsae minime indignum sit fieri custodem in vineis.

Puto quod et non parva insuper et in hoc ipso apparebit praerogativa, si quis diligentius curet advertere quantum ubique per orbem in huiusmodi vineas dilataverit terminos suos a die illa qua Ierosolymis a filiis matris suae expugnata est et exturbata, una cum prima illa sua novella plantatione; multitudinem dico credentium, quorum legitur fuisse cor unum et anima una. Et ipsa est, quam modo fatetur se minime custodisse, sed non ad insipientiam sibi. Nec enim ita inde evulsa in persecutione fuit, ut non alibi plantaretur, atque aliis locaretur agricolis, qui reddant fructus eius temporibus suis. Non prorsus, non periit, sed migravit; etiam crevit et dilatata est, tanquam cui benedixit Dominus. Denique leva oculos tuos, et vide si non operuit montes umbra eius, et arbusta eius cedros Dei; si non extendit palmites suos usque ad mare et usque ad flumen propagines eius. Nec mirum, Dei enim aedificatio est, Dei agricultura est. Ipse fecundat, ipse propagat, ipse putat et purgat eam, ut fructum plus afferat. Quando nempe sua destitueret cura vel opera, quam plantavit dextera eius?

Non plane habenda neglectui, in qua apostoli palmites, Dominus vitis, et Pater eius agricola est. In fide plantata, in charitate mittit radices, defossa sarculo disciplinae, stercorata poenitentium lacrymis, rigata praedicantium verbis: et sic sane exuberans vino in quo est laetitia, sed non luxuria; vino totius suavitatis, nullius libidinis. Hoc certe vinum laetificat cor hominis; hoc constat et angelos bibere cum laetitia. Denique gaudent in conversione et poenitentia peccatorum, salutem hominum sitientes. Lacrymae poenitentium vinum eorum, quod in illis vitae odor, sapor gratiae sit, indulgentiae gustus, reconciliationis iucunditas, sanitas redeuntis innocentiae, serenatae suavitas conscientiae.

Ergo ex illa una vinea, quam saevae persecutionis visa est delevisse tempestas, quantae in universa terra propagatae refloruerunt? Et in his omnibus custos posita sponsa est, ut non contristetur, quod primam vineam non custodivit. Consolare, filia Sion: si caecitas ex parte contigit in Israel, quid tu perdis? Mirare mysterium, et noli plangere detrimentum: dilata sinum, et collige plenitudinem gentium. Dic civitatibus Iudae: Vobis oportebat primum loqui verbum Dei; sed quoniam repulistis illud, et indignos vos iudicastis aeternae vitae, ecce convertimur ad gentes. Moysi sane oblatum est a Deo, si praevaricatorem populum vellet dimittere, et divinae exponere ultioni, ipsum quidem fieri posse in gentem magnam: sed ille renuit. Quare? Ob nimiam profecto dilectionem qua illi fortiter devinctus populo tenebatur; et quoniam non requirebat quae sua sunt, sed Dei honorem, et non quod sibi utile foret, sed quod multis.

Et ille quidem sic.

Ego autem consilio secretiori puto hoc munus divinitus pro sui magnitudine servatum sponsae, ut ipsa potius, et non Moyses, mitteretur in gentem magnam. Non enim oportebat amicum sponsi praeripere sponsae benedictionem; et propterea non quidem Moyses, sed nova sponsa, cui dicitur: Ite in mundum universum, praedicate Evangelium omni creaturae; ipsa, inquam, prorsus missa est in gentem magnam. Num in maiorem potuit quam in universitatem? Et facile universitas cessit portanti pacem, gratiam offerenti. Sed non sicut gratia, ita et lex. Quam dissimili vultu ad omnem conscientiam se offerunt suavitas huius, et illius austeritas. Quis sane ex aequo respiciat condemnantem et consolantem, reposcentem et ignoscentem, plectentem et amplectentem? Non pari profecto acceptabitur voto umbra et lux, ira et pax, iudicium et misericordia, figura et veritas, virga et haereditas, frenum et osculum.

Graves denique Moysi manus, testibus Aaron et Hur; grave Legis iugum, testibus ipsis apostolis, qui hoc et sibi, et patribus importabile clamitant; grave iugum, et vile praemium: nam terra est in promissione. Pro huiusmodi non est Moyses missus in gentem magnam. Verum tu, mater Ecclesia, promissionem habens vitae quae nunc est et futurae, facile in duplici gratia obtines ab universis te recipi, et propter iugum suave, et propter regnum sublime. Pulsa de civitate, ab universitate exciperis, dum sic provocat quod promittis, ut quod imponis non terreat. Quid adhuc unius vineae plangis damnum, quod tanto tibi fenore compensatum est? Pro eo quod fuisti derelicta, et odio habita, et non fuit qui per te transiret: Ponam te, inquit, in superbiam saeculorum, gaudium in generatione et generationem; et suges lac gentium, et mammilla regum lactaberis; et scies quia ego Dominus salvans te, et redemptor tuus fortis Iacob. Tali itaque modo dicit se sponsa positam custodem in vineis, et quia vineam suam non custodivit.

Ego loci huius occasione me ipsum reprehendere soleo, quod animarum susceperim curam, qui meam non sufficerem custodire; vineas animas interpretans. Quod si probas et tu hanc nostram interpretationem, vide etiam consequenter, an recte quoque dicamus fidem, vitem; virtutes, palmites; botrum, opus; devotionem, vinum. Siquidem nec palmes absque vite, nec virtus sine fide aliquid est. Sine fide enim impossibile est placere Deo; fortasse et displicere necesse erit. Denique omne quod non est ex fide, peccatum est. Hoc ergo considerare oportuit illos qui me posuerunt custodem in vineis, si videlicet propriam custodissem. At quanto tempore inculta iacuit et deserta, redacta in solitudinem! Prorsus defecerat vinum ex ea, arefactis, prae sterilitate fidei, virtutum palmitibus.

Erat fides, sed mortua. Quomodo enim non mortua sine operibus? Et id quidem in saeculari vita. Caeterum conversus ad Dominum, meliuscule coepi, fateor, custodire; non tamen prout oportuit. Et quis nempe ad hoc idoneus? Nec sanctus Propheta, qui ait: Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frusta vigilat qui custodit eam. Quantis etiam tunc memini me patere insidiis illius, qui sagittat in occultis immaculatum? Quantum nobis, o vinea mea, furtivis subreptum est machinamentis eo ipso tempore, quo vigilantius intendere coepimus curae et custodiae nostri?

Quot et quales piorum botros operum aut praefocavit ira, aut tulit iactantia, aut foedavit inanis gloria? Quanta ab illecebra gulae, quanta ab acediae spiritu, quanta a pusillanimitate spiritus et tempestate sustinuimus? Sic eram: et nihilominus tamen posuerunt me custodem in vineis, non considerantes quid de mea ego facerem vel fecissem, nec audientes arguentem magistrum ac dicentem: Si quis domui suae praesse nescit, quomodo Ecclesiae Dei diligentiam habebit?

Miror audaciam plurimorum, quos videmus de suis vineis non colligere nisi spinas et tribulos, vineis tamen Dominicis etiam se ingerere non vereri. Fures sunt et latrones, non custodes, neque cultores. Hoc illis. Vae autem mihi etiam nunc a periculo vineae meae! imo magis nunc, quando pluribus intentus, minus circa unam diligens, minusque sollicitus fieri cogor. Nec spem circumdare, nec torcular fodere in ea licet. Heu! destructa est maceria eius, et vindemiant eam omnes qui praetergrediuntur viam!

Patet exposita tristitiae, iracundiae atque impatientiae pervia. Demoliuntur eam sedulae quaedam vulpeculae instantium necessitatum; irrumpunt undique anxietates, suspiciones, sollicitudines; turbae discordantium, causarum molestiae rara hora desunt. Non est prohibendi facultas, non copia declinandi, sed nec orandi spatium. Quo imbre lacrymarum perfundere sufficiam sterilitatem animae meae? Vineae meae volui dicere, sed de psalmo sic incidit propter usum, et sensus idem est; nec piget erroris qui admonet similitudinis, quia non de vinea sermo est, sed de anima. Ergo anima cogitetur, cum vinea legitur; siquidem sub huius specie et nomine illius sterilitas deploratur. Quibus ergo lacrymis rigabo sterilitatem vineae meae? Omnes palmites eius aruerunt prae inopia; iacent sine fructu, eo quod non habeant humorem, Iesu bone!

quos fasciculos sarmentorum ex eis in tuo quotidie sacrificio ustio contriti cordis mei te teste absumit? Sit, obsecro, sacrificium tibi spiritus contribulatus; cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, ne despicias.

Et ego quidem sic pro imperfecto meo traho ad me capitulum praesens. Perfectus autem omnis erit qui alias dicere poterit: Vineam meam non custodivi; illo videlicet sensu, quo Salvator loquitur in Evangelio, Qui perdiderit animam suam propter me, inveniet eam. Idoneus plane et dignus qui ponatur custos in vineis, quem propriae cura vineae a commissarum diligentia et sollicitudine non impedit aut retardat; dum non quaerit quae sua sunt, neque quod sibi utile est, sed quod multis. Propterea sane Petro cura ista credita est in tam multis vineis, quae erant de circumcisione, quia homo paratus erat, et in carcerem, et in mortem ire, usque adeo suae vineae, id est suae animae, non detinebatur amore, quominus curae intenderet creditarum. Merito et Paulo inter gentes tam ingens silva credita est vinearum, quod et ipse in suae custodia vineae minime curiosus inventus sit; ita ut non solum alligari, sed et mori in Ierusalem paratus fuerit propter nomen Domini Iesu Christi. Denique: Nihil horum vereor, inquit, nec facio animam meam pretiosiorem quam me. Optimus aestimator rerum, qui nihil suorum sibi praeferendum existimet.

Quam multi saluti propriae modicam vilissimamque pecuniam praetulerunt! Paulus nec animam. Non, inquit, facio eam pretiosiorem quam me. Ergo differentiam facis inter te, et animam tuam? Prudenter quidem tu tibi pluris es, quam quidvis tuum. Sed quomodo non tua anima tu? Arbitror quod quia Paulus iam tunc in spiritu ambularet, et mente consentiret legi Dei quoniam bona est; idcirco hanc ipsam mentem suam, tanquam principale ac supremum quiddam sui, dignum duxerit suimet potius, quam suae cuiuspiam rei nomine designare; reliquum vero, quod constat naturae esso inferioris, et inferiori proinde viliorique essentiae, quod est corpus, inhaerere; non modo officio vivificandi ac sensificandi, sed et fovendi nutriendique desiderio: hoc, inquam, sensuale atque carnale appellatione sui homo spiritualis indignum iudicans, inter sua magis censuit deputandum, quam se personaliter exprimendum per illud. Cum me dico, inquit, excellentius quod in me est, in quo et sto per gratiam Dei, id est mentem rationemque, intellige.

Cum loquor animam meam, hoc inferius accipe, quod carni animandae vides accommodatum, etiam et iunctum in concupiscentia. Id me fuisse quidem, sed iam non esse agnosco, quia non secundum carnem adhuc ambulo, sed secundum spiritum. Vivo ego iam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus. Secundum mentem ego, secundum carnem non ego. Quid enim si carnaliter etiam nunc anima concupiscit? Iam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum. Et ideo non me quidem, sed tamen meum dixerim quod in me carnaliter sapit, idque non aliud quam ipsam animam. Revera enim animae portio est carnalis affectio eius, et vita, quam administrat corpori.

Hanc ergo animam suam Paulus spernebat prae se, paratus pro Domino non solum alligari, sed et mori in Ierusalem, et sic perdere animam suam iuxta consilium Domini.

Tu quoque si propriam deseras voluntatem, si corporis voluptatibus perfecte renunties, si carnem tuam crucifigas cum vitiis et concupiscentiis, sed et mortifices membra tua, quae sunt super terram: probabis te Pauli imitatorem, qui non facias animam tuam pretiosiorem te ipso; probabis et Christi discipulum, etiam illam perdendo salubriter. Et quidem prudentius eam perdis ut custodias, quam custodis ut perdas. Nam qui voluerit animam suam salvam facere, perdet eam. Quid hic vos dicitis, observatores ciborum, morum neglectores? Hippocrates et sequaces eius docent animas salvas facere in hoc mundo; Christus et eius discipuli, perdere. Quemnam vos e duobus sequi magistrum eligitis? At manifestum se facit qui sic disputat: hoc oculis, hoc capiti, et illud pectori vel stomacho nocet. Profecto unusquisque quod a suo magistro didicit, hoc in medium profert.

Num in Evangelio legisti has differentias, aut in prophetis, aut in litteris apostolorum? Caro et sanguis pro certo revelavit tibi hanc sapientiam, non spiritus Patris; est enim carnis haec sapientia. Sed audi quid de ipsa nostri medici sentiant. Sapientia, inquiunt, carnis mors est; item: Sapientia carnis inimica est Deo. Num Hippocratis seu Galeni sententiam, aut certe de schola Epicuri debui proponere vobis? Christi sum discipulus; Christi discipulis loquor: ego si peregrinum dogma induxero, ipse peccavi. Epicurus atque Hippocrates corporis alter voluptatem, alter bonam habitudinem praefert; meus Magister utriusque rei contemptum praedicat. Animae in corpore vitam, quam summo studio iste unde sustentet, ille unde et delectet, inquirit atque inquirere docet, Salvator monet et perdere.

Quid enim tibi aliud de Christi auditorio sonuit, cum paulo ante clamatum est: Qui amat animam suam, perdet eam? Perdet eam dixit, sive ponendo ut martyr, sive affligendo ut poenitens. Quanquam genus martyrii est, spiritu facta carnis mortificare; illo nimirum, quo membra caeduntur ferro, horrore quidem mitius, sed diuturnitate molestius. Videsne hac sententia Magistri mei carnis sapientiam condemnari, per quam utique aut in luxum voluptatis diffluitur, aut ipsa quoque bona valetudo corporis ultra quam oporteat appetitur? Denique quod vera sapientia in voluptates non effluat, audisti profecto a Sapiente, ne inveniri quidem hanc in terra suaviter viventium. Qui autem invenit, dicit: Super salutem et omnem pulchritudinem dilexi sapientiam. Si super salutem et pulchritudinem, quanto magis super voluptatem et turpitudinem? Quid vero prodest temperare a voluptatibus, et investigandis diversitatibus complexionum, ciborumque varietatibus inquirendis, quotidianam expendere curam?

Legumina, inquit, ventosa sunt, caseus stomachum gravat, lac capiti nocet, potum aquae non sustinet pectus, caules nutriunt melancholiam, choleram porri accendunt, pisces de stagno aut de lutosa aqua meae penitus complexioni non congruunt. Quale est hoc, ut in totis fluviis, agris, hortis, cellariisve reperiri vix possit quod comedas?

Puta te, quaeso, monachum esse, non medicum; nec de complexione iudicandum, sed de professione. Parce, obsecro, primum quidem quieti tuae, parce deinde labori ministrantium, parce gravamini domus, parce conscientiae. Conscientiae dico, non tuae, sed alterius; illius videlicet, qui prope sedens, et edens quod sibi apponitur, de tuo singulari ieiunio murmurat. Scandalo quippe est ei aut tua odiosa superstitio, aut duritia, quam forte putat illius, qui tibi habet providere. Scandalizatur, inquam, in tua singularitate frater iudicans te superstitiosum, tanquam superflua quaeritantem; aut certe me durum causans, qui non perquiram victui tuo necessaria. Frustra sibi quidam blandiuntur de exemplo Pauli, hortantis discipulum non bibere aquam, sed modico uti vino propter stomachum et frequentes suas infirmitates. Qui attendere debent primum quidem Apostolum minime sibi ipsi rem istiusmodi suadere, sed nec discipulum aeque exposcere sibi. Deinde non monacho hoc intimari, sed episcopo, cuius vita tenerae adhuc et nascenti Ecclesiae pernecessaria esset.

Timotheus hic erat. Da mihi alterum Timotheum; et ego cibo eum, si vis, etiam auro, et poto balsamo. Caeterum tu tibimetipsi dispensas, misertus tui. Suspecta est mihi, fateor, tua ipsius in te dispensatio; et vereor tibi illudi sub tegmine et nomine discretionis a carnis prudentia. Id te saltem volo admonitum esse, ut si tibi ita auctoritas Apostoli placet de bibendo vino, modico, quod ille adiunxit, non praetermittas. Et de hoc satis. Sed revertamur ad sponsam, et discamus ab ea vineas proprias se utiliter non custodire, praesertim nos qui videmur deputati custodes in vineis sponsi Ecclesiae Iesu Christi Domini nostri, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen,

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.80.13 — Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass along the way pluck it?
  2. ↩Isa.5.7 — For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is his delightful planting. He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
  3. ↩Acts.4.32 — Now the great number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but everything they had was held in common.
  4. ↩Song.2.16;Song.6.3 — My beloved is mine, and I am his — the one who grazes among the lilies. Song.6.3 — I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine — the one who grazes among the lilies.
  5. ↩Matt.15.13;John.15.1-John.15.2 — But he answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted." John.15.1 — I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. John.15.2 — Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
  6. ↩Gen.28.14;Gen.12.2 — And your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south. And in you and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Gen.12.2 — And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
  7. ↩Song.2.3;Song.7.8 — Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shadow I delighted to sit, and his fruit was sweet to my palate. Song.7.8 — This is your stature — it resembles a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of fruit.
  8. ↩1Cor.3.9 — For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
  9. ↩John.15.1-John.15.2 — I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. John.15.2 — Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
  10. ↩Ps.138.8;Isa.5.1-Isa.5.7 — The LORD will accomplish what concerns me. O LORD, your steadfast love endures forever; do not forsake the work of your hands. Isa.5.1 — Let me sing for my beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. Isa.5.2 — He dug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower in its midst, and also hewed out a wine vat in it. He waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced wild grapes. Isa.5.3 — And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray, between me and my vineyard. Isa.5.4 — What more was there to do for my vineyard, and I did not do it in it? Why did I expect it to produce grapes, and it produced wild grapes? Isa.5.5 — And now I will make known to you what I am doing to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be for burning; I will break down its wall, and it will be for trampling. Isa.5.6 — I will make it a wasteland; it will not be pruned or hoed, and thorns and briers will grow up. And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Isa.5.7 — For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is his delightful planting. He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
  11. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  12. ↩Lam.4.21-Lam.4.22;Zech.9.9;Isa.54.1 — Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; the cup will pass to you also; you will get drunk and strip yourself bare. Lam.4.22 — The punishment of your iniquity is complete, daughter of Zion; he will exile you no more. He has punished your iniquity, daughter of Edom; he has uncovered your sins. Zech.9.9 — Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Isa.54.1 — Sing, O barren one who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who did not labor with child! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of the married wife, says the LORD.
  13. ↩Isa.60.4-Isa.60.5;Isa.54.2 — Lift up your eyes all around and see: they all gather together; they come to you. Your sons come from far away, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Isa.60.5 — Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and swell with joy, for the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you. Isa.54.2 — Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your dwellings be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
  14. ↩Acts.13.46 — Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles."
  15. ↩Exod.32.10 — Now then, leave me alone, so that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them, and I will make you into a great nation.
  16. ↩1Cor.10.24;Phil.2.4 — Let no one seek his own good, but the good of the other. Phil.2.4 — Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
  17. ↩Exod.17.12 — Moses' hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.
  18. ↩Acts.15.10;Gal.5.1 — Now then, why are you testing God by placing a yoke on the necks of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? Gal.5.1 — For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not again be subject to a yoke of slavery.
  19. ↩Heb.11.9-Heb.11.10 — By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise. Heb.11.10 — For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
  20. ↩Matt.11.30 — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
  21. ↩Acts.8.1;Acts.11.19 — And Saul was approving of his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Acts.11.19 — Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews alone.
  22. ↩Rom.11.11-Rom.11.12 — I ask, then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make them jealous. Rom.11.12 — Now if their trespass is the wealth of the world, and their failure is the wealth of the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be!
  23. ↩Isa.60.15-Isa.60.16 — Instead of your being abandoned and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from generation to generation. Isa.60.16 — You will nurse the milk of nations and suck the breast of kings, and you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
  24. ↩Isa.49.23 — And kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.
  25. ↩Isa.54.4-Isa.54.8 — Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame; do not be humiliated, for you will not be disgraced. For the shame of your youth you will forget, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. Isa.54.5 — For your Maker is your husband—the LORD of Hosts is his name—and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth he will be called. Isa.54.6 — For the LORD has called you back like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she has been rejected, says your God. Isa.54.7 — For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you. Isa.54.8 — In a flood of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer.
  26. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  27. ↩Ps.127.1 — A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
  28. ↩1Tim.3.5 — If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God?
  29. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  30. ↩Song.2.15;John.15.1-John.15.6 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom. John.15.1 — I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. John.15.2 — Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. John.15.3 — Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. John.15.4 — Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me. John.15.5 — I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. John.15.6 — If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and is dried up; and they gather them, and throw them into the fire, and it is burned.
  31. ↩Matt.10.39 — Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
  32. ↩Acts.21.13 — Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
  33. ↩Acts.20.24 — But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
  34. ↩Rom.8.4-Rom.8.5 — so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Rom.8.5 — For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
  35. ↩Gal.2.20 — I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
  36. ↩Rom.7.17 — So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
  37. ↩Matt.16.25 — For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
  38. ↩1Cor.11.1;Acts.21.13 — Become imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Acts.21.13 — Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
  39. ↩Acts.20.24 — But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
  40. ↩Col.3.5 — Put to death, therefore, the parts of you that belong to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
  41. ↩John.12.25 — Whoever loves their life loses it, and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
  42. ↩Matt.16.17 — But Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
  43. ↩1Cor.2.14 — But the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
  44. ↩Rom.8.7 — Because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, for it is not able to do so—
  45. ↩Matt.16.25 — For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
  46. ↩1Tim.5.23 — No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach and your frequent ailments.
  47. ↩Song.1.6 — Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards—but my own vineyard I have not kept.
  48. ↩Rom.9.5 — whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Rendered 'quod multis' as 'what would be useful to many' to supply the implied 'utile' from the preceding clause, maintaining the parallel contrast with 'sibi utile foret'.
  2. 2 ↩Quoted words echo the longer ending of the Gospel of Mark (Mk 16:15), 'Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.'
  3. 3 ↩vulpeculae (little foxes) echoes Song of Solomon 2:15; the 'little foxes' image is retained as a scriptural figure for what damages the soul's vineyard.
  4. 4 ↩instantium necessitatum rendered 'pressing need' — the genitive plural construction is ambiguous between 'of urgent necessities' and 'of what presses upon us'; either way the sense is relentless external demands.
  5. 5 ↩nec piget erroris qui admonet similitudinis: literally 'nor does it repent me of the error that admonishes of the likeness.' The sense is that the speaker doesn't regret the digression, because it usefully points to the allegorical parallel between vineyard and soul.
  6. 6 ↩aruerunt prae inopia: 'withered from drought' — inopia can mean poverty, lack, or drought; 'drought' fits the vineyard imagery and the cry for moisture that follows.
  7. 7 ↩Caro et sanguis is rendered 'flesh and blood' in its Pauline, human-nature sense; the contrast is with the Spirit of the Father, not a denial of incarnation.
  8. 8 ↩Sapientia carnis is rendered 'wisdom of the flesh'; the claim is that fleshly wisdom is both deadly to the flesh and opposed to God, echoing Pauline usage.
  9. 9 ↩The sentence is compressed: the Savior investigates and teaches how to investigate the soul's embodied life, weighing what sustains and delights it, yet counsels losing that life. Rendered to preserve the paradox of losing what is zealously sought.
  10. 10 ↩Complexioni carries the medical sense of 'constitution/temperament'; the author is mocking obsessive dietary calculation by listing humoral effects of common foods.
  11. 11 ↩The ut clause is ambiguous between purpose and result; the rhetorical force is that despite abundant sources of food, nothing suitable can be found — a satirical jab at fussy eating.

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