Planting Trees

Et erit tamquam lignum, quod plantatum est juxta decursus aquarum, quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo. Et folium ejus non defluet. Ridiculum hoc forte et ineptum comparatae beatitudinis credetur exemplum: in quo ligni plantatio, decursus aquarum, fructuum datio, suum tempus, et folium non defluens praedicatur. Haec quidem secundum homines saeculi nulla forte existimabuntur. Sed videamus secundum propheticam doctrinam, quanta in his ipsis rebus ac verbis comparatae beatitudinis gloria collecetur. In libro Geneis II, IX et X, ubi plantatum a Deo paradisum legislator ostendit, omne quoque lignum specie pulchrum et ad esam bonum productum esse monstravit; esse quoque et in medio paradiso lignuum vitae, et lignum sciendi boni et mali exposuit; irrigari deinde paradisum divisum sit. Quod autem esset hoc lignum vitae, propheta Salomon docuit, dicens, de adoratione sapientiae: Lignum vitae est omnibus qui complectuntur eam, et qui incumbunt in eam sicut in Domino, secura' Lignum ergo hoc vivens est: neque solum vivens, sed etiam rationale; rationale autem in tantum ut fructus det; det vero non confuse, non importune, sed tempore suo, Et plantatum hoc lignum est 'juxta decursus aquarum,' in possessione scilicet regni Dei, id est, in paradiso, et unde flumen exiens in quatuor principia dividitur. Non enim ait: Post decursus aquarum, sed: 'Juxta decursus aquarum, unde primum decursum aquarum divisiones sortiuntur. Illic enim plantatum hoc lignum est, quo latronem illum, se Dominum confitentem, Dominus qui Sapientia est introduxit, dicens, 'Amen dico tibi, hodi mecum eris in paradiso', Et quia sapientiam, qui Christus est, lingum vitae congnominari de sacramento futurae corporationis et passionis, prophetica auctoritate docuimus: etiam ex Evangelliis intelligentiae cujus est proprietas, adstruenda. Dominus namque ipse se arbori comparavit, cum in Beelzebub daemonia cum Judaei ejicere dixissent: Aut facite, inquit, arborem bonam et fructus ejus bonos, aut facite arborem malam, et fructus ejus malos; ex fructu enim arbor cognoscitur. Quia cum fructus est et optimus, daemonia ejicere; Beelzebub eum, cujus fructus pessimi sunt, esse dicebant. Hujus quoque beati ligni non dedignatus est, in se docere virtutem, cum pergens ad crucem ait: Quia si in humido ligno haec faciunt, in arido quid fiet? per humidi ligni exemplum, nihil in se ariditati mortis obnoxium esse significans. Huic itaque ligno beatus ille vir similis fiet; cum, translati latronis in paradisum modo, secundum decursus aquarum et ipse plantetur: et fiet beata illa, et non eradicanda novella plantatio, quam in Evangeliis Dominus significat, cum de aliena plantatione conqueritur, dicens: Omnis plantatio quam non plantavit Pater meus coelestis, eradicabitur. Hoc ergo lignuum dabit fructus suos. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, Tractatus super Psalmos, Tractatus in Psalmum Primum

And he shall be like a tree planted beside flowing waters, which shall yield its fruit in its own season, and his leaf shall not fall.1 This may perhaps be deemed an absurd comparison of blessedness, in which a planted tree, flowing waters, the giving of fruit, its own time, and the leaf that does not fall, are esteemed. All this may be judged to be nonsense by men of the world. But let us look at the teaching of the Prophet and see how much wonder is to be found in the objects and words used for these comparisons of blessedness. In the book of Genesis where the lawgiver shows us the paradise planted by God, we are told that every tree is fair to see and good for food 2, and also that in the midst of paradise is the tree of Life and a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and next that the garden is watered in divisions. What this tree of Life is The Prophet Solomon teaches us  in his praise of Wisdom, when he says of Wisdom: 'She is a tree of life to all those who embrace her and those who rest on her do so securely as on the Lord.' 3 This tree therefore is living, and not only living, but even having reason, reason inasmuch that it may put forth fruit not randomly nor inappropriately but in its season. And this tree is beside the flowing waters in the domain of the Kingdom of God, that is, in Paradise, and where the stream issues forth it is divided into four heads. For he does not say, 'Behind the flowing waters,' but, 'Beside the flowing waters,' at the place where first the flowing waters are divided. There the tree is planted where the Lord, Who is Wisdom, led the thief who confessed Him to be the Lord, replying: 'Truly I say unto you, today shall you be with Me in Paradise.'4 And now that we have taught on prophetic warrant that Wisdom, which is Christ, is named the tree of Life in accordance with the mystery of the coming Incarnation and Passion, we must seek support for this particular understanding in the Gospels. The Lord compared Himself to a tree when the Jews said that He cast out devils by Beelzebub, and He said,  'Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.'5; Because although the casting out of demons is an excellent fruit, they said He was Beelzebub, whose fruits are the worst. Nor did He refuse to teach that the power that makes the tree blessed was in His Person, for on the way to the Cross He said: For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry tree ?'6  Declaring by this image of the green tree that there was nothing in Him that was subject to the dryness of death. That blessed man, then, will become like this tree when he, like the thief, is brought into paradise and planted beside the flowing waters, and it will be a blessed planting, a new planting which cannot be uprooted, which the Lord mentions in the Gospels when He deplores any other planting, saying, 'Every planting which is not planted by my heavenly Father shall be uprooted.'7 This tree, therefore, will yield its fruits. Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 1 1 Ps 1.3 2 Gen 2:9-10  3 Prov 3:18 LXX 4 Lk 23:43  5Mt 12:33  6 Lk 23:31  7 Mt 15:13