Cultivating The Vine

Salva igitiur cum debita veneratione sententia, quae fideliter et congrue vineam istam universalem ponit Ecclesiam, ubi vitis Christus, Christiani palmites, Pater agricola, et paterfamilias, dies totum tempus, vel vita hominis, horae mundi vel hominis singularis aetates, forum ipsius mundi cupido, ac curiosa negotiato apte intelliguntur: ego animam meam et non solum, sed etiam corpus, ac utrumque simul, id est totum me, vineam quamdam mihi non negligendam intelligo, sed fodiendum, atque exercendam, uti ne peregrinis germinibus alienisque radicibus conclulcetur, aut propriis et nativis offuscetur vitulaminibus, putandam, ne silvescat; purgandam, ut fructum plus afferat, sapiendam omnino, ne dierptioni pateat his qui praetergradiuntur viam, maxime autem propter aprum de silva, et singularem ferum, ne exterminet eam, et ut paucis dicam, summa diligentia excolendam, ne generosa propago vitis electae degeneret, et in vitem alienam, quae nec Deum nec homines laetificet, aut forsan utrumque contristet, convertatur; summa vigilantia custodiendam, ne res plurimum elaborata, diuque exspectata,vel clancularia subreptione, ab his qui devorant pauperem in abscondito deteratur, vel inopinata vastatione repente dispereat. Isaac, Cisterciensis Abbas, Sermo XVI Source: Migne PL 194.1742a-b

Therefore having all due regard for the understanding that faithfully and fittingly explains this vineyard to be the whole Church, where Christ is the vine, Christians the branches, the Father the gardener and the rich man, the day the whole of time, or the life of man, the hours the ages of the world or of each man, the marketplace the world's desire and relentless business, 1 yet I have the understanding that not only my soul but even my body, both at the same time, that is my whole self, is the vine that I must not neglect, but must dig about and cultivate lest it be overrun with foreign growths and roots, or be choked by its own native offshoots, pruning it lest it run wild, and trimming it so that it may bear more fruit. 2 And it must be completely fenced in lest it be open to being plundered by those who pass by on the way, 3 especially from that wild boar of the wood, that solitary beast, lest he destroy it. 4 To speak in a few words, it must be cultivated with the greatest care, lest the noble shoots of this choice vine degenerate and it becomes a worthless vine, which will please neither God nor man, but perhaps only sadden both. It must be guarded with the utmost vigilence, lest the great labour spent on it and the long hopes placed in it be destroyed, either by the stealthy stealing of those who devour the poor in secret, 5 or by sudden and unexpected disaster. Isaac of Stella, from Sermon 16 1 Mt 20.1-16 2 Jn 15.2 3 Isaiah 5.1-7 4 Ps 79.13 5 Hab 3.14