Monday, April 24 : Isaac of Stella

I have all due respect for the opinion that faithfully and fittingly interprets this vineyard of our text as the whole Church, Christ being the vine, Christians the branches, the Father the gardener and the rich man, the daylight the whole of time or the life of man, the hours the ages of the world or of individuals, the market-place this world’s grasping and insatiable business. But for my part, I view my whole self, soul and body both, and not just my soul, as the one vine that I may not neglect, but must dig about it and cultivate it to prevent it being overrun by unwelcome weeds and by the roots of other plants or be smothered by its own offshoots. Pruned it must be or it will grow wild: trimmed so that it may yield more fruit. It must be altogether fenced-in or every passer-by will freely plunder it; the greatest danger of all being that the wild boar from the thickets… may ravage it (cf. Ps 80[79],14). To sum all this up briefly: it must be cultivated with the greatest care, otherwise the noble shoots of this choice vine will go to seed, will turn into a worthless vine and, far from delighting both God and man (cf. Ps 104[103],15), may only succeed in saddening both of them. It must also be guarded with the utmost watchfulness that all the exertion spent on it and hopes placed in it may not be wiped-out, either by stealthy stealing of those who devour the poor in secret (Hab 3,14) or by sudden and unlooked-for disaster. It was in this sense, as though referring to a vine in his keeping, that the First Man was given Paradise that, as Scripture says, “he should cultivate it and keep it” (Gn 2,15).

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team