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The Cultivation and Growth of the Tree of Life

Or, the manner of making Mary live and reign in our souls.

1. The Holy Slavery of Love, Tree of Life

  1. Have you understood, predestined soul, by the working of the Holy Spirit, what I have just said? Thank God for it! It is a secret unknown to almost everyone. If you have found the treasure hidden in the field of Mary, the precious pearl of the Gospel, you must sell all to acquire it; you must make a sacrifice of yourself into the hands of Mary, and lose yourself happily in her so as to find God alone. If the Holy Spirit has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion I have just explained to you, you must take every care to cultivate it, so that it may bear its fruit in due season. This devotion is the mustard seed spoken of in the Gospel which, being seemingly the smallest of all seeds, nevertheless grows very large, and pushes its stem so high that the birds of the air -- that is, the predestined -- make their nests in it and rest in its shade from the heat of the sun, and hide there in safety from the wild beasts.

2. The Manner of Cultivating It

Here, predestined soul, is the manner of cultivating it:

    1. This tree, being planted in a truly faithful heart, wants to be in the open air, without any human support; this tree, being divine, wants always to be without any creature that could prevent it from rising toward its source, which is God. Thus, one must not lean on one's own human industry or purely natural talents, nor on the influence and authority of men: one must have recourse to Mary and lean on her help.
    1. The soul in which this tree is planted must be unceasingly occupied, like a good gardener, in guarding it and watching over it. For this tree, being living and meant to produce a fruit of life, must be cultivated and increased by the continual attention and contemplation of the soul; and it is the mark of a perfect soul to think on it continually and to make it its principal occupation.

  3. One must pull up and cut down the thorns and thistles that could in time choke this tree or prevent it from bearing fruit: that is, one must be faithful in cutting away and pruning, by mortification and self-denial, all useless pleasures and vain occupations with creatures -- in other words, crucifying one's flesh, keeping silence, and mortifying one's senses.

    1. One must watch that the caterpillars do not damage it. These caterpillars are self-love and love of comfort, which eat up the green leaves and the fair hopes the Tree had of bearing fruit: for self-love and love of Mary are utterly incompatible.
    1. One must not let the wild beasts come near it. These beasts are sins, which could kill the Tree of Life by their very touch: one must not even let their breath fall upon it -- that is, venial sins, which are always very dangerous when one thinks nothing of them...
    1. One must continually water this divine tree with one's Communions, Masses, and other public and private prayers; without which, this tree would cease to bear fruit.
    1. One need not worry if it is blown and shaken by the wind, for it is necessary that the wind of temptation blow upon it to make it fall, and that snow and frost surround it to destroy it; that is, this devotion to the Blessed Virgin will necessarily be attacked and contradicted; but provided one perseveres in cultivating it, there is nothing to fear.

3. Its Lasting Fruit: Jesus Christ

  1. Predestined soul, if you cultivate in this way your Tree of Life, newly planted by the Holy Spirit in your soul, I assure you that in a short time it will grow so tall that the birds of the air will dwell in it, and it will become so perfect that at last it will yield its fruit of honor and grace in due season -- that is, the lovable and adorable Jesus, who has always been and always will be the sole fruit of Mary. Happy the soul in which Mary, the Tree of Life, is planted; happier still the soul in which she has grown and blossomed; happiest of all the soul in which she bears her fruit; but the most happy of all is the soul that savors and preserves her fruit until death and forever and ever.

So be it. Qui tenet, teneat.

Chapter 4 of 4