pared in the Scripture to several kinds of trees. We read in the Canticles, "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is My Beloved among the sons." {Cant. ii. 3.) Other men are trees of the wood, and produce no other than wild and sour fruit, to wit, sin. Christ alone, in the sense of the Canticles, is the apple-tree which brings forth delicious fruit; and as the apple by its juice gives both food and liquid, so Christ by giving us His precious body and blood in the Eucharist is both the meat and drink of our souls.
II. Your soul is a garden planted by God's own hands, according to the Prophet: "Their soul shall be as a watered garden." (Jer. xxxi. 12.) In this garden will be planted to-day that heavenly Tree, the Tree of Life. This Tree yields twelve fruits, which are, according to the Apostle, "charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity." (Gal. v. 23.) Oh, how you ought to long for the hour when "your Beloved will come into His garden and eat the fruit of His apple-trees — that is, of good works — which He will co-operate with you in producing in your soul!
III. If you wish to enjoy the advantages of this fruit, you must seat yourself under the shadow of the tree, by attentively contemplating its good qualities and excellence. Thus did the spouse in the Canticles, " I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired, and his fruit was sweet to my palate." (Cant. ii. 3.) Prepare yourself therefore by holy desires, and you will be permitted " to taste and see, that the Lord is sweet." (Ps. xxxiii. 9.)
