Lignum vitae
Bonaventure (1217–1274)
Bonaventure's Lignum vitae (Tree of Life): forty-eight meditations on the life, passion, and glorification of Christ, ordered as twelve fruits on a mystical tree, with a closing prayer for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Latin: Quaracchi critical text; English: new ScholaThomistica translation.
Prologue
Fructus I: Fruit I. The Glory of His Origin.
Fructus II: Fruit II. Humility in His Way of Life.
Fructus III: Fruit III. Sublimity of Virtue.
Fructus IV: Fruit IV. Fullness of Piety.
Fructus V: Fruit V. Confidence in Dangers.
Fructus VI: Fruit VI. Patience under Insults.
Fructus VII: Fruit VII. Constancy under Torments.
Fructus VIII: Fruit VIII. Victory in the Struggle of Death.
Fructus IX: Fruit IX. Newness of Resurrection.
Jesus, triumphant in death.
- When the struggle of the passion was now consummated, while that bloody dragon and raging lion reckoned that he had gained victory over the slain Lamb, the power of the Divinity began to shine forth in the soul descending into hell, by which our most strong Lion of the tribe of Juda, rising against the strong armed man, tore the prey from him, and with the gates of hell broken and the serpent bound, despoiling the principalities and powers, led them confidently, openly triumphing over them in himself. Then leviathan was drawn with a hook, his jaw pierced through by Christ, so that he who had no right in the head which he seized might lose even what he seemed to hold in the body. Then the true Samson dying laid low the hostile army. Then the spotless Lamb in the blood of his testament brought the bound out of the pit wherein there was no water. Then upon those dwelling in the region of the shadow of death shone the long-awaited brightness of new light.
Jesus, rising blessed.
- For when the third day dawned upon the sacred rest of the Lord in the tomb, which in the cycle of days is the eighth and the first, the virtue and wisdom of God, Christ, with the author of death overthrown, conquered death itself and opened to us the entry of eternity, raising himself from the dead by divine power, to make known to us the ways of life. Then there was a great earthquake, and an Angel of the Lord in white and shining garment and with lightning countenance descended from heaven, appearing gentle to the devoted and severe to the wicked. For which reason he both terrified the insolent soldiers and comforted the fearful women, to whom also the risen Lord himself first appeared, because the affection of intense devotion merited this. Then he was seen by Peter, then by the disciples going into Emmaus, then by all the Apostles without Thomas, then he offered himself to Thomas to be touched, when he faithfully exclaimed: My Lord and my God, and so through forty days appearing in many forms to the disciples and eating and drinking with them, he both enlightened us with proofs unto faith and raised us with promises unto hope, that so at last he might kindle us unto love with gifts given from heaven above.
Jesus, surpassing beauty.
- Indeed that most beautiful flower from the root of Jesse, which flowered in the incarnation and withered in the passion, so flowered again in the resurrection as to be the beauty of all. For that most glorious body, subtle, agile and immortal, was clothed upon with a glory of such brightness that it is truly more resplendent than the sun, bearing the exemplary beauty of the human bodies to be raised, of which the Saviour himself says: Then shall the just shine as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father, namely of everlasting beatitude. But if any just man shall shine as the sun, of how great brightness do you think the Sun of justice himself is? So great, I say, that compared to light he is rightly judged more beautiful than the sun and above all the order of the stars, a surpassing beauty. Blessed those eyes which saw, but you too shall truly be blessed if the remnants of your seed remain to see that most desired brightness both within and without.
Jesus, preferred before the world.
- The Lord also appearing in Galilee to the disciples asserted that all power both of heaven and of earth was given to him by the Father. For which reason he also sent the disciples into the whole world to preach the Gospel to every creature, promising salvation to believers, threatening damnation to unbelievers, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following, that in the virtue of the name of Jesus Christ they might command all creatures and diseases, and it might truly stand proven to the whole world that Jesus Christ, the Son of the great Father, as another Joseph and true Saviour, lives and reigns, not only in the land of Egypt but glorified also "in every place of the dominion of the eternal King, brought forth indeed to the command of the God of heaven from the prison of death and of hell, and shorn of the hair of mortality, he changed the garment of the flesh for the beauty of immortality, and as the true Moses, taken up from the waters of mortality, weakened the empire of Pharaoh," exalted with so great honor that at his name every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.