The Soil of Our Souls

The Soil of Our Souls

The care of our soul, dearly beloved, is very much like earthly cultivation. Just as in land which is tilled some things are torn out and others are completely uprooted in order that what is good may be sown, so this should also be the case in our soul. Vices should be uprooted and virtues planted; what is harmful should be torn out and what is useful inserted. Pride should be torn out, humility planted; avarice thrown away, mercy kept; dissipation despised, chastity loved. Just as you cannot plant good things in your land unless you remove what is evil, so you cannot plant the holy shoots of virtues in your soul unless you tear out the thorns and thistles of vice….

Why then, are you not as solicitous for your soul as you are for your estate? I beseech you to notice…that there are two kinds of fields; one belongs to God, the other to man. You possess your farm, and God has his; yours is your land, God’s is your soul….

We will live in this world off of the land of our farm but a few days, while we will live in heaven forever as a result of caring for our soul. For this reason we should devote the greater part of our energy there, that is, to our soul. God has deigned to entrust to us our soul as his farm, with the idea that we should cultivate it eagerly. Therefore, with God’s help let us labor with all our strength, so that when God wishes to come to his field, that is, to our soul, he may find it cultivated, arranged, and all in order. May he find a harvest, not thorns; wine, not vinegar; wheat, rather than weeds. If he finds everything pleasing to his eyes, he will repay us with eternal rewards.

Saint Caesarius of Arles