The Lord said, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and appointed you to go and bring forth fruit . . . Then he adds the quality the fruit is to have – And your fruit is to endure. Everything we labor for in this present world scarcely lasts until death. Death intervenes and cuts off the fruit of our labor. But what we do for eternal life remains even after death; it begins to appear only when the fruits of our physical labors cease to be visible . . . Let one who recognizes that he now bears eternal fruit within his soul, think little of the temporal fruits of his labors. Let us work for the fruit that endures. Let us work for the fruit that begins at death since death destroys all others.

– St. Gregory the Great