22 July 2007

Patristic Quote of the Day

For Mary, as we read, kept in heart all things that were said concerning her Son, Luke 2:19 and do you, when any passage is read where Christ is announced as about to come, or is shown to have come, not make a noise by talking, but attend. Is anything more unbecoming than the divine words should be so drowned by talking, as not to be heard, believed, or made known, that the sacraments should be indistinctly heard through the sound of voices, that prayer should be hindered when offered for the salvation of all? - St. Ambrose, *Concerning Virginity* Book III, Par. 11

[Reminds me of the intro to the readings in the old Saxon liturgy: "The Christian congregation may hear with due devout attention the epistle... (or the Gospel...)."'

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