Patristic Quote of the Day

The Holy Spirit makes ample provision so that even the hardest and most recalcitrant hearts may, little by little, be glad to receive the medicine of these revealed words. Ordinarily, human nature runs away from what is hard, even
though it is salutary, rejecting such things or, at least, taking them only when they seem to be tempting. Through David his servant, the Lord prepared a medicine, powerful enough to cure the wounds of sin, yet sweet to the taste by reason of the melody. For, when a psalm is sung, it is sweet to the ear. It enters the soul because it is pleasant. It is easily retained if it is often enough repeated. Confessions that no severity of law could extort from the heart are willingly made under the sweet influence of song. There is contained in these songs, for those who meditate on them, all that is consoling in the Law, the Prophets and even the Gospels. - Niceta of Remesiana, Liturgical Singing