Prayer And Reading

Lectiones oratione praevenimus, quia rogare debemus Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem, et aperiat cor nostrum in lege sua et in praeceptis, ne semen verbi quo audituri sumus, aut volucres comedant, aut spinae suffocat, aut duritae petrae frustrate radice supplantet. Hugo De Sancte Victore, Miscellanea, Liber VII, Tit XVI, De Horis Canonicis, De Oratione ante Lectiones Source: Migne PL 177.874d

We come to the readings with a prayer because we should ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to the harvest, 1 even that He might open our heart to His law and commandments, lest the seed of the word that we are about to hear either be devoured by birds, or choked by thorns, or have its vainly reaching roots blocked by hard stones. 2 Hugh Of Saint Victor, Miscellanea, Book 7, Chapter 16, On The Canonical Hours, On Prayer before the Readings 1 Mt 9.38 2 Mt 13.3-9