Shepherds Of Bethlehem

Transeamus usque Bethlehem, et videamus hoc Verbum quod factum est, sicut Dominus ostendit nobis. Et venerunt festinantes. Vides festinare pastores; nemo enim cum desidia Christum requirit. Vides pastores angelo credidisse; et tu Patri, Filio, Spiritui sancto, angelis, prophetis, et apostolis crede. Vide quam signate Scriptura singulorum libret momenta verborum: Festinant, inquit, Verbum videre. Etenim cum caro Domini videtur, Verbum videre, quod est Filius. Non mediocre fidei tibi hoc videatur exemplum, non vilis persona pastorum. Certe quo vilior ad prudentiam, eo pretiosior ad fidem. Non gymnasia choris referta sapientum, sed plebem Dominus simplicem requisivit, quae phalerare audita, et fucare nesciret. Simplicitas enim quaeritur, non ambitio desideratur. Nec condemnenda putes quasi vilia verba prophetarum: a pastoribus populus ad Dei reverentiam congregatur; 'mirati enim sunt de iis, quae dicebantur a pastoribus ad ipsos.' Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber II Migne PL 15.1571-72

'Let us go to Bethlehem and let us see this word that has been given to us, as the Lord has shown to us. And they went swiftly.'  1 You see that the shepherds hurry; for no one with sluggishness desires Christ. You see that the shepherds believed the angel, and so you, then, have faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and the Angels and the Prophets and the Apostles. See how with the meaning of each word Scripture weighs the moment. Hurry, it says, to see the Word. Indeed when the flesh of the Lord is seen, the Word is seen, which is the Son. This is no image of you who are of a petty faith, nor indeed is the lowly state of the shepherds. Certainly as something is more vile to the clever, so it is more precious to faith. It is not schools stuffed full of choirs of the clever the Lord seeks but the simple, whose hearing is adornment and who do not know not how to ornament themselves. For simplicity He seeks, ambition He does not want. Nor should you think to condemn as vile the words of Prophets, for by the shepherds the people are gathered to the reverence of God: 'They were amazed by the things which the shepherds told them.' 2 Saint Ambrose, from The Commentary On The Gospel of Luke, Book 2 1 Lk 2.15 2 Lk 2.18