The Sound Of Wings

Et audiebam sonum alarum, quasi sonum aquarum multarum. Solent in sacro eloquio per aquas, populi designari. Unde per Joannem dicitur: Aquae vero sunt populi. Idcirco autem aquis populus designatur, quia et in vita sonum habet ex tumultu carnis, et quotidie defluit ex decursu mortalitatis. Ut autem saepe jam diximus, alae sunt animalium, virtutes sanctorum. Quid est ergo quod propheta alarum sonum audit quas sonum aquarum multarum, nisi quod omnipotentis Dei pietate illae alae virtutum, quae in paucis prius sanctis sonabant, etiam nunc praedicatione diffusa, in multarum populorum conversatione resonant? Incarnato enim, passo, ac resurgente Domino, pauca pennata animalia fuerunt, quia rari valde exstiterunt, qui coelestia desiderarent, et virtutum pennis se in alta suspenderent. Sed postquam divinitatis ejus praedicatio in mundo diffusa est, quanti jam parvuli, quanti graviores, quanti fortes juvenes, quanti imbecilles, quantae conversae peccatrices, quantae anus virgines per fidem, per spem, per amorem ad coelestia evolant, quis dicere, quis aestimare sufficiat? Ecce alarum sonitus, qui prius in paucis animalibus fuit, jam nunc in populis resonat, jam nunc mundi multitudinem ad coeleste desiderium pennae virtutum levant. Bene ergo dicitur: Et audiebam sonum alarum, quasi sonum aquarum multarum, quia, sicut praefati sumus, ille virtutum sonus qui in aurem Dei prius ex paucis sanctis factus est, postmodum ex aquis multis id est ex innumerabilibus est populis multiplicatus. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia VIII Source: Migne PL 76.853c-854b

And I heard a sound of wings, like the sound of many waters. 1 It is the custom of Sacred Scripture to designate the peoples by waters. Whence John says: 'The waters are the people.' 2 So the people are designated by the waters, because in life it has the sound of the tumult of the flesh, and every day it pours down the downward slope of mortality. And, as we have already said, the wings of the animals are the virtues of the saints. Why is it, then, that the Prophet hears the sound of wings as the sound of many waters, unless that by the piety of almighty God the wings of virtue, which before were heard only in few holy ones, now, by the spread of preaching, resound in the lives of many people? For until the Incarnation and the Passion and the Resurrection of the Lord, few were winged animals, because rarely were they found who desired heavenly things and with wings of virtue held themselves in the heights. But after the preaching of His Divinity was spread across the whole world, who is able to say or guess how many who were few became great, how many became strong youths who were weak, how many who were sinful women became old virgins, and by faith, by hope, and by love flew to the heavenly things? Behold, the sound of wings, which once was found in few animals, now resounds among the people, like the sound of many waters; for now the wings of the virtues lift up a multitude of the world with heavenly longings. Well, then, it is said, 'And I heard the sound of wings, like the sound of many waters,' because, as we have mentioned, that sound of virtue in the ear of God once was made by few holy folk and after is like the many waters, that is, it is multiplied by innumerable people. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 8 1 Ezekiel 1.24 2 Apoc 17.15