Winds And The Garden

Et vidi, et ecce ventus turbinis veniebat ab Aquilone... Pro eo quod ventus Aquilo constringit in frigore, non incongrue Aquilonis nomine torpor maligni spiritus designatur. Quod Isaias quoque propheta testatur, qui dixisse diabolum denuntiat: Sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus Aquilonis. Malignus enim spiritus montem testamenti tenuit, quia Judaicum populum, qui legem acceperat, sibi in perfidiam subjugavit. Quando enim corda doctorum tenet, monti testamenti diabolus praesidet. Qui etiam in lateribus Aquilonis sedet, quia mentes hominum frigidas possidet. Unde et sponsi voce in Cantico canticorum dicitur: Surge, Aquilo, et veni, Auster, perfla hortum meum, et fluant aromata illius. Cum enim, jubente Domino, frigidus spiritus recedit, calidus spiritus mentem fidelium occupat; qui hortum Dei, id est sanctam Ecclesiam perflat, ut opiniones virtutum ejus ad multorum notitiam velut aromata defluant. Recedente etenim Aquilone, id est maligno spiritu, sanctus Spiritus mentem quasi Auster replet. Qui dum calefaciendo flaverit, statim de fidelium cordibus aromata virtutum fluunt. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Primus, Homilia II Source: Migne PL 76.799c-d

I looked and I saw a storm wind coming from the north... 1 Because the north wind grips with cold, it is not strange that the torpor of the wicked spirit is designated by the name of the north wind. Which also Isaiah makes prophecy about, who speaking of the devil declares. 'I shall sit on the mount of the covenant, on the north side.' 2 For the wicked spirit held the mount of covenant, since the Jewish people, who received the law, he subjugated to himself in treachery. For when he lays hold of the heart of teachers, so the devil presides on the mount of the covenant. Indeed he who sits on the north sides of the mountain, so he possess the frozen minds of men. Whence even the voice of the groom in the Song of Songs says: 'Go, north wind, and come, south wind, blow through my garden and scatter its aromas.' 3 For when, at the Lord's command, the frozen spirit recedes, so the warm spirit occupies the minds of the faithful, so that the garden of God, which is the Holy Church, may waft out its thought on the virtues to the awareness of many, just like scents spread. And when the north wind withdraws, that is, the wicked spirit, the Holy Spirit fills the mind like the south wind. He who, while he warms with his breezes, instantly spreads forth the aroma of the virtues from the hearts of the faithful. Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 1, from Homily 2 1 Ezek 1.4 2 Isaiah 14.13 3 Song 4.16