So then, brothers/sisters,
if I came to you,
– speaking with tongues,
what benefit would that be to you all,
unless I spoke
with either
a revelation or knowledge
or prophecy or teaching?
Likewise
lifeless things make a sound-
whether a flute or a harp:
if they do not make a distinct sound,
how will what is played on the flute be known,
or what is played on the harp?
For if a trumpet gives an indistinct sound,
who would get ready for battle?
So also you:
if you do not (speak) intelligibly
with the tongue,
how will it be known what you say?
For you will be speaking into the air.
There are perhaps many kinds of sounds in the world
and none without meaning.
Therefore if I do not know the meaning of the sound,
I will be a babbler to the speaker,
and the one who speaks a babbler to me.
So also you:
since you are seekers of spiritual (things)
seek to increase in (them) for the building up of the church.
Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.
Alcuin