Gregory the Great, on Ezek 40:44

“And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singing men in the inner court, which was on the side of the gate that looketh to the north: and their prospect was towards the south, one at the side of the east gate, which looketh toward the north.”

“The holy Church has two lives: one which it leads temporally, another which it receives in eternity; one in which it labors on earth, another in which it is rewarded in heaven; one in which it gathers wages, another in which it now rejoices over the wages received, and in both lives it offers sacrifice. Here, namely, the sacrifice of compunction, and there the sacrifice of praise. Of this sacrifice it is said: "A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit." But of that one it is written: "Then you will accept the sacrifice of justice, offerings and holocausts." Of which again it says: "That my glory may sing to you, and I may not be pierced with compunction." In both sacrifices, however, flesh is offered, because here the offering of flesh is the mortification of the body, there the offering of flesh is the glory of resurrection in praise of God. For then flesh will be offered there as in a holocaust, when, transformed into eternal incorruption, it will have nothing of contradiction, nothing of mortality, because entirely kindled at once by the fires of his love, it will remain in praise without end. Therefore let this inner gate, that is, in the holy Church, have its interior parts, namely that life which is still hidden from our eyes. Let it have outside it an outer court, that is, the present life, in which every good is done so that the good without end may be reached.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.