But your graces will also remember that on Christmas morning I put off solving a question I had raised, because there were many people celebrating that day’s feast with us, who usually find explanations of the Word of God rather a bore. But now, I assume, it is only people who want to listen that have come together here. So I am not speaking to hearts that are deaf, or to disdainful minds.
These expectations, though, of yours are like prayers for me. More than that; the games on today have blown many people away from here, for whose salvation I am greatly concerned, and I urge you, brothers, to feel as much concern for them yourselves, and to pray earnestly to God for those who are not yet in earnest about the shows truth puts on, but are still given over to shows put on for the flesh.
- St. Augustine, Sermon 51 – The Harmony Between the Evangelists Mathew and Luke Concerning the Lord’s Genealogy , Section 2
I’ve heard a fair number express exactly the same thing. Funny how human nature stays the same.