a mystery is of more benefit than a miracle…

For although God can change and transform diverse natures, yet because a mystery is of more benefit to me than a miracle, I should acknowledge in the Forerunner of Christ nothing greater than the building of the growing Church, which constructed not of stony rock, but of living stones (1 Pt. 2:5), through the conversion of our spirits rose into an habitation of God and a pediment of the Temple (Eph 2:21-22). Indeed, God prepared to soften the hardnesses of our minds and from stumbling blocks erect husbandmen of religion (Is 8:14; 1 Pt. 2:7).

~Saint Ambrose of Milan