Rachel weeping for her children,
And would not be comforted,
Because they are not.”
“Rachel and funeral dirges seem still distant from the songs of the angels in Judea!”
“Rachel is here likened to Mary by the Apostle Matthew.”
“I liken Rachel to Miriamne: for the former Jacob served fourteen years which, for the love he bore her, seemed but a few days. Cornelius could have done as much for Miriamne.”
“My knightly spouse goes from Bethlehem himself toward Bethany. Go back now.”
“I listen; lead me.”
“At Rama, the site of the tomb of Mary’s son, the converted publican, St. Matthew, told how death began its cruel hunt of the Virgin’s loved Child at His very cradle. Sorrow envies joy; death battles life, and ever more woman’s love, the choicest rose of life, has been crossed by the destroyer of human happiness; that is human hatings.”