Nativity 25

Change of melody. On the melody: "Blessed are you, Ephrath." On the melody: "Blessed are you, Ephrath." Glory to the One who sent him. Glory to the One who sent him. Blessed are you, O Church, for the thunder roars within you. A great feast: the King has prepared a feast. The thirsty have been quenched; the thirsty have drunk much. And her gates are thirsty from the feasts. Blessed are your gates, which have been opened and do not close. And your courts, which have been spread out and are not insufficient. Within you, the peoples who have cried out are thundering. And they have silenced that people. Blessed are you, O Church, for at your feasts, the watchers rejoice in the houses of your feasts. For one night the watchers praised in the land of the silent; glory has been perfected. Blessed are your voices, which have been sown and reaped, and in the heavens have been stored in treasuries. Your mouth is a fruit-basket, and your voices are like spices; they perfume at your feasts. Blessed are you, O Church, for all the offerings come to you on this feast. The Magi once offered a gift in the house of the Chaldeans; they presented their offerings to the truth. Blessed is your temple, which was mounted and in which dwelt the son of a king, who was worshipped in the sanctuaries. Gold of the West and incense of the East they offer at your feasts. Blessed are you, O Church, for there is no one like you. The righteous King punishes the wicked. For he killed the infants in Bethlehem by the sword, who were a likeness of the One who gives life to all. Blessed are your children, who were sealed and worshipped by the kings who were ruled in your worship. The crown of the East, which trampled the wicked, to your mercies is renewed among your beloved. Blessed are you, O Church, for Isaiah is pressing within you, even in his prophecy. Behold, the Virgin is about to give birth; she will give birth.

The child whose name is a great mystery, Woe to the interpretation that was revealed in the Church. His two names were mingled and became one. 'Immānû'ēl, 'Ēl is with you always, Who mingles you with his members. Blessed are you, O Church, in the thunder of the voice Of the shepherd who goes forth from Ephrath. For he came to Bethlehem to take From her the shoot of Jesse and to pasture the peoples. Blessed are your flocks that were signed with his sign, And your ewes that were adorned with his word. Come, come, O Church, Bethlehem the faithful, For in you is the bread of life. Blessed are you, O Church, for behold, he rejoices in you, Even David, the man of desire. He struck down the one who would kill the glorious Messiah, And the holy city would be laid waste by his killing. Woe to the people who were scattered and did not return. Blessed are the peoples who were called and did not turn back. The zealous were troubled, and the others in their place, Their replacements are fragrant. Blessed are you, O Church, for with his harp, Behold, King David sings in you. In spirit he sang concerning him, "You are my son," And he came into the courts of the sanctuary, your mother today. Blessed are your hands that were anointed with oil, For on his day, like his body, you were roused and called him. With your fasts you were driven until the festival when you were merciful; You made him joyful so that he might make you joyful. Blessed are you, O Church, for all your festivals Have flown from your fasts and settled beside you. Within you the prophets rested from weariness, From that toil and distress in Judah. Blessed are her books that were spread in your temples, And her festivals that were celebrated in your feasts. Your fasts are thirsty, and behold, today the worlds Are thundering in your festivals.

Blessed are you, O Church, in the ten beatitudes, For the Lord of the mystery gave a perfect one. For on the tenth are hung all the limbs. In your testing, your ten beatitudes are complete. Blessed are your crowns that were magnified in all of them. The holy beatitudes that were opened in every crown. The beatitude that crowns every beatitude. Cast a beatitude also upon me. Blessed are you, O Ephrath, mother of kings, For from you the lords of crowns dawned. Micah is your hope, who was from eternity, And the time of his mysteries is not perceived. Blessed are your eyes that before all received him. To you it was given to see him when he dawned. The beginning of blessing and the commencement of joys, You received him before all. Blessed are you, O Bethlehem, in whom the stars erred, And the mighty cities. In Mary, as in you, the infants erred, And in the virgins, the daughters of the principalities. Blessed is the little girl who made her dwelling his lodging, And also the small town that made her abode his dwelling. A poor little girl and a small town, He chose to be humbled. Blessed are you, O Bethlehem, in whom was the beginning For him, the Son who is from eternity with the Father. He was hidden that he might be perceived, who before the mysteries was, He who in you subjected himself to the mysteries. Blessed are your hands that examined and in you he was active, The Lamb of God who rejoiced in you, Who in your bosom was small and was spread in all regions, And was worshipped in all lands. Blessed are you also, O Mary, whose name Is great and exalted because of your child. You were able to be called how and how much, And where the great one who was small dwelt in you.

Blessed is your mouth, which confessed and did not deny; and your tongue, which praised and did not diminish. For from it, the mouth was opened in him when the good lost one was to him, and the measure that sufficed him. Or woe to you, O woman without a wise husband, as you saw the son of her who gave birth. For it is not sufficient for the eye to stand upon the changes of the glory that are upon him. For the tongues of the mountain were loosed in him, and he sent forth tongues on his ascent. Every tongue was wary, for the diminution was a sin, and the mountain was narrow. Blessed is the priest who in the sanctuary offered the Father who gave birth to the Father, a fruit plucked from the oak, while he himself was entirely from the greatness. Blessed are his hands, which were sanctified by his offerings, and his fingers, which were stained by his beloved ones. The Spirit in the temple swept for his entrance, and the gate that was erected went out. That chief of angels gave peace to you, like the chariot of sanctity. The earth was to him a new heaven, for the watchers descended and were praising in her. The sons of the height encircled the tabernacle of your dwelling, because the son of a king dwelt in you. Your monastery is from below to the heaven that is above; you are likened to the watchfulness.