In Rachelem et infantes

On Rachel and the Infants. Just as those who take the sweetest fruits of the trees give praise both to the branches and to the trees themselves, in the same way, beloved, having taken the fruits of the discourses from the teacher who preceded us, we give the honor both to him and to the fathers. For just as from the richness of the trees the sweet richness is transmitted to the fruits, so also to the aforementioned man the sweetness of speech is transmitted from the grace of the Spirit. Let us therefore enjoy the sweetest fruits of the discourses, as if they were sweet dates possessing their sweetness from the righteous root of the fathers; and let us transmit the sweetness of the speech to our understanding, and assign the pleasure of gratitude to our fathers. For the honor of the fathers consists in the good order of the sons; rather, the crowns of the sons are adorned by the good repute of the fathers. But since, from the reading of the lament of Rachel, as if pricked by a goad, I turn back to her: Tell me, O Rachel, tell the pain hidden in your lament; for thus the vessel of your mind, weighed down by grief, will be lightened; and as the words signifying the pain are brought forth from your heart, the heaviness of the grief goes out together with the utterances. Tell me, then, Rachel, why do you weep? For I see your tears flowing like a river over your cheeks, and your breath bitterly coiled around your heart, and carried disorderly through your nostrils.

Why do you loose your hair and offer it forth, which you ought to conceal? Why do you parade the sacred mystery of reverent women, overcome by excessive madness? Alas, alas, Rachel! I shall speak, then, in bitterness of soul, constrained; and what shall I say? I wish to utter the word from my heart, and again I draw back, finding no cause for the evils and the greatest calamity. O King Herod, who teaches me not to murder, and yet by his deed invalidates his own law! He whom I thought to be a king of good order, I now see as a leader of disorder, acting without order and lawlessly. O greatest folly! One who commits a single murder is liable to death, and Herod, having committed so many murders, is called king. And farmers, bringing forth seed from their own stores, scatter pure grain in the furrowed bosoms of the earth; but when the ears have sprouted and show the bright season of the sowing, then they stretch out their hands and cut the crops with a sharp sickle. But Herod, the offspring of my womb, before the flowers of their age had bloomed, before the youthful down of spring graces had risen upon their cheeks, withered the verdure of my loins with a sharp sword. Alas, alas! I grieve for my womb, and the senses of my heart seethe; my soul is torn in my heart; I shall not be silent. For I endure these things because of the unwedded bride Mary, because of the Word hidden in the manger. I see my clusters, the grapes of my senses already darkening, now destroyed. Alas, alas!

Those whom nature, having carried with labors for a period of nine months and ripened, brought forth, these I see slain untimely by a single stroke of the sword. Alas! O Virgin Mary, both virgin and mother, who knew no man and yet bore a son, you do not know the pain of mothers; for if you knew, you would have wept. You bore without pain, you conceived without pain, you entertained the heavenly Word in the house of your womb without pain, you blossomed forth the heavenly flower to the world without pain. But come now, and mourn no more, but cease your grief, Rachel. Herod killed your infants on earth, but God raises them in heaven; Herod deprived your children of the light of this world, but he will fill them in heaven with his own light. You do not see them leaping on earth, but then you will see, and you will rejoice seeing them like lambs frisking in paradise. Now you grieve not seeing them stretching out their hands at table, but then you will see, and you will rejoice seeing them feasting with angels on the heavenly bread; now you grieve not hearing them chirping, but then you will see and rejoice at the chorus of these infants, like swallows in spring, hymning Christ in paradise. For since the prophet said, "From the mouth of infants and sucklings I have fashioned praise," the chorus of infants anticipated, preparing victory hymns for Christ, fulfilling the word of the prophet, that "From the mouth of infants and sucklings I have fashioned praise." But these things, beloved, we have said for the delight of the soul; for let us now turn to the path of the Gospel.

For it says, "When Herod heard, he was troubled." What did he hear? That the king of the Jews had been born. See, beloved, the devil being troubled in Herod, and greatly so. The wolf sees the shepherd born, hidden in a manger, holding the strong staff of the Spirit in his hands, and seeing these things he is greatly troubled. The dragon sees the bait of the body, and the infant crawling like a worm—"For I am a worm, and not a man"—and gaping he approaches, and he sees within the heavenly Word hidden in the flesh like a hook, and seeing this he is greatly troubled. He sees the grain of mustard come upon the earth, sending forth branches of hope, and about to shelter the race of mankind under the leaves of salvation, and seeing these things the hater-of-good demon is greatly troubled. He sees wisdom come upon the earth, taking the small leaven of the body, and mixing it into the three parts of the flour—into soul, body, and spirit—and about to leaven all humanity into one salvation of faith, and having seen these things he is greatly troubled. He sees the legion of the demon being cast out from humanity and sent into the abyss, and seeing these things he is greatly troubled. He sees the bolts of Hades being shattered, and Adam being cast back up into paradise, and he is greatly troubled. He sees Eve again being saved through Mary, and the serpent, in which he especially trusted, being slain, and seeing these things he is greatly troubled. He sees the tree of life being planted, and seeing these things he is greatly troubled.

And time will fail me, beloved, as I recount the disturbance of the devil. So, being unable to do anything against the Lord, the devil rushes upon the infants and the incomplete little children. And whom does he slaughter? Those from two years old and younger; those who have lived three years he does not slaughter. For the infants are those who confess the dyad and do not believe in the Triad. Hence this Rachel, the Church from the nations, mourns them, so that her voice is heard in Ramah, that is, in a high place; for Ramah is interpreted as "high," the upper Jerusalem beside the most high God, to whom is due all glory and power, together with the all-holy and life-giving Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.