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The Lord is born, and sorrow breaketh out, not in heaven but on earth; to~
mothers is proclaimed lamentation, to angels joy, to children translation. God~
is born, and innocence must be offered up to Him Who cometh to condemn the~
malice of the world. The Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world is come to~
be crucified, and the tender flock is brought to the sacrifice. But the mothers~
will lament over them whose inarticulate bleating is silenced for ever. Let us~
turn a look on this great martyrdom, this heart-rending sorrow. The sword is~
drawn, though there is no offence to punish, only jealousy shrieking for Him Who
~
is born, and doth no violence. And here are mothers weeping over the lambs of~
the flock. In Ramah was there a voice heard, weeping and great mourning. which~
shall be returned hereafter, but they are pledges taken without being given,~
impounded without being entrusted.
&teDeum
[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of St Austin, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!1st for Childermas.
The Lord is born, and sorrow breaketh out, not in heaven but on earth; to~
mothers is proclaimed lamentation, to angels joy, to children translation. God~
is born, and innocence must be offered up to Him Who cometh to condemn the~
malice of the world. The Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world is come to~
be crucified, and the tender flock is brought to the sacrifice. But the mothers~
will lament over them whose inarticulate bleating is silenced for ever. Let us~
turn a look on this great martyrdom, this heart-rending sorrow. The sword is~
drawn, though there is no offence to punish, only jealousy shrieking for Him Who
~
is born, and doth no violence. And here are mothers weeping over the lambs of~
the flock. In Ramah was there a voice heard, weeping and great mourning. which~
shall be returned hereafter, but they are pledges taken without being given,~
impounded without being entrusted.
[Lectio5]
Nature is herself our witness of what the scene must have been when the tyrant~
dashed the little ones against the stones. The childless mothers tore their hair
;~
those, whose infants had still escaped, strove vainly to hide them, and their~
very cries betrayed them, too young to have learnt the silence of fear.~
Sometimes the wretched mother struggled with the executioner, as he dragged the~
child to which she clung from her arms. The fruit of her body is torn from her~
breast. Was it for this that her womb bore it, and her paps gave it suck? Had~
she carried it so tenderly, that the murderer might seize it? It had come of her
~
body only to be dashed against the stones.
[Lectio6]
Sometimes a broken-hearted woman cried to the ruffian to kill her also;~
wherefore leave her to her childless widowhood? If fault there were, the fault~
was hers, then why not let her suffer and follow her lost one? Some must have~
cried out that all were being slain for the sake of One, and that One had~
escaped. And surely some called for the coming of the Messiah to deliver them.~
Come, come, O Saviour, how long do we wait for thee? Thou art Almighty come,~
and save our children. And so the cry of the mother and the sacrifice of her~
offspring went up together to heaven.
[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 2:13-18
In that time an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise,~
and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I~