Rachel weeping.

St. Matthew the Evangelist quotes Jeremiah the prophet while detailing the massacre of holy Infants by King Herod. "Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping,

Rachel weeping for her children,

Refusing to be comforted for her children,

Because they are no more.”"(St. Matthew 2:18 and Jeremiah 31:15; NKJV). In the book of Genesis, we read about Rachel dying after she had given birth to Benjamin, and Jacob burying her on the way to Bethlehem:

"And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor. Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.” And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin. Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)." (Genesis 35:16-19; NKJV).

The matriarch was buried on a wayside towards Bethlehem, and the prophet Jeremiah prophesied about Rachel crying for the Israelites, as a beloved mother would cry for her children when they would be driven from their homes and forced into exile in Babylon. A lovely Jewish tradition states that when Joseph was sold by his brothers and taken by his captors to Egypt, they happened to pass by Rachel's tomb where Joseph cried bitterly. It is then he heard his mother's comforting voice assuring him that the Lord will be with him all through.

Hundreds of years after Rachel completed her earthly course, prophet Jeremiah talked of her weeping for Israelites and St. Matthew talks of the matriarch's sorrow as she witnesses the great lamentation of the Hebrew women whose little children were slaughtered by the tyrant.

Herein the Holy Scripture attest to the awareness of our departed ones regarding us. The departed patriarchs and matriarchs, holy fathers and mothers are interceding for us. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ said: "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” (St. Luke 20:38; NKJV).

In the words of prophet Jeremiah, the Lord comforts (the departed) Rachel upon hearing her cries for the Israelites:

"Thus says the Lord:

“Refrain your voice from weeping,

And your eyes from tears;

For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord,

And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

There is hope in your future, says the Lord,

That your children shall come back to their own border." (Jeremiah 31:16-17; NKJV).

May the prayers and intercession of the holy mother Rachel be a source of comfort and refuge to all especially for the children whose mothers have departed from earthly life, women facing complicated pregnancies and those who suffered miscarriages, and for those couples having difficulty in conceiving.

In Christ,

Rincy