because thence came Joseph and Mary, of the tribe of Judah, and of the house and family of David. When, therefore, Joseph and the blessed Mary were going by the way which leads to Bethlehem, Mary said to Joseph, I see two peoples before me, the one weeping, and the other rejoicing. And Joseph answered her, Sit on thy beast, and do not speak superfluous words. Then there appeared before them a certain beautiful youth, clothed in white array, and he said to Joseph, Why didst thou call superfluous the words concerning the two peoples of whom Mary hath spoken? For she saw the people of the Jews weeping, who have departed from their God,—and the people of the Gentiles rejoicing, who have now approached and are made nigh to the Lord, as he promised our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for the time is come that in the seed of Abraham a blessing should be bestowed on all nations. [1]
And when he had said thus, the angel commanded the beast to stop, for her time to bear had come: and he directed the blessed Mary to come down from the animal, and to enter a cave below a cavern, in which there was never any light, but always darkness, because it could not receive the light of day. And when the blessed Mary had entered it, it began to become all light with brightness, as if it had been
- ↑ Gen. xii. 3.
