A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
St. Matthew 2:18
The Cry of Rachel
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Magi came from the East to adore him, the wicked and jealous King Herod, an Edomite sitting upon the throne of David, commanded that all male children up to two years old should be slain. Then was fulfilled what Jermiah the prophet had foretold.
Thus saith the Lord: A voice was heard on high of lamentation, of mourning, and weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted for them, because they are not.
Jeremias 31:15
In this setting of Vox in Rama for SATB, I simply try to capture that weeping voice. I am releasing it under Creative Commons. A free PDF download is at the bottom of the post.
Echoed in Our Day
In the subtitle, I have written, “And for an End to the Abortion Holocaust”. The depravity of over 60 million innocents killed in their mothers’ wombs (just in the United States) is a genocide of apocalyptic proportions.
In adding this note to the score, I hope to draw awareness to this great sin of our day. Considering the present-day massacre of the innocents, I think also of these words of Our Lord:
But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the paps that have not given suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us. For if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?
St. Luke 23:28-31
History will not be kind to us. Nor should it be.
Update: 2021-11-14
My wife engaged Matthew Curtis of choraltracks.com to make a recording of this piece. It turned out very nicely, and I am sharing it here:
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About the Featured Image
The featured image is The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents. It is in the public domain in the United States.
