Bethlehem - The Nativity: Constantinian church

Then she entered the cave of the Saviour, and saw the holy resting place of the Virgin, and the stable, where ‘the ox knew his owner, and the ass its master’s crib’ <Is. 1:3>, to fulfill the words written by the same prophet, ‘Blessed is he that casts his seed upon the waters, where the ox and the ass tread’ <Is. 32:20>. Then she solemnly declared in my own hearing that, with the eye of faith, she saw the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, crying in the manger, the Magi worshipping God, the star shining above, the virgin mother, the zealous foster-father, and the shepherds coming by night to see the Word that had come into being, and to sanction even then the first sentence of John the evangelist: ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was made flesh’ <John 1:1, 14>; and the little children murdered, and Herod raging, and Joseph and Mary fleeing to Egypt. - - - <Paula’s prayer in the cave of the Nativity> - - -

(transl. Di Segni)