1 “Rejoice, you barren who bore no child. Break out and cry, you who have not labored; for more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.”⁠a In that He said “Rejoice, you barren who bore no child,” He spoke of us: for our Church was barren, before children were given to her. 2 And in that He said, “Cry aloud, you who have not labored,” He means this: Let us not, like women in labor, grow weary of offering up our prayers simply to God. 3 Again, in that He said, “For the children of the desolate are more than of her who has the husband,” He spoke so, because our people seemed desolate and forsaken by God, whereas now, having believed, we have become more than those who seemed to have God. 4 Again another scripture says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”⁠b 5 He means this: that it is right to save those who are perishing. 6 For this indeed is a great and marvelous work—to establish, not those things that already stand, but those that are falling. 7 So also Christ willed to save the things that were perishing; and He saved many, coming and calling us when we were even now perishing.