9
"Look at my children! Some aren't married, others are married, but none of them have children! Now I will never see your children or have the pleasure of being a grandmother.
10
I had so many and such beautiful children, and now I'm a widow and left all alone in my many sorrows.
11
When I die, I won't have any of my sons to bury me."
12
But this holy and devout mother didn't cry for any of her sons with funeral songs. She didn't try to talk any of them out of dying, and she didn't grieve for those who were already dying.
13
Instead, she had a mind that was as tough as nails. She gave all of her sons a second birth into a life without end. She encouraged them, urging them on to death for the sake of respect for God.