ever, on hearing the cock crow thrice in the night, he called to mind his denial of his Master in days past. That frailty of his lips, into which he had unawares fallen, was the cause to him of a lifelong sorrow for his fault, and of a mighty sympathy with the sorrows of his brethren. O the blessedness of those tears which so speedily washed away all the stains of that offence!
Saint Paul also wept bitterly over the error of his early days, in persecuting Holy Church, and over the sins of others, and the falling away from the faith of the Judaizers and the incontinent. He longed to bring all men to the true faith and to repent of their sins: he longed to inspire them with earnestness in a holy life and conversation, and in following to the end the example of Christ.
Saint John the Apostle also wept bitterly at the Passion of Christ: he stood all the while at the foot of the Cross, comforting and supporting Mary the Mother of Jesus. He wept also over the going astray of many, and over the waxing cold of the love of others: he wept too over a certain youth led astray by the pleasures of the table, but won back and reformed through much shedding of tears.
Our holy father Augustine also wept much over his evil-doings in the world, even as he himself humbly confesses in his writings, thus teaching all those who have turned to God that past sins, though pardoned in confession, should be sorrowfully recalled to mind, by way of stimulating humility, and in order that by this means we may with God's help be kept from again committing them, and may daily mourn, weep and pray over them. The same holy and devout
