'— the world shall rejoice, and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be changed into joy.' [1] This is our Saviour’s promise to His disciples. Sadness and joy come alternately: he who rejoices shall be afflicted; he who is afflicted shall rejoice. ‘ Blessed,’ then, 'are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted? [2]
But, amongst all who mourn, none shall be sooner consoled than those who weep for their own sins. In every other case, grieving over a trouble, far from being a remedy, only increases the evil itself. Sin is the only evil that can be cured by deploring it. Let us sinners, then, weep without ceasing. Let our eyes be turned into inexhaustible streams, whose incessant flow shall furrow our cheeks, as the Psalmist says. The remission of sins is the fruit of such holy tears. Ah! ten thousand times happy those who mourn their sins! They shall indeed be comforted.
And what of those happy ones, again, who shed tears of pure love and tenderness? Their hearts melt within them, as Holy Scripture says,
