Holy Tears

It seemed appropriate to share these thoughts (formulated a little for American Memorial Day today) from Richard Rohr that arrived in my inbox this morning.  Especially given my teary experience at church yesterday.

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As a young novice I only complained to my novice master once. We had to read a different life of St. Francis every month. I could not understand why St. Francis was crying all the time. He even invited Clare to visit and they spent the entire time crying “holy tears.” As a young nineteen-year-old male, this made no sense to me. Back in 1961 my novice master said to me, “you won’t understand it now, Richard, but you’ll understand it later.”

And now I do understand it. Tears can be a gift of the Holy Spirit. At the point when you can’t achieve the game of perfection, all you can do is offer to God who you are today, warts and all. Your willingness to offer your imperfect gift, knowing it will be totally received, brings you to tears—“holy tears.” There are many gifts of tears, however; sometimes you just cry for the pain and suffering of others, even though you yourself are not suffering at all. I am sure most of you have experienced such holy tears, maybe even today when we remember the many who have died so young, so alone, and sometimes so needlessly.

(Richard Rohr)