👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾“The Mystery of #Tears in #Prayer:
A Holy Offering of the Penitent Heart
(Part 4)
Beloved brethren in Christ, children of the holy Church, today let us lift up our minds to consider with reverence the mystery of prayer with tears. For this is not a light matter, nor a fleeting emotion, but a holy labor of the soul an offering more precious than gold, more fragrant than incense, more powerful than eloquent words. To pray with tears is to pour out before the Lord not merely words,nothing is required but a contrite heart, and no one can hinder a soul from drawing near to Him. as David the Prophet has proclaimed: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O Lord, Thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 50:17).
The Essence of True Prayer
The Lord Himself has taught us that God does not incline His ear to the ornament of speech nor to the many words that tumble from our lips, but to the hidden purity of the spirit (Matt. 6:7–8). For even before we ask, He knows what we need, since nothing is hidden from His eyes. What then is prayer with tears? It is not the raising of a loud voice, nor the weaving of elegant phrases, but the trembling of the soul before its Creator, the melting of the heart as wax before the fire, the sigh of the sinner who knows his own unworthiness yet dares to hope in divine mercy.
Tears in prayer are the sign of the heart’s breaking open before God. , and the wordless plea which God cannot despise. For the Almighty says, “I am a God who is near, not a God who is far off” (Jer. 23:23). If He is near, then what hinders us? Not our lack of eloquence, not our unlearned speech, not the absence of a mediator, nor the cold refusal of a king’s court. No our distance comes only from the hardness of our own hearts. The moment you draw near with humility, God draws near to you.
The Posture of the Soul in Prayer
What then must accompany such prayer?
A humble heart and a broken spirit.
Tears not for the perishing glories of this world, but for the everlasting kingdom.
Requests not for wrath upon our enemies, nor for worldly revenge, but for the virtues of the Spirit.
The banishment of grudges, anger, and violence from the soul.
A tongue that speaks well of others, never poisoning the air with malice.
A life that shuns the company of the wicked and refuses fellowship with the devil, the enemy of mankind.
For many pray deceitfully, repeating the words “Forgive us, as we forgive” (Matt. 6:12) while harboring bitterness in their hearts. Such prayers are empty echoes, rising no higher than the ceiling above them.
The Nearness of God in Prayer
When you say, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” do not imagine that God is far off, enthroned in unreachable heights. Rather, in prayer your heart ascends, and you become heavenly, one with the Father above. In that moment you stand before the Lord of all creation, before Him at Whose voice heaven and earth tremble. Therefore, let no one think lightly of prayer, for to pray is to enter the throne room of the Almighty.
The Fruit of Prayer with Tears
David exhorts us: “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8). Prayer with tears is the tasting of that goodness. He who prays with tears knows by experience the sweetness of divine mercy. He understands that even if his requests are delayed, but because the Father of lights gives only what is good and in due season (Matt. 7:11). Many times we ask for what would harm us, and if God granted all our requests, we would perish by our own folly. Therefore, true prayer with tears does not cling to its own will but entrusts itself to the divine will, saying: “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39).
Continues 👇🏾