{"id":5511,"date":"2021-08-09T14:01:57","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T14:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/?p=5511"},"modified":"2021-08-10T06:53:41","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T06:53:41","slug":"tears-of-regret-and-repentance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/tears-of-regret-and-repentance\/","title":{"rendered":"Tears of Repentance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tears of Repentance<\/strong><\/p>\n

August 9, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tears stir up within our hearts for different reasons; People weep in suffering, trials and tribulations, thinking of death, with a mildness and heart, understanding of the reality of the world, regret of sin, for prayer, joy and emotion, helplessness, loneliness, other pain and visible pleasures.<\/p>\n

Many weep for different of reasons for our world is filled with evil, harm, tribulations and sufferings. This being the result of our sin, we shall seek repentance. Let us look at the some of the exemplary biblical stories.<\/p>\n

Th<\/strong>e tears of the sinful woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears (Luke 7:38)<\/strong><\/p>\n

She washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. The Lord Jesus Christ said about her that, \u201cshe has washed My feet with her tears\u201d, she loved much and was forgiven much. The Lord preferred her rather than the Pharisee who sensed his righteousness.<\/p>\n

She did not have any words to say, or dare to say, so she spoke with her tears.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 person\u00a0 who\u00a0 is\u00a0 conscious\u00a0 and\u00a0 regrets\u00a0 his\u00a0 sins,\u00a0 is ashamed to talk. The feelings of regret and grief in his heart, press upon the fountains of tears in his eyes and so he weeps. His weeping is then the most sincere expression, better than any words.<\/p>\n

A person might say some words without any feelings, but weeping is feelings without words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are expressive and sincere feelings.<\/p>\n

Amongst the examples of tears is also repentance:<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 \u00a0tears\u00a0 \u00a0of\u00a0 \u00a0David\u00a0 \u00a0the\u00a0 \u00a0Prophet\u00a0 \u00a0during\u00a0 \u00a0his repentance:<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is at its deepest in his saying, \u201cI am weary with my groaning; All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears.\u201d (Psalm 6:6)<\/p>\n

He also says, \u201c… <\/em>I wept and chastened my soul with fasting… I also made sackcloth my garment.\u201d (Psalm 69: 10, 11) \u201cBecause of the sound of my groaning my bones cling to my skin…For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.\u201d (Psalm 102:5,9)<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the prominent examples of tears of regret and repentance is:<\/p>\n

The tears of Peter the apostle after his denial:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bible says about him that, \u00a0\u201cHe\u00a0 went\u00a0 out and\u00a0 wept bitterly.\u201d(Matthew 26:75).<\/p>\n

Here we find weeping accompanied by bitterness in the heart and in tears.<\/p>\n

Amongst the examples of tears of repentance is:<\/p>\n

The tears of a whole race in a general repentance:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joel the Prophet says about this:<\/p>\n

\u201c Now, therefore,\u201d says the LORD, \u201cTurn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.\u201d So\u00a0 rend\u00a0 your\u00a0 heart,\u00a0 and\u00a0 not\u00a0 your\u00a0 garments;\u00a0 return \u00a0to\u00a0 the LORD your God\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, \u201cSpare Your people, O LORD, \u00a0and \u00a0do \u00a0not \u00a0give \u00a0Your \u00a0heritage \u00a0to \u00a0reproach.\u201d \u00a0(Joel 2:12,13,17)<\/p>\n

Th<\/strong>e whole race wept greatly in the days of Ezra the priest as a result of their sins<\/strong>, \u201cNow while Ezra was praying, and\u00a0 while\u00a0 he\u00a0 was\u00a0 confessing,\u00a0 weeping,\u00a0 and\u00a0 bowing\u00a0 down before the house of God\u201d (Ezra 10:1).<\/p>\n

Similarly, Saint Paul the apostle says rebuking to the Corinthians, \u201cAnd you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you\u201d (1 Corinthians 5:2).<\/p>\n

Saint James the apostle says:\u201cCleanse your hands, you sinners … Lament and mourn and weep!\u201d (James 4:8,9)<\/p>\n

Malachi the prophet explains this matter saying, \u201c…you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and crying\u201d. (Mal 2:13).<\/p>\n

One of the examples of weeping as a result of sin is:<\/p>\n

The weeping of those who pierced Christ, when they see Him in His Second Coming.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>About this the book of Revelation says, \u201cBehold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.\u201d (Revelation 1:7)<\/p>\n

Thus, we shall sincerely repent and cry out to God for deliverance from our present distress and war. Let us weep and beseech the Blessed Virgin Mary to grant us kindness and mercy in our fasting of her assumption saying, \u201cPray for us, O virgin Mary.\u201d She is the intercessor of the afflicted, and she intercedes for us with her beloved son. She will help us to return to our God in repentance.<\/p>\n

May the Mercy of God, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels, the righteous and the martyrs be with us; Amen.<\/p>\n

Source: \u201cTears in Spiritual Life\u201d By H.H. Pope Shenouda III.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many weep for different of reasons for our world is filled with evil, harm, tribulations and sufferings. This being the result of our sin, we shall seek repentance. Let us look at the some of the exemplary biblical stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living-and-doctrines","category-holy-scriptures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5511"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5519,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5511\/revisions\/5519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}