This is a monthly series on Francisco de Osuna’s The Third Spiritual Alphabet.1 In each post, we reflect on one letter from his Alphabet. The Alphabet was written as an aid to recollection. Recollection (being recollected in God) is both a form of prayer and a way of being in the world. This month’s letter is L.
This Letter Speaks of the Tears of Recollection, Saying: May Your Tears Be Weapons in Your Fight for Glory. Lágrimas sean tus armas: por la gloria peleando.
The Gift of Tears
“In recollection God always gives us rest and leisure, and even though we may lose them later through negligence, the desire to return to recollection is never lost to the soul that truly has tasted it.” (SA 273)
“Those who follow recollection cry in many ways and for many reasons. Good beginners cry primarily because they wish to be recollected completely with the One who gives himself more abundantly the more they are alone, and they strive to attain by tears what they do not believe they merit on the basis of their deeds, beseeching God for nothing other than himself for whom they prepare themselves.” (SA 274)
“These people are like the sky before a storm, all dark, turbulent, confused, and blind, but after the water gushes out, the sky is clear and visible again, happy and serene, and it seems to laugh, displaying a beauty from which all blemish has been removed.” (SA 275)
Osuna touches on something you will understand if you have ever had a “good cry.” Tears can be cathartic. As I once heard someone put it, “Tears let the poison out.” But it was surprising for me to discover how much Christian ascetics, contemplatives, and mystics have valued the “gift of tears.” Just to give you an idea:
A brother asked Abba Poemen what he should do about his sins. The old man said to him, “He who wishes to purify his faults purifies them with tears and he who wishes to acquire virtues, acquires them with tears; for weeping is the way the scriptures and the fathers give us, when they say “Weep!” Truly, there is no other way than this!” (from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers/Mothers)
Amma Syncletica said, "In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing toward God and afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire; at first, they are choked by the smoke and cry, and then by this means obtain what they seek (as it is said: “Our God is a consuming fire” Heb. 12:24). So, we also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work.” (from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers/Mothers)
When you are occupied in solitude with the beautiful work of humility, when your soul is near to coming from under the darkness, this will be the sign: your heart will burn and glow as by fire, night and day…Then, of a sudden, the fountain of tears will be given to you, so that they flow from your eyes, as the waters of brooks, without compulsion, mingling themselves with all your work, viz. with your recitation and with your prayer, with your food and with your drink, with all that you do tears will stream. If you observe this in yourself, take heart, you have passed through the sea. (Isaac the Syrian)
“Sometimes the flow of tears produces an acrid and painful feeling in the heart’s organ of spiritual perception; sometimes it induces delight and a sense of jubilation…But when we have been largely cleansed by such tears and have attained freedom from the passions, then- refreshed by the divine Spirit, our heart pure and tranquil- we are filled with inexpressible tenderness and delight by the joyous tears provoked by compunction.” (Nikitas Stithatos)
Any creature that has these tokens may steadfastly believe that the Holy Spirit dwells in their soul. And much more, when God visits a creature with tears of contrition, devotion, or compassion, they may and ought to believe that the Holy Spirit is in their soul.” (Julian of Norwich to Margery Kempe)
Why Tears?
Osuna is situated firmly within a long tradition of valuing the gift of tears. But why might tears be connected specifically with recollection? A certain degree of vulnerability and openness is inherent to the practice of recollection. As we sit in the stillness and silence, discarding distracting thoughts, we are no longer depending on those distractions to cloud our attention or mask our emotional state. This openness allows us to experience the full range of the divine Spirit’s work within us, bringing about the catharsis, the cleansing that we need.
It is unfortunate that crying is sometimes associated with weakness. On the contrary, to have a tender heart that can cry is to have a heart in the image of our Lord who also wept. Osuna comments that “the more you cry the more human you are.” It is a blessed part of our humanity that we can weep tears, whether they be on account of sadness or joy. And, as the quotes above indicate, tears are often followed by peace so that “the sky is clear and visible again, happy and serene.” May we be blessed with the gift of tears.
“O Lord Jesus, if the tears awakened by the memory and desire of you are so extraordinarily sweet, what sweetness will there be when we receive a clear, unclouded vision of you? If it is so sweet to weep for you now, how sweet it will be to rejoice with you!” St. Bernard (SA 280).
Francisco de Osuna The Third Spiritual Alphabet (Trans. Mary E. Giles; Preface Kieran Kavanaugh; Paulist Press, 1981)