they rejoice the holy soul with the thought of everlasting joy.
Oh that I could constantly experience this grace of tears, could cherish it more carefully; and that when it has been lost I could win it back by penitence, and could thus make it speedily my own!
He who would possess and hold fast this gift must be strict in the examination of his conscience, must heartily thank God for all His benefits, and must be profoundly humble. A hard and sorrowful task is this, but eminently fruitful to him who accomplishes it, and a source of joy to a dying man at the last. Blessed, then, are they who in this life often mourn in true contrition; for in the life to come they shall be comforted, and shall rejoice for ever with the holy Angels.
CHAPTER X
Of the tears of Jesus over Lazarus
O GRACIOUS and holy Tears of my Lord Jesus Christ, so lovingly and so copiously shed at the death and raising to life of Lazarus, out of sympathy with Mary and Martha and their friends, and with the Jews who were weeping with them, come, I pray You, to my aid when my heart is dry, and break down the stubbornness of my will: do this, I pray You, especially when in prayer and meditation I ought, in true penitence, to weep over my sins, and so get rid of all their filth, whether those stains upon my soul have been contracted openly or secretly, and are of thought,
