tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post3751761790175542239..comments2023-12-22T19:01:28.512-08:00Comments on Holy Nativity Orthodox Church: Open For Me The Doors Of RepentanceFr. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16981965403145920704noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-77935685062267659122011-03-18T22:01:26.678-07:002011-03-18T22:01:26.678-07:00... and beautiful.... and beautiful.Fr. Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16981965403145920704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27139233.post-16155137988902206342011-03-18T17:44:26.810-07:002011-03-18T17:44:26.810-07:00Dear Fr. Michael,
I have also been thinking about...Dear Fr. Michael,<br /><br />I have also been thinking about tears this week. I've been thinking about how honest they are. Like you say in your blog, you really can't control when you cry. At times you want to cry and can't and at other times you do everything to hold back tears and you can't. It is much easier to smile when you don't feel like smiling or to refuse to smile when expected to smile. Do you think that is why we are encouraged to pray for tears? Exactly because they cannot be controlled by our minds? Instead, they are windows to our souls? Symeon, the New Theologian, that tears (of repentance) are more about being than doing, and that you cannot cry about what you do not know. So maybe when we pray for the tears of repentance we are really praying to know (not just with our minds) the condition of our hearts before God, and it is in that knowing that we cannot help but cry. And then God enters through that very same tear! It is all very mystical...Barbarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00691469684374195663noreply@blogger.com