Great Wednesday: The Tears of Repentance
By Elder Ephraim of Arizona
By Elder Ephraim of Arizona
Time is constantly shortening; it is continually diminishing. Every day that passes is another step toward death. Know this: even a single tear is equal to a cleansing bath. Just as a bath refreshes the body and washing cleanses a garment, so the tears of a repentant soul purify the heart, purify the mind, purify the body, purify life, purify speech, and even purify every expression of a person.
We should kneel and pray with great humility. To every repentant soul is given a word; it is given enlightened prayer. We see this in the sinful woman of the Gospel on Great Wednesday. How did she, a woman of the streets, know how to pray? Yet from the moment she decided to repent and began to turn toward the light and toward the truth, the spirit of prayer was given to her.
How beautiful are her words before the Savior! She knelt before Him and surely entered into an inner dialogue with Him. With her whole heart she expressed her repentance, because it had been revealed to her that He alone was her Savior and that all others had deceived her. She saw that only Jesus Christ could give her light, relief, joy, and the forgiveness of her many sins.
“Receive me,” she said, “the sinner; receive the ocean of my sins!” And you saw that her tears were so many that they wet the spotless feet of Christ, and she was compelled to wipe them with the rich hair of her head.
No other myrrh was needed for Christ. The most precious myrrh was her tears, which were worth great wealth. They were able to wipe away all the debt she had before God. Though she had been sunk in the mire, overwhelmed by filth and stench, those precious tears helped her brighten the garment of her soul and become acceptable to our Savior. When, then, will we brighten the garment of our own soul?
So it is with every sinful soul that weeps, that mystically wets the feet of Christ: it receives the same response that the sinful woman received. Not only was she saved, but she also became a radiant example for every wandering soul, showing the way, the path, and the light for return. If one could look deeply into her soul at the moment when she lamented and wept and bathed the spotless feet of Jesus, he would see what relief she experienced, what burden was lifted from her, and what rest her conscience received. For those tears, Christ granted her the full forgiveness of all her sins.
In the same way, to every person who returns to Him, He gives forgiveness abundantly — provided that the repentance is sincere. There is no problem after repentance. “I do not will the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live,” says the Lord. God swears by Himself and says: “I do not want any person, any soul, to be lost and condemned, but I will wait for it. I will exhaust every margin of time and every expectation for its return.”
Let us compel ourselves, so that we may be found watchful and sober, and let us fight against negligence and laziness, for these hinder the good things of God toward man. The devil comes and brings us fatigue, drowsiness, and whispers: “Do not make prostrations, do not get up now to pray, you are tired, sleep a little longer, you have work to do,” and many other things. Let us not listen to him; let us press forward, for we do not know what may happen even in a few moments. “As I find you, so I will judge you.” If He finds us striving, He will rank us among those who strive. If He finds us in negligence and laziness, He will rank us among the negligent and the failed.
Let us therefore press on in all things, so that we may enter into the bridal chamber of Christ; for “the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who strive.” Amen.
Source: From the book The Art of Salvation. Translation by John Sanidopoulos.
