THANKS TO THE SUMMER OLYMPICS OF 2021, which ended last month, I’ve been in a weeping mode as I saw so many athletes win and lose and yet experience so much joy at the end of it all. I was particularly touched by the American athlete sitting on the floor at the closing ceremony in Tokyo, sobbing as he gazed at the gold medal around his neck and overwhelmed by what it all meant to him after so many years of sacrifice and pain, months of uncertainty and challenges, and weeks of preparation and planning for the biggest event in his life. They seemed to be tears of anguish and joy and were made even more meaningful when another athlete came over and joined him on the floor sharing in the tears and celebration. I thought, “It doesn’t’ get any better than this!” I felt that no matter what happened before the games, it all came down to being grateful for it all, even the pain and suffering and certainly the winning.
As I look around me and the shape our world is in these days, I really can see a purpose, even a need for tears. I don’t mean that we should be crying our eyes out every time we see so much sadness around us. I’m all for laughter and fun and play and just plain silliness, but we also need to take time and make time to meet the grief and suffering in this world with a sense of what does it all mean for me, for us, where we are right now in our lives?
I often tell folks when they share their frustration with me about all the things going wrong for them, “That’s life on this planet.” I haven’t been on the moon or Mars yet, so I don’t know if things are any different there, and I’ve just decided to take things as they come and not get too far ahead of myself thinking about what happened, what can happen, or what will happen in the future. Take one day at a time—that’s how they come anyway—and just roll with the punches. And folks who know me well also hear me say, “Remember… this too shall pass.” And it does!
So, my prayer for you these days is that you share holy tears and, in the words of St. Ephrem, “Give God weeping, and increase the tears in your eyes; through tears and (God’s) goodness the soul which has been dead will be restored.”
And somehow God is in it all, the grief, the sorrow, the suffering, the joy, the happiness, and even in the gold medal!
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org.
Give God weeping, and
increase the tears in your eyes;
through your tears and (God’s) goodness
the soul which has been dead will be restored.
+St. Ephrem the Syrian (303-373)
Tears cleanse the lens of the eyes
so we can begin to see more clearly.
Sometimes we have to cry for a very long time
because our eyes are so dirty that we’re not
seeing truthfully or well at all…
The way we can tell our tears have cleansed us
is that afterwards we don’t need to blame anybody,
even ourselves. It’s an utter transformation
and cleansing of the soul, and we know it came from God.
It is what it is, and somehow God is in it.
+Father Richard Rohr (2005)
