Can You Hold a Sinner’s Sorrow in Your Heart?

We live in a world that has grown dim and cold.

It has forgotten how to love because it has lost sight of our Lord’s compassionate heart.

It is no wonder then why so many people are lost in false beliefs and sin. Chaos is just around the corner and there is no sense of stability and peace.

Meanwhile, even Christians who are desperately trying to hold on to our faith may find themselves angry because of the great misery we see around us.

We want to fight evil so much that we often end up falling into the same darkness we despise.

I know that there is such a thing as righteous anger. Holy anger.

But we must not be so quick in claiming that we have such, because many times, it is only anger that we claim, and holiness flees from our hearts.

What do we do then with this nagging pain we feel within? Shall we let it explode into hatred, and later on, to ungodly violence?

St. Pope John Paul II once said these very wise words:

“It’s better to cry than be angry, because anger hurts others while tears flow silently through the soul and cleanse the heart.”

Holy Sorrow

Personally, I think that instead of holy anger, I could exercise holy sorrow much better.

Whereas anger often blinds my eyes and keeps me away from compassion, sorrow softens my heart and leads me to understanding.

Let us think about the Blessed Virgin Mary who is also Our Lady of Sorrows. I think more than anyone, she understands what great suffering is.

She witnessed personally the passion and crucifixion of Jesus, her Son. More than anyone, she had the right to be angry for this terrible injustice and cruelty. More than anyone, she had the right to hate man’s evil deeds.

And yet we know that she did not become the Mother of Anger, but the Mother of Sorrows, our Most Sorrowful Mother who stood by her suffering Son, embracing every drop of affliction that falls upon my heart.

To Comfort The Sorrowful

It isn’t wrong to point out every evil thing that is now happening in the world. By admonishing sinners, we exercise a spiritual work of mercy.

But I also feel that in addition to that, we can comfort the afflicted, too. For such is also a work of mercy.

It is not every day that we can win an argument. And it is not every day that a sinner can understand the truth behind our explanations.

But each day is an opportunity to simply share the sorrows of the world.

In The Presence of Those Who Mourn

It isn’t hard to find people who are afflicted with sorrow today. There are plenty of people who see the suffering of their sick loved ones. There are many who mourn for the death of their beloved ones. We can also feel sorrow for the poor and for every kind of injustice inflicted upon innocent people.

On the other hand, we can also choose to share the sorrows of those who are lost in their sins. Yes, those who may not even be innocent in our own eyes but who nevertheless remain to be our brother or our sister, a fellow human being made in God’s very image.

Who are some of the people you can think of who are suffering because they do not know how much God loves them? While thinking about these people, can you hold them in your heart as you pray?

We may not lead them right away to the truth about God, but we can lift them up in prayer. We may not see them change in an instant, but we can let them know that they are not alone.

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen

Stay

Won’t you stay with me in this silence,
there isn’t much to say;
Still I want you by my side,
as I watch the tides.

Let’s look at the sea
as the waves crash by the shore;
Let’s breathe the salty air
until I can sense peace again.

For there is a storm within me
that’s raging fiercely right now,
and there is nothing I can do about it
though I’ve really tried.

All that remains is to wait ‘til it’s over,
until I can be myself again.
But until then,
can I ask you to stay?

“He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him, and he said to them, ‘The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ He went a little farther on, threw himself face downward on the ground, and prayed… Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, ‘How is it that you three were not able to keep watch with me for even one hour?’” – Matthew 26:37-40 (GNT)

Jocelyn Soriano is the author of Mend My Broken Heart, Defending My Catholic Faith and 366 Days of Compassion. She also writes about faith and writing at Single Catholic Writer.