In his book The Tears of Things, Father Richard Rohr describes the path of tears as one that leads to sympathy with suffering and communion with reality.
Are we the only animal that cries and sheds tears as an emotional response? It seems so, but what function do they serve for us? Jesus says we should be happy if we can weep (Luke 6:21), but why? Tears seem to appear in situations of sadness, happiness, awe, and fear—and usually come unbidden. What is their free message to us and to those who observe them? Has humanity gotten the message yet? Whatever it is, it’s surely a message too deep for words.
In the first book of Virgil’s Aeneid (line 462), the hero Aeneas gazes at a mural depicting a battle of the Trojan War and the deaths of his friends and countrymen. He’s so moved with sorrow at the tragedy of it all that he speaks of “the tears of things” (lacrimae rerum). As Seamus Heaney translates it, “There are tears at the heart of things”—at the heart of our human experience. [1] Only tears can move both Aeneas and us beyond our deserved and paralyzing anger at evil, death, and injustice without losing the deep legitimacy of that anger.
This phrase “the tears of things” has continued to be quoted and requoted in many contexts over centuries. We find it on war memorials, in poetry, in the music of Franz Liszt, and in Pope Francis’ recent encyclical letter Fratelli Tutti. (I myself remember it because of a haggard, bent-over Latin teacher who would often enter the classroom moaning “Lacrimae rerum” several times before he began quizzing us.)
Because the phrase has no prepositions in Latin, it allows two meanings at the same time: Virgil seems to be saying that there are both “tears in things” and “tears for things.” And each of these tears leads to the other. Though translators often feel compelled to choose one or the other meaning, I believe the poet implies it is both.
There’s an inherent sadness and tragedy in almost all situations: in our relationships, our mistakes, our failures large and small, and even our victories. We must develop a very real empathy for this reality, knowing that we cannot fully fix things, entirely change them, or make them to our liking. This “way of tears,” and the deep vulnerability that it expresses, is opposed to our normal ways of seeking control through willpower, commandment, force, retribution, and violence. Instead, we begin in a state of empathy with and for things and people and events, which just might be the opposite of judgmentalism. It’s hard to be on the attack when you are weeping.
Prophets and mystics recognize what most of us do not—that all things have tears and all things deserve tears. The sympathy that wells up when we weep can be life changing, too, drawing us out of ourselves and into communion with those around us.
Letting Grief Flow
In an article for ONEING: The Path of the Prophet, Pixie Lighthorse, an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, describes how grief can encourage us to change:
As external chaos rises, inner chaos is touched off. The need for inner resources to “see the bigger picture” and maintain faith is becoming amplified. As within, so without. The world out there reflects what’s going on inside.
What’s going on inside is grief and the need for healing the constricted parts of us that are ready to be revealed and healed. The underground river within each of us is becoming more conscious, truth is coming to the surface, and with that comes collective and individual accountability….
When felt and acknowledged, grief becomes a daily reprieve. Healing involves inviting in the truth of how we feel, which is constantly changing, and valuing it as much as our perception of reality and the world of matter. Our feeling bodies have been relegated to the shadows for the most part, pushed under the rug in favor of what’s more convenient and acceptable. Feeling can be vulnerable, and we’ve learned all the ways to mask emotions as part of our social conditioning.
Lighthorse prompts us to reflect on the grief we may be experiencing today:
Our feelings are our inner waters, and to Indigenous peoples, water is our First Medicine. We should not find it surprising that authentic feelings had to go underground during the centuries-long process of colonization and expansive frontierism. The raw material of awakening to healing is found in tolerating the discomfort of our heinous mistakes and those of our ancestors. What if we are at a tipping point on humanity’s timeline, where we must name what hurts, grieve the losses, and learn how to make larger-scale repairs? Redemption is the process by which we make new choices to clear our debts. Emotionally speaking, noticing and naming injustice leads to protection of what is sacred, starting today.…
What new levels of grieving, feeling, healing, and awakening to deeper individual and collective purposes will be required to make the kinds of shifts you want to see in the world? What waters can you honor and protect as sacred? What kind of world do you want for all our grandchildren? What fears are held in your unconscious, underground river that may be holding you hostage? What items from the past are tied to unprocessed grief?…
When grief flows, the past heals. We inherit new transmissions of wisdom from sources already surrounding us. By honoring grief and healing, we re-member, and we put ourselves back together. We can make decisions about how to move forward from our core selves rather than our guarded hurts. The shape of us and our world is being reimagined in this process from a place that has a little bit more wholeness. When the past is offered healing, compassion, and forgiveness, the future will have good water to put our feet in.
| Learning from the Mystics: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. from John Chaffee |
| Quote of the Week: “The only thing that I can be; a voice that repeats, opportune et importune, that the Church will waste away so long as she does not escape from the factitious world of verbal theology, of quantitative sacramentalism, and over-refined devotions in which she is enveloped, so as to reincarnate herself in the real aspirations of mankind…Of course I can see well enough what is paradoxical in this attitude: if I need Christ and the Church I should accept Christ as he is presented by the Church, with its burden of rites, administration and theology… But now I can’t get away from the evidence that the moment has come when the Christian impulse should ‘save Christ’ from the hands of the clerics so that the world may be saved.”- A Journal Entry from Teilhard included in Spirit of Fire by Ursula King Reflection Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is a polarizing figure. And, I think, for the right reasons. During his lifetime, de Chardin was exiled to China by the Catholic Church for his writings, which at the time, were wrestling with how to understand Christianity alongside the understanding of evolution at the time. As a result, he was present at the finding of the Peking Man. The Peking Man is understood as the remains of the Homo Erectus and dates back 400,000 years. This event led Teilhard to ask very important questions and to re-evaluate the role of the Church, ministry, the priesthood, and Christ. Along with his observations of the Catholic Church during WWI and WWII, Teilhard wrote the journal entry above. Rather than being ossified or concretized into something static and unchanging, Teilhard imagined a Church that could evolve WITH humanity and the world rather than hold it back. He believed that Christianity was AHEAD of where humanity finds itself today. And so, what does it mean for Teilhard to “save Christ”? It means to reclaim an understanding of the Christ that is ahead rather than behind. It means to wrestle the Christ from the hands of a priesthood that is looking to maintain a status quo that was established in the past. If God is our Alpha and Omega, then it is important to recognize that our trajectory is headed toward the Omega, who is Christ and Christ is in the future. Teilhard calls this “Christ of the future” as our “Omega Point” to which all of cosmic history is headed. And before you might say that this is a stretch, consider this passage from St. Paul. “With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and earth under the headship of Christ.” – Ephesians 1:8-10 Has our understanding of Christ become something that holds humanity back? Is our understanding of Christ still something that inspires and beckons humanity into tomorrow? Does our understanding of Christ integrate this material world or reject it? Does our understanding of Christ remind us of our calling to “cultivate and care” for nature? Does our understanding of Christ endorse a status quo that the Omega of History would say is holding humanity back? Is it possible that the next evolution of humanity is an involution of a deepening spirituality along with the interconnectedness of the whole cosmos in Christ? The failure to recognize all these questions could lead to disaster. Remember, Teilhard lived and wrote during the invention and inauguration of nuclear warfare. For Teilhard, understanding what Christ would have for humanity is of absolute importance. These are all the questions that Teilhard was censored for asking. These may be questions you are asking as well. If so, then you are in good company. You are not alone. May we be like Teilhard, and help “save Christ from the clerics so that the world may be saved.” Prayer Alpha and Omega, inspire us and grant us the eyes to see your plan for cosmic history to reclaim all things back to you. We admit that we have allowed Christ to be small, allowed our faith to hold us back rather than invite us forward, and allowed our gaze to be more to yesterday than to tomorrow. Help us to reclaim a view of Christ that calls us with courage into the future. Help us to see that anything that helps us to grow in health and holiness, unity and community is what you want and will. Help us to already live out Ephesians 1:10. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen and amen. |
| Life Overview Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Who is He: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin When: Born on May 1st, 1881 in Orcines, France. Died on April 10th (Easter), 1955 in New York City, USA. Why He is Important: Teilhard is a figure that “saw things deeply” while also navigating being a modern scientist. He was an archaeologist as well as a Jesuit priest and sought to bring together evolution and Christianity by writing about how Christ is the goal of all cosmic history. He was exiled and censured by the Vatican during his life, but his writings were allowed to be published after his death. He was recently quoted by Pope Francis, which many see as an endorsement. Most Known For: Synthesizing his scientific worldview along with his religious worldview, to then offer a modern approach to Christian spirituality. Notable Works to Check Out: The Divine Milieu | The Phenomenon of Man | The Future of Man | Selected Writings |
