Prayer for Tears

The petition for tears is an ancient devotion which in many ways is tied to compunction of heart and to steer clear of the evil of hardness of heart: "if today you should hear his voice, harden not your hearts!"

In the Church's tradition, it was also a prayer intricately bound up with the petition for chastity. Both prayers were removed from the Roman Missal in the wake of the liturgical reforms, though both are essential prayers in opening one's heart to the grace that God has to offer us.