Ps 6:6

“Let those who have beds of silver listen to what the bed of the king was like: not jewel-encrusted or gilt but washed with tears. His were not nights of repose but nights of mourning and lamenting. Many cares would beset him at night, a time that all people devote to rest but that he would devote to confession, lamenting the more earnestly then. You see, while it is always good to weep, it is particularly so at night, when no one resists this wonderful experience, but given good will one is able to give free rein to it. Those who have tried what I speak of know the great elation stemming from such a flood of tears. Tears like this can extinguish an unquenchable fire, can stem the flood sweeping us to our condemnation. Hence Paul too wept night and day for three years, correcting unnatural passions. Far from correcting our own, we give ourselves over to merriment and indulgence and bury the night in utter stupor. Some are sunk in a sleep resembling death, while others pass sleepless nights more dire than death, devising fraud and usury and other schemes at that time. Not so are sober people, tending their souls' welfare, applying their tears like a shower, promoting the growth of virtue. The bed that receives tears like that gives no access to any evil or licentiousness. The person who sheds such tears places no value on things of the earth and instead frees the soul from any siege, rendering the mind clearer than the sun. Do not think I am directing these remarks only to monks; in fact, the exhortation is for people in the world as well, and for them more than the others, they after all being in particular need of the remedy of repentance. The one uttering groans like this will rise with spirit in better condition than a calm haven, expelling every passion; such a one, filled with great joy, will approach the house of God in confidence, will converse with neighbors pleasantly, no anger lurking within, after all no lust inflamed, no hankering after possessions, no envy, nothing else of this kind. All these passions, you see, like savage beasts lurking in their dens, those groans and tears in the night succeeded in taming.”

“Wherefore he goes on to say, "I have laboured in my groaning." And as if this availed but little, he adds, "I will wash each night my couch" [Psalm 6:6]. That is here called a couch, where the sick and weak soul rests, that is, in bodily gratification and in every worldly pleasure. Which pleasure, whoso endeavours to withdraw himself from it, washes with tears. For he sees that he already condemns carnal lusts; and yet his weakness is held by the pleasure, and willingly lies down therein, from whence none but the soul that is made whole can rise. As for what he says, "each night," he would perhaps have it taken thus: that he who, ready in spirit, perceives some light of truth, and yet, through weakness of the flesh, rests sometime in the pleasure of this world, is compelled to suffer as it were days and nights in an alternation of feeling: as when he says, "With the mind I serve the law of God," he feels as it were day; again when he says, "but with the flesh the law of sin," [Romans 7:25] he declines into night: until all night passes away, and that one day comes, of which it is said, "In the morning I will stand by You, and will see." For then he will stand, but now he lies down, when he is on his couch; which he will wash each night, that with so great abundance of tears he may obtain the most assured remedy from the mercy of God. "I will drench my bed with tears." It is a repetition. For when he says, "with tears," he shows with what meaning he said above, "I will wash." For we take "bed" here to be the same as "couch" above. Although, "I will drench," is something more than, "I will wash:" since anything may be washed superficially, but drenching penetrates to the more inward parts; which here signifies weeping to the very bottom of the heart. Now the variety of tenses which he uses; the past, when he said, "I have laboured in my groaning;" and the future, when he said, "I will wash each night my couch;" the future again, "I will drench my bed with tears;" this shows what every man ought to say to himself, when he labours in groaning to no purpose. As if he should say, It has not profited when I have done this, therefore I will do the other.”

“My heart of stone has no tears to summon.… Delicacies are my pleasure while my soul goes hungry. Who could furnish me with a spring for streams of tears, so that I might lament my deeds and days? For I need a river to lament the heavy strokes that I deserve for a life spent in sin. Break the stone that is my heart, saving Jesus, so that the inner me may be softened and a stream of devotion pour forth.”

“In hell there is no amendment. No means of satisfaction can be given where no act of the will remains any longer, as David says in prophecy: "Since in death there is no one who remembers you, who will give you thanks in hell?" Let us flee harmful pleasures, dangerous joys and desires that perish right away. What fruit is there, what use is there, in wanting these things incessantly, things that we must abandon even if they do not abandon us? Let the love of ephemeral things be transferred to incorruptible ones. Let hearts called to lofty things find their enjoyment in heavenly delights.”

“Perhaps someone thinks that he has committed such grievous sins that he is beyond God's mercy. Let this be far from the thoughts of all sinners. Whoever you are, O man, you look at the multitude of your sins and do not see the almighty power of the divine Physician. Although God would like to show mercy because he is good, and he can because he is omnipotent, a person closes the door of divine mercy to his soul when he believes that God is either unwilling or unable to have pity on him. He does not believe that God is good or almighty. No one should despair of divine mercy after a hundred sins, nor even after a thousand. Rather, he should show his confidence by hastening to regain God's favor without any delay.… David, who through divine mercy became both a king and a prophet, … was overtaken to such an extent that he committed both adultery and murder. However, he did not wait to take refuge in the healing of repentance in his old age. Immediately covering himself with a hairshirt and sprinkling his head with ashes, he repented with loud groaning and lamenting. Thus was fulfilled what he had said in the psalms: "Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears."”

“Prayer offered up at night possesses a great power, more so than the prayer of the day-time. Therefore all the righteous prayed during the night, while combating the heaviness of the body and the sweetness of sleep and repelling corporeal nature.… And for every entreaty for which they urgently besought God, they armed themselves with the prayer of night vigil, and at once they received their request.”

“So from all these and many other examples beyond count we learn the virtue of tears and repentance. Only the manner thereof must be noted—it must arise from a heart that hates sin and weeps, as the prophet David says.… Again the cleansing of sins will be wrought by the blood of Christ, in the greatness of his compassion and the multitude of the mercies of that God who says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow."”

“For in death there is no remembrance of Thee: In Sheol who shall give Thee thanks? – If I die, I shall not remember Thee in death, neither shall I give Thee thanks; and if Thou healest me, I will give Thee thanks before the eyes of all. As Hezekiah (Is. 38:18) says: “For Sheol cannot praise Thee, death cannot celebrate Thee” etc.; and David says (Ps. 118:17): “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” For the body after the departure of the spirit is as a dumb stone, and it descends to Sheol; but the spirit ascends and praises and glorifies for ever without ceasing. But the righteous longs to live to do the will of God while he is yet alive in order to increase the reward of his soul in the world to come.”

“Then when he says "I have labored," he sets forth the groaning of the penitent, where he seems to touch upon three things. First, sorrow of heart. Second, failure of reason, at "My eye is troubled." Third, weakness of strength, at "I have grown old." Sorrow of heart is indicated in three ways. First, by groaning and sighs. Second, by bodily restlessness. Third, by tears. As to the first, he says, "I have labored in my groaning," namely by sighing: Lam. 1: "Many are my groanings, and my heart is sorrowful," etc. Ps. 37: "I roared from the groaning of my heart." And he says "I have labored," because it is labor to fight against oneself, and yet this labor bears good fruit: Wis. 3: "Glorious is the fruit of good labors." As to the second, he says, "I will wash": here he mentions two things, namely the bed and the bedding; and although these two are taken for the same thing, we follow the proper meaning. Bedding refers to the coverings spread upon the bed. The bed is that which is placed underneath, and is called "lectus" from "choosing," namely the straw and similar materials from which the bed is made. By saying, therefore, "I will wash my bed every night," he gives us to understand that every night he would rise and, leaning beside his bed, weep. Jerome's text reads, "I will make my bed swim"; and it is a figurative expression. Or, "I will make it swim," that is, I will cause it to move as if swimming, from my restlessness upon it. He says moreover, "With my tears I will drench my bedding," because even while lying in bed, he would drench the bed coverings by weeping, as if with a flood of tears. Morally, the bed in which a person rests is the conscience; this a person washes through tears in penance: Jer. 4: "Wash your heart from wickedness." By the bedding are signified sins, which are spread over the conscience; and these must be washed away with tears, because tears wash away the offense that one is ashamed to confess. The Gloss says: Lam. 2: "My eyes have failed from weeping," etc. He says "every night," that is, for each sin. For a person ought to weep in penance for each sin. Here it is given to be understood that the penitent has alternating turns, because among the good things he did, he sometimes sinned, and he wept for each. Hence he does not say "for one night," but "for each night." Moreover, he says "I will drench" on account of the abundance of tears: Jer. 9: "Who will give water to my head and tears to my eyes," etc. Lam. 2: "Pour out tears like a torrent by day and night; let not the pupils of your eyes be silent."”