Tears in the Night (Saint Ephraim the Syrian)

n my bed I meditated on Thee, Lover of men; and at midnight I arose to glorify Thy goodness. I recalled my debts and my sins and shed streams of tears. They reassured me — the thief, the publican, Mary the harlot, the Canaanite woman, and even the woman with an issue of blood, and the Samaritan woman by the well. They said to me: Get up, beg for mercy — your Lord is plenteous in mercy.

David, the son of Jesse, called out to me in his psalms; he awoke me from the sleep that burdened my limbs and said to me: Get up, O man. Why do you sleep? The Judge accepts offerings at midnight. Get up, pray, and ask for forgiveness. The kindhearted Lord will rejoice in you. His door is open to the penitent day and night.

At night, as I rested on my bed, I recalled my debts and sins. Then terror embraced me and I cried out: alas, the terrible night and the darkness void of all light are approaching. Whosoever leads an illicit life shall not rejoice on the day of resurrection, but will ever remain in darkness.

David too lay awake on his bed at night, contemplated his iniquities, and confessed his sins. At night he watered his bed with the tears of his eyes, and with sighs he prayed: I know, O Lord, mine iniquity, and my sin is before me continually. Against Thee only, O Lord, have I sinned — have mercy on me.

I call upon Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Thee do I beseech day and night — spare us. According to the multitude of Thy compassions, cleanse our sins and iniquities. Grant us, O Lord, health of soul and body; deliver us from the evil one and from his power and from his way and from all his snares, and refuse us not Thy compassion, neither by day nor by night.

Excerpt from A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God, compiled from the works of Saint Ephraim the Syrian