First of all, pray to acquire tears, in order to soften with mourning the savageness of your soul. You will then easily confess with honesty before the Lord all the sins that you have committed and you shall receive forgiveness from Him. Use your tears to succeed in every request of yours. For the Lord is greatly pleased when you pray with tears. If during your prayer you shed fountains of tears, do not pride yourself that you are above many others. This is not your accomplishment; it is assistance for your prayer from the Lord, so that you will be able to thus confess your sins willingly and appease Him. When you believe that you do not need tears in your prayer for your sins, consider how far you have drifted away from God, when “you should constantly be near Him” and then you will weep more fervently.
–Saint Nilus of Sinai (d. 430)
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