Sadness

Sadness is the soul’s pain before a present evil. Where fear looks upon an evil that approaches, sadness bears an evil that is here: loss, fault, absence. Scripture is run through with it from end to end, from the tears of the psalmists to those of the apostles, and Christ himself wept. And it never leaves it alone: to the present evil answers a present God, who names himself by this name. “Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our tribulations.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. The remedy of sadness bears this name: the consolation of God, and the whole matter is to carry one’s pain to him instead of keeping it. This road distinguishes two kinds of sadness that resemble each other and that everything separates, one led to God and changed into joy, the other shut in upon itself, and it ends on the hand that will wipe away every tear.

The tears of Christ

The Son of God wept. Before the tomb of his friend Lazarus: “And Jesus wept.” John 11:35. Before the city that refuses his visit: “When he drew near and saw Jerusalem, he wept over it.” Luke 19:41. And on the threshold of his Passion: “My soul is sorrowful unto death.” Mark 14:34. He who is without sin bore it: sadness can dwell in the holiest soul. His tears honour the lost friend and the beloved city: death and the refusal of God deserve to be wept over. And the one who weeps is the very one who consoles: before the widow of Nain leading her only son to the tomb, “the Lord, seeing her, was moved with compassion for her, and said to her: Do not weep.” Luke 7:13. Christ did not cut sadness away from the human condition: he dwelt within it, and brought consolation into it in person.

The lament before God

The first act of the remedy is to speak one’s sadness to God. Scripture gives it a language: the lament of the Psalms. “Every night I drench my bed with weeping, I water my couch with my tears.” Psalm 6:7. This lament is addressed to God, and he does not disdain it, he gathers it up: “You have counted the steps of my wandering life, you have gathered my tears in your flask: are they not written in your book?” Psalm 56:9. Entrusted to God, sadness opens to consolation. The psalmist goes so far as to speak to his own soul to turn it toward hope: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you troubled within me? Hope in God, for I will praise him still.” Psalm 42:6. He does not let himself be led by his sadness: he takes it by the hand and leads it before God.

The two kinds of sadness

The Apostle distinguishes two kinds of sadness, which resemble each other and that everything separates, and the difference is precisely the remedy: one is carried to God, the other kept for oneself. “Godly sadness produces a saving repentance never to be regretted; the sadness of the world produces death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10. The same night showed them both. Peter denies his master; the Lord turns and looks at him, and Peter remembers. “And going out, Peter wept bitterly.” Luke 22:62. His tears look toward Christ: they bring him back, and he will be forgiven. Judas hands over his master; he is seized with remorse, he brings back the money: “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” Matthew 27:4. His remorse speaks true, and he carries it to men, who reject him, instead of carrying it to God; he goes away and hangs himself. Both wept over their sin: the sadness turned toward God remade an apostle, the sadness shut in upon itself finished in ruin.

The sadness that turns away from God

The first sadness of Scripture follows the first offering refused. “Why are you angry, and why is your face cast down? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” Genesis 4:6-7. God warns Cain: that sadness, when fed, opens the door to the sin that lies before it; and the warning contains the remedy, to do well and lift up the face. Cain lets it ripen, and it becomes murder. The rich young man shows the other face: called by Christ, “he went away sad, for he had great possessions.” Matthew 19:22. His sadness is born of a divided heart, which loves God and will not let go of its goods; the remedy was in the call itself, to give and to follow, and he leaves with his goods and his sadness. And the sage warns against the sadness one keeps: “Drive sadness far from you, for grief has killed many, and there is no profit in it.” Ecclesiasticus 30:23. Sadness kept for oneself, far from God, dries up: “A joyful heart is an excellent remedy; a downcast spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22.

Blessed are those who mourn

Christ proclaims blessed those whom the world pities. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!” Matthew 5:5. The Beatitude does not bless sorrow: it blesses those whom their tears open to the consolation of God. For God stands where the heart is broken: “The Lord is near to those whose heart is broken, he saves those whose spirit is crushed.” Psalm 34:19. Sadness does not draw away from God: it is the very place where he draws near. The broken heart is even the one offering God never refuses: “The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.” Psalm 51:19. And the consolation received is given to circulate: God consoles his own “so that, by the consolation we ourselves receive from him, we may console others in all their afflictions.” 2 Corinthians 1:4. The consoled becomes a consoler: this is the mark that the consolation comes from God.

Sadness changed into joy

Christ promises his own that their sadness will not be destroyed but transformed. “You will weep and lament, while the world rejoices; you will be grieved, but your grief will be changed into joy.” John 16:20. It is the very movement of Easter: the night of the tomb, then the morning. “Weeping may come at evening, but joy in the morning.” Psalm 30:6. The tears themselves become a sowing: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” Psalm 126:5. This is why the Christian weeps for his dead otherwise: “so that you may not grieve, like the others who have no hope.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13. The mourning remains, and hope passes through it. And the joy promised has a face: to see him. “I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” John 16:22.

Every tear wiped away

The last word belongs to the promise. The prophet announces it: “He will destroy death for ever; the Lord will wipe away the tears from every face.” Isaiah 25:8. And the last page of Scripture takes it up for the end of time: “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, and there shall be no more mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4.