Listening to Jesus Through Tears

Divine Appeal Reflection - 59

Today, consider in Divine Appeal 59: "Even though it costs you many tears you must listen to Me and pray a great deal."

There are moments when Our Adorable Jesus speaks not through comfort but through a call that pierces the heart. His divine appeal asks for listening even when obedience draws tears. These tears are not signs of failure; they are the language of love under the Cross. Scripture reveals this pattern again and again: Abraham listens while ascending the mountain with a trembling heart, (cf. Gen 22:1–18) trusting beyond understanding . Mary listens at Nazareth and again at Calvary, (cf. Lk 1:38; Jn 19:25) where silent consent becomes a sword of sorrow . The Catechism teaches that faith often walks in obscurity, (cf. CCC 164) clinging to God without visible reassurance .In daily life, this appeal resounds when speaking the truth strains friendships, when choosing honesty delays advancement, or when remaining faithful to prayer steals hours from rest and ease (cf. Mt 5; Col 3). The saints confess that true listening is born through pain: Augustine only learned God’s voice after long nights of interior unrest and tears (cf. Confessions; Ps 42), and Teresa of Ávila discerned that tears often signal deeper union with Christ crucified (cf. Gal 2). Such tears cleanse the soul’s hearing, quieting self-will so grace may speak (cf. CCC 2719). They prepare us to carry Christ into a wounded world, not as theorists but as witnesses formed by compassion. Listening through tears is not passive resignation; it is active surrender, choosing God’s voice over immediate relief,(cf. Ps 34:18) trusting that divine love speaks most clearly where the heart is broken open .

Our Adorable Jesus does not ask for stoic endurance; He asks for attentive love. His own earthly life reveals obedience learned through suffering, (cf. Heb 5:8) where listening culminates in total self-gift . When He appeals to us despite tears, He invites us into His own interior dispositions. Jeremiah listened while weeping over a resistant people, (cf. Jer 20:7–9) becoming a prophet shaped by sorrow rather than success . Peter listened again after bitter tears of denial, discovering that mercy restores vocation rather than cancels it (cf. Lk 22:61–62; Jn 21:15–17). The Church (cf. CCC 1778) teaches that conscience must be patiently formed to recognize God’s voice even when feelings resist and emotions protest . Concretely, this unfolds when spouses remain faithful through arid seasons, when consecrated souls persevere amid unseen loneliness, or when a student chooses integrity though dishonesty offers quick success . Saints such as John of the Cross speak of tears as part of the purifying night in which God loosens the soul from lesser attachments . These tears become a baptism of the heart, cleansing illusions so truth may dwell. Those who have listened in pain speak with authority to others who suffer. Jesus’ appeal is tender yet firm: do not flee the cost of obedience, for tears offered in listening become seeds of resurrection, shaping souls capable of carrying divine compassion into concrete human struggles (cf. Jn 12:24).

Listening through tears demands trust in the Father’s wisdom beyond immediate clarity. Hannah’s tears in the temple were misunderstood by others, yet God received them as prayer and transformed them into fruitfulness  The Catechism (cf. CCC 2734) reminds us that prayer often involves perseverance amid trial, where God seems silent yet profoundly present . Our Adorable Jesus teaches that such listening purifies intention: we learn to desire God’s will rather than emotional consolation. In everyday life, parents listen through tears when sacrificing dreams for their children; caregivers listen when fatigue tempts them to bitterness; young people listen when choosing virtue in cultures that mock it. Saints like Monica show how tears united to listening become intercessory power, shaping generations . Mystically, tears soften the heart so divine light can penetrate without resistance. Apostolically, this obedience forms disciples who do not abandon their mission when results are unseen. Jesus’ appeal is not cruel; it is medicinal. He knows that a heart untouched by tears often remains deaf to subtle grace. When we listen in sorrow, we enter communion with the suffering Christ, whose voice from the Cross entrusted Himself fully to the Father . Thus, tears become a school of discernment where God’s whisper is recognized as truth, even when it costs everything.

Our Adorable Jesus asks us to listen not merely once, but habitually, allowing tears to educate our spiritual hearing. Elijah learned that God’s voice is not always in dramatic signs but in a gentle whisper discerned after exhaustion and fear (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11–13). The Church (cf. CCC 2015) teaches that holiness grows through daily fidelity rather than extraordinary feats . This means returning to prayer after disappointment, choosing reconciliation after betrayal, and continuing service when gratitude is absent.  Such listening conforms the soul to Christ’s humility, where strength is revealed through vulnerability . The world believes witnesses whose compassion has been forged in lived suffering, not in borrowed ideas or abstract ideals (cf. 2 Cor 1). Our Adorable Jesus appeals to us to resist dulling the heart with constant distractions that quiet His gentle voice (cf. Mk 4). Tears reawaken interior sensitivity, training the soul to notice grace in small, ordinary moments . When we listen in this way, every vocation—lay, ordained, or consecrated—becomes a living response, not a fixed role (cf. Rom 12). God’s will is then revealed not as an external burden, but as love discovered within a surrendered heart, (cf. Lk 22) even when that discovery passes through sorrow.

Ultimately, listening through tears leads to joy that the world cannot give. Our Adorable Jesus assures that those who weep in fidelity will reap in hope, because God does not waste a single tear (cf. Ps 126:5–6). The Catechism affirms that sharing in Christ’s Cross prepares us for participation in His Resurrection (cf. CCC 618). Biblical witnesses converge on this truth: Jesus Himself wept before raising Lazarus,(cf. Jn 11:35–44) revealing that divine power flows through compassionate sorrow . In daily apostolic life, this means trusting that unseen sacrifices bear fruit beyond our lifetime. Such listening binds the soul to Christ’s redemptive love, where suffering is not wasted but changed into intercession for others (cf. Col 1; CCC 618). It shapes disciples able to carry hope into places marked by discouragement and darkness (cf. Rom 5). The divine appeal, received through tears, is never an invitation to sadness,(cf. Jn 15) but to deeper communion with the Heart of Jesus . When we choose to listen despite the cost, our tears become Eucharistic—joined to Christ’s own self-offering, changed by His love, and given back as grace for the life of the Church and the salvation of the world (cf. Lk 22; Col 1; CCC 1368).

Prayer

Our Adorable Jesus, You know our tears and our fears. Teach us to listen to You when obedience is painful and unclear. Stay close to us, soften our hearts, and turn our tears into love offered for the Church and the world, in every vocation and daily moment. Amen.

Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist, intercede for us.