There’s a word in the tradition that is important to consider as Ash Wednesday approaches: compunction. We will hear this word at the end of Mass on Ash Wednesday.

To lead into an explanation of this word, I look to Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. This great Doctor of the Church has affected my spiritual life. Click here to view an earlier post of my pilgrimage to Avila.

As I look on Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa I see a saint who was completely open to God. Her heart was pierced by the Angel of God. Her heart was pierced by divine love. She turned away from all sin and stood in the presence of God.

Compunction is something like this moment for Teresa. Compunction is a gift of God. Pope Francis tells us that compunction is

not a feeling of guilt that makes us discouraged or obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial ‘piercing’ that purifies and heals the heart … This does not mean weeping in self-pity, as we are so often tempted to do… To shed tears of compunction means seriously to repent of grieving God by our sins; recognizing that we always remain in God’s debt… Just as drops of water can wear down a stone, so tears can slowly soften hardened hearts (159). 

The psalmist tells us that if we hear God’s voice TODAY … harden not your hearts. Our tears can soften our hearts so that we can welcome God’s love. To have tears over the sorrow of our sins are “the holiest waters after those of baptism” (Pope Francis, Chrism Homily 2024).

Compunction not only moves us to healthy sorrow for our sins, but it always forms us for solidarity with others. When we see that others have sinned, we weep for them. That inner weeping moves us to prayer.

Compunction helps us become more childlike in faith. Otherwise, we grow older in life and lose our tears. We forget the poor. Pope Francis says:

Let us ask whether, with the years that pass, our tears increase. In nature, the older we become, the less we weep. In the life of the spirit, however, we are asked to become like children (cf. Mt 18:3): if we fail to weep, we regress and grow old within, whereas those whose prayer becomes simpler and deeper, grounded in adoration and wonder in the presence of God, grow and mature. They become less attached to themselves and more attached to Christ. Made poor in spirit, they draw closer to the poor, those who are most dear to God. 

Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa reveal to my heart someone who deeply loved Jesus. Her heart was pierced with divine love. Through such piercing she became one of the great disciples of Christ. Let the tender Sacred Heart of Jesus make us great saints like Teresa.