Turning Weeping Into Joy

Ἤκουσε Κύριος, καὶ ἠλέησέ με· Κύριος ἐγένήθη βοηθός μου. Μετὰ τὸ διηγήσασθαι τίνα ἧν ἂ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐκέκραξεν, εὐθὺς αἰσθόμενος τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, παρομῶν ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὁμοίων αἴτησιν, Ἤκουσε, φησὶ, Κὺριος, καὶ ἠλέησέ με· Κύριος ἐγένήθη βοηθός μου. Εὐχώμεθα οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ κράζωμεν τὴν πνευματικὴν βοὴν, αἰτούμενοι τὰ μεγάλα, μὴ ἀντιποιούμενοι τῆς σαρκὸς, Οἱ γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες, Θεῷ ἀρέσαι ού δύνανται, ἵνα καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπακούσῃ ὁ Κύριος, ἐλεήσας ἡμῶν τὸ ἀσθενὲς, καὶ της θείας βοηθείας ἀπολαύσαντες καὶ ἡμεῖς εἴπωμεν· Ἔστρεψας τὸν κοπετόν μου εἰς χαρὰν ἐμοι. Οὐ τῇ τυχούσῃ ψυχῇ ἡ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ χαρὰ ἐγγίνεται, ἀλλ' εἴ τις πολλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀπεκλαύσατο, ἰσχυροϊς ὀδυρμοϊς καὶ θρήνοις διηνεκέσιν, ὡς ἐπὶ τεθνεῶτι ἑαυτῷ κοπετὸν ἐποιήσατο, τοῦ τοιούτου ὁ κοπετὸς εἰς χαρὰν στρέφεται. Ὅτι δέ ἐστιν ἐπαινετῶς κόψασθαι, δηλοῦσιν οἱ ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς καθήμενοι παῖδες, οἱ λέγοντες· Ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ έκόψασθε· ηὐλήσαμεν ὐμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ αὐλὸς ὄργανον μουσικὸν πνεύματι συνεργῷ πρὸς τὴν μελῳδίαν χρώμενον. Διόπερ οἶμαο πάντα ἅγιον προφήτην αὐλὸν τροπικῶς ὀνομάζεσθαι διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος κίνησιν. Διόπερ, φησὶν, ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν, καὶ οὐκ ὠρχήσασθε. Οἱ γὰρ προφητικοὶ λόγοι προτρέπονται ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν εὔρύθμον τῆς ἁγίας προφητείας ἐνέργειαν, ἤτις εἴρηται ὄρχησις. Ἀλλὰ καὶ θρηνοῦιν ἡμῖν οἱ προφῆται, εἰς κοπετὸν ἡμᾶς προκαλούμενοι, ἵνα, εἰς συναίσθησιν ἐλθόντες ἐκ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων ἐπὶ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν ἁμαρτήμασι, καταπενθήσωμεν ἡμῶν τὴν ἀπώλειαν, ἐν κόποις καὶ μόχθοις τὴν σάρκα ἡμῶν καταπιέσαντες. Τῷ τοιούτῳ τοίνυν περιῥῥήγνυται μὲν τὸ μενθικὸν ἕνδυμα, ὅ καταπενθῶν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἁναρτίαν περιεβάλετο. Περιτίθεται δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ χιτὼν τῆς εὐφροσύνης, καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον τοῦ σωτηρίου, τὰ φαιδρὰ ταῦτα καὶ γαμικὰ ἐνδύματα, οἶς ὁ κεκοσμημένος ἐκ τοῦ νυμφῶνος οὐκ ἐκβληθήσεται. Διέῥῥηξας τὸν σάκκον μου, καὶ περιέζωσας με εὐφροσύνην. Συνεργὸς εἰς μετάνοιαν ὁ σάκκος, ταπεινώσεως ὑπάρχων σύμβολον· Πάλαι γὰρ ἂν ἐν σάκκῳ, φησὶ, καὶ σποδῷ καθήμενοι μετενόησαν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ Απόστολος ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφοῦται ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν, τὴν δοθεῖσαν αὐτῷ χάριν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ἰδίαν λέγει δόξα. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ἐις Τους Ψαλμούς, Εἰς Τον ΚΘ' Ψαλμον

The Lord heard and He was merciful to me; the Lord was my help. 1 After telling of things he had cried out to the Lord, immediately sensing the help of God, he exhorts us to do the same. 'The Lord heard,' he said,' and He was merciful to me; and the Lord was my help.' Let us pray then that we cry out with spiritual clamour, seeking not base things, nor caring for the flesh, for those who are in the flesh are not able to be pleasing to God, 2 that God hear us, having mercy on our weakness, and that with gift of divine help we might say, 'You have turned my weeping into joy.'  3 The joy of God does not inhere in just any soul but if a man lament his sin vehemently with groans and with heavy sighs, as if he himself we mourning himself dead, this is the grief which is turned into joy. And that it is even praiseworthy grief,  the children sitting in the marketplace show, saying, ' We lamented to you and you did not weep, we sang with flutes and you did not dance.' 4 The musical instrument of the flute is made to work with breath for the production of melody, and therefore I think that every holy prophecy is the playing of the flute through the movement of the Holy Spirit and that when it says that we played to you and you did not dance, we have the prophetic words exhorting us to motion pleasing to sacred prophecy. And for our sake the prophets lamented, exhorting us to our own grief, that through prophetic words we become conscious of our sins, that we weep our deaths, laboring and groaning in the castigation of the flesh. And from such men is the mourning garb cut off, that which in grief for his sin he had put on. Then he is surrounded with a tunic of joy and a cloak of salvation and the splendid garb of the wedding guest, which if he does not wear will have him expelled from the nuptial chambers. 5 'You cut off my sackcloth and surrounded me with joy.' 6 The sackcloth is help to penance, and a sign of humility. For he says 'Sitting in sackcloth and ash they made penance' 7 And then the Apostle says: With face revealed, to the same image transformed, from glory into glory 8,' the grace given to him by the Lord he names glory. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms, Psalm 29 1 Ps 29.11 2 Rom 8.8 3 Ps 29.12  4 Lk 7.32 5 Mt 22.11-13 6 Ps 29.12 7 Lk 10.13 8 2 Cor 3.18