It’s possible that it is a spiritual gift, the gift of tears, that is of compunction…an invitation by God to pray in atonement for sins…eg, of the world, so long as it’s not just depression. But one must always be humble about spiritual gifts, which only draw their meaning and grace from God. Mystics describe compunction as the first step in genuine spiritual life. Remembering our sins, like Jesus weeping for Jerusalem, tears flow for our own and and others’ sins.
"Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But the mourning for which [the Lord] promises eternal consolation, dearly beloved, has nothing to do with ordinary worldly distress; for the tears which have their origin in the sorrow common to all mankind do not make anyone blessed…Religious grief mourns for sin, one’s own or another’s; it does not lament because of what happens as a result of God’s justice, but because of what is done by human malice. Indeed, he who does wrong is more to be lamented than he who suffers it, for his wickedness plunges the sinner into punishment, whereas endurance can raise the just man to glory.—From a sermon on the beatitudes by Saint Leo the Great, pope Office of Readings, Saturday, Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
" In some way perhaps the sorrow proceeds from the deep pain it feels at seeing that God is offended and little esteemed in this world and that many souls are lost . . . Even though it sees that God’s mercy is great—for however wicked their lives, these [souls] can make amends and be saved—it fears that many are being condemned.
. . . The pain suffered in this state . . . breaks and grinds the soul into pieces, without the soul’s striving for it or even at times wanting it.
. . . If a soul with so little charity [6] when compared to Christ’s . . . felt this torment to be so unbearable, what must have been the feeling of our Lord Jesus Christ? And what kind of life must He have suffered since all things were present to Him and He was always witnessing the serious offenses committed against His Father? . . . But I consider it so difficult to see the many offenses committed so continually against His Majesty and the many souls going to hell that I believe only one day of that pain would have been sufficient to end many lives; how much more one life, if He had been no more than man. Saint Teresa of Avila in her book—The Interior Castle V:2. 10,11,14
He told me his story a while back and it’s quite inspirational. Not to mention a kick up the backside for some of us Christians who can’t find the time to go to Adoration, or pray the Rosary. (Sorry if I’m butting in here) But the way he explained it is that he isn’t a Catholic, but he recognises God in the Catholic faith.