CCC 1429 St. Peter’s conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus’ look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord’s resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him.1 The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in the Lord’s call to a whole Church: “Repent!”2
St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, “there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance.”3
1 Cf. Lk 22:61; Jn 21:15-17.
2 Rev 2:5, 16.
3 St. Ambrose, ep. 41, 12: PL 16, 1116.