March 17: Melt Us Down and Strengthen Us
♫ Music:
Day 17 - Friday, March 17
The Sacrifice of Suffering
Scripture: Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Poetry:
"What Afflictions Avail"
by Scott Cairns
If not for sufferings, the unknowable
Providence of God would not be apprehended
as acting on the crowd. And we would be
unable to approach God with boldness,
unable to learn the Spirit’s wisdom
or be assured of divine love in our souls.
Prior to sufferings, the poor man prays
as to a stranger; but if, out of love, he struggles,
soon he observes a stirring change.
Before this, he held God as a taskmaster,
but now becomes God’s true friend.
MELT US DOWN AND STRENGTHEN US
St. Maximilian Kolbe knew that once he passed through the infamous gates of Auschwitz he would never leave. Imprisoned in 1941 for his outspoken criticism of the Nazis, Kolbe was among the millions who suffered and died at Auschwitz--his ashes billowing from the chimneys of the crematorium ovens. However, Kolbe’s story is singular in that place of unimaginable torment: he died after sacrificing himself for a complete stranger, volunteering to take the man’s place in a starvation bunker. Witnesses attest that for two weeks, Kolbe led his fellow prisoners in prayer and song, until he was finally killed by a lethal injection of carbolic acid. When the guards approached him with the syringe, Kolbe raised his arm, surrendering his life in simple humility.
I am constantly surprised by the stories of the saints and martyrs; theirs were lives of extraordinary faith, grace, service, and sacrifice. We remember them so that we may learn to live and love by their example. Kolbe’s story, though unique in its details, is one among many-- hundreds of men and women whose remarkable devotion to God allowed them to suffer unspeakable trials and tribulations. And while I find myself in awe of them, I also find myself convicted. Will I ever be able to have that kind of faith? The kind of faith that would allow me to love and serve unconditionally? Or, as Kolbe did, sacrifice my life for a stranger?
Then I remember, though the stories of the lives of the saints and martyrs may convict us, they also inspire us, give us hope, and ultimately point us to Christ. Through the example of their suffering and sacrifice, we are reminded not only of Christ’s suffering and great sacrifice for us, but are reminded that Christ is with us in the midst of our own suffering just as He was with those saints and martyrs that walked before us. We should not lose hope because, as Paul reminds the Church in Rome, nothing--not the fear of failure, the pain of loss, or the despair and torment of a concentration camp--can separate us from Christ’s love.
In his piece The Crossing, Bill Viola films a man as he is seemingly consumed by both fire and water. In each video, we can see these two forces as either destructive, immolating or drowning, or constructive, refining or restoring. This process is a transfiguration of sorts--by giving himself over to these elements to be destroyed, the figure vanishes, perhaps crossing through and then beyond suffering towards restoration or resurrection. Suffering allows us to be “more than conquerors.” It ultimately transforms and transfigures us.
In this Lenten season, as we persevere amidst our own trials and reflect on the passion of Christ, let us remember that suffering will not prevail. And so let us continuously hope for the transformative power of the resurrection.
“Hatred is not a creative force. Love alone creates. Suffering will not prevail over us, it will only melt us down and strengthen us.” -- St. Maximilian Kolbe
PRAYER
Almighty God,
by whose grace and power your holy martyrs
triumphed over suffering and were faithful unto death:
strengthen us with your grace,
that we may endure reproach and persecution
and faithfully bear witness to the name
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
-Common of the Saints
Amanda Rountree
Media Coordinator, Art Department
About The Crossing Video:
Bill Viola’s The Crossing is a room-sized video installation that comprises a large two-sided screen onto which a pair of video sequences is simultaneously projected. They each open in the same fashion: a male figure walks slowly towards the camera, his body dramatically lit from above so that it appears to glow against the video’s stark-black background. After several minutes he pauses near the foreground and stands still. He faces forward, staring directly into the lens, motionless. At this point the two scenes diverge; in one, a small fire alights below the figure’s feet. It spreads over his legs and torso and eventually engulfs his whole body in flames; yet, he stands calm and completely still as his body is immolated, only moving to raise his arms slightly before his body disappears in an inferno of roaring flames. On the opposite screen, the event transpires not with fire but with water. Beginning as a light rainfall, the sporadic drops that shower the figure build up to a surging cascade of water until it subsumes him entirely. After the flames and the torrent of water eventually retreat, the figure has vanished entirely from each scene, and the camera witnesses a silent and empty denouement.
About the Videographer:
Bill Viola (b.1951) is internationally recognized as one of today’s leading artists. He has been instrumental in the establishment of video as a vital form of contemporary art, and in so doing has helped to greatly expand its scope in terms of technology, content, and historical reach. His works focus on universal human experiences—birth, death, the unfolding of consciousness — and have roots in both Eastern and Western art as well as various spiritual traditions. Using the inner language of subjective thoughts and collective memories, his videos communicate to a wide audience, allowing viewers to experience the work directly, and in their own personal way.
www.billviola.com
About the Artwork:
Protest Song
Gor Chahal
Color Photograph
About the Artist:
Gor Chahal (b. 1961) is a Russian artist. His early life was less than artistic, and in fact the only artistic education he received was between the ages of 11 to 15 when he studied drawing in the studio of Tatiana Kiparisova. In the early 2000s after several decades of artistic work, Chahal turned his attention to modern Christian art and the dialog that can be born of interaction between contemporary secular and spiritual art. He sees himself as facilitating this dialog. He stresses that his most recent pieces are specifically Christian in nature. Protest Song is a fitting example, the retelling of the Old Testament story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego with a distinctly contemporary feel. Chahal’s most recent works have received a great deal of attention from both secular and religious communities within Russia and abroad. His work is displayed in public and private collections in Russia, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Japan, the USA, and Egypt. Both the Church of the Martyr Tatyana at Moscow State University and the secular Tretyakov Gallery have played host to Chahal’s works, so that Chahal’s vision of opening a dialog between the secular and spiritual worlds is beginning to happen.
About the Music:
“The Refiner’s Fire”
Lyrics:
[Verse 1:]
There burns a fire with sacred heat
White hot with holy flame
And all who dare pass through its blaze
Will not emerge the same
Some as bronze, and some as silver
Some as gold, then with great skill
All are hammered by their sufferings
On the anvil of His will
[Chorus:]
The Refiner’s fire
Has now become my souls desire
Purged and cleansed and purified
That the Lord be glorified
He is consuming my soul
Refining me, making me whole
No matter what I may lose
I choose the Refiner’s fire
[Verse 2:]
I’m learning now to trust His touch
To crave the fire’s embrace
For though my past with sin was etched
His mercies did erase
Each time His purging cleanses deeper
I’m not sure that I’ll survive
Yet the strength in growing weaker
Keeps my hungry soul alive
[Chorus]
About the Performer:
Steve Green (b. 1956) is a Christian singer, notable for his high vocal range and flexible solo style. Over his 35-year career, Green has been honored as a four-time Grammy Award nominee and a seven-time Dove Award winner. He has released 33 albums, had 13 #1 songs, and has sold over three million recordings. Green desires the kind of spiritual growth that J. C. Ryle describes. “When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this – that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.”
www.stevegreenministries.org
About the Poet:
Scott Cairns (b 1954) is an American poet, memoirist and essayist. Cairns earned a B.A. from Western Washington University, an M.A. from Hollins University, an MFA from Bowling Green State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Cairns has served on the faculties of Kansas State University, Westminster College, University of North Texas, Old Dominion University, and University of Missouri. While at North Texas, Cairns served as editor of the American Literary Review. Cairns is the author of eight collections of poetry, one collection of translations of Christian mystics, one spiritual memoir, a book-length essay on suffering, and the co-editor of The Sacred Place with Scott Olsen, an anthology of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. Dr. Cairns is currently the program director of Seattle Pacific University’s MFA in Creative Writing.