April 10: Laying Down Our Lives for Others
♫ Music:
Wednesday, April 10
Laying Down Our Lives for Others
Scripture: John 15:12-15
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
Poetry:
From “The Black Maria”
by Aracelis Girmay
The body, bearing something ordinary as light Opens
as in a room somewhere the friend opens in poppy, in flame, burns & bears the child — out.
When I did it was the hours & hours of breaking. The bucking of
it all, the push & head
not moving, not an inch until,
when he flew from me, it was the night who came
flying through me with all its hair,
the immense terror of his face & noise.
I heard the stranger & my brain, without looking, vowed
a love-him vow. His struggling, merely, to be
split me down, with the axe, to two. How true,
the thinness of our hovering between the realms of Here, Not Here.
The fight, first, to open, then to breathe,
& then to close. Each of us entering the world
& entering the world like this.
Soft. Unlikely. Then —
the idiosyncratic minds & verbs.
Beloveds, making your ways
to & away from us, always, across the centuries,
inside the vastness of the galaxy, how improbable it is that this ?iteration
of you or you or me might come to be at all — Body of fear,
Body of laughing — & even last a second. This fact should make us fall all
to our knees with awe,
the beauty of it against these odds,
the stacks & stacks of near misses
& slimmest chances that birthed one ancestor into the next & next.
Profound, unspeakable cruelty who counters this, who does not see.
& so to tenderness I add my action.
YOUR WORDS, LORD, ARE LIFE, AND FULL OF MERCY
We live a very noisy world. It has become so easy to create a normal life amidst such strident noise. We hear the sound of a car or a door opening. We hear the speculations presented on the news and the sounds of global instabilities. We hear Hollywood and the noise of government, the stock market making its daily predictions of global economic thresholds. Meanwhile, humanity all around us suffers from all kinds of injustice due to lack of resources, water, and food. Marketing strategies of corporate America and social media are persuading our minds with soft sounds that put the consumers at a crossroads when it comes to deciding between brands. In this complex and self-centered noisy context, the teaching of today appears.
In the verses we have just read, Jesus does not get distracted by the noise of the Roman and religious empire, nor does he avoid the theme of mercy. He says, I was hungry, and you gave me a food. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was naked, refugee, sick, in jail and you helped me. No matter how much noise we have in our lives, one cannot pass by a person who is hungry: it is a necessary to feed him. That's what Jesus tells us!
Friends, in the midst of our busy world, works of mercy are not theoretical topics, but are concrete actions of Christian service. They force the other things on pause, and require us to roll up our sleeves, titles, positions, and privileges to alleviate the suffering of the most needy. Christ identifies with the destiny and journey of the most vulnerable in our society. According to Saint Matthew, faith is inseparable from concrete ethical commitment and works of mercy. The text tells us how the king will make judgments identifying Himself with the needy and those who do good (sheep) and condemns those who pass in life without seeing or hearing the suffering of others (the goats). Lent as the portico of Easter presents us an opportunity to refine three practices of our Christian tradition: prayer, fasting, and works of mercy. Jesus teaches us with details and exemplifies these three teachings in His own life. The text says that those who welcome Jesus along the way embrace the call to do works of mercy. The text also invites those following Jesus’ path to identify with the marginalized, the vulnerable and the forgotten communities in our society. Finally, the text emphasizes that Jesus is in solidarity with his Father God and invites us to do works of mercy.
In these next days before Easter let us continue to practice mercy and do good among the most vulnerable around us. Through this week, allow the Word of God to interrupt your life as a sound of fresh rain that cleans the noisy atmosphere of your surroundings, and to clarify your Spirit. For your words, Lord, are Spirit and Life and full of mercy.
Prayer:
Lord:
I pray for you to touch our death-oriented world
and call it to the existence of a new life.
Bring life, joy and a new vitality to those
who are walking in the shadow of death,
to those who are sick and dying,
to those who are depressed and desperate,
to those who are resentful and violent,
--- Henry Newman
Oh, sweet Holy Spirit let mercy overflow in and through my life.
Amen.|
Dr. Oscar Merlo
Director, Center for the Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Art #1
Paschal Lamb, 2015
Robert Besana
Mixed media, ballpoint pen on canvas
36 x 48 inches
About the Art #2
Ecstasy in Martyrdom, 2015
Robert Besana
Mixed media, ballpoint pen on canvas
48 x 60 inches
In artist Robert Besana’s panoramic, mural-sized work, he contextualizes martyrdom in a more contemporary idiom, with the dominant presence of his trademark giant roses. A unique concept seldom touched by contemporary artists, martyrdom is no longer exclusively about persecution and death of one’s religious faith. In modern times, there are political martyrs, imprisoned or put to death for espousing a political cause. Besana is drawn to religious themes, as evident across his oeuvre which showcases a modern reimagining of old masters. “I’m personally overwhelmed with the amount of imagery the church had produced and how it transcends through generations and different cultures,” he explained. He reuses these images to reinforce and strengthen his concepts, which are more intimate and personal in the context of catharsis. The artist also adopts these images as crucial elements to retell stories in a more contemporary point of view. The collection of work on the martyrs invites reflection through an appreciation of beauty, and in the scenes depicted within the borders of the canvas, audiences are privileged to partake of a story of virtue and victory, piety and persecution, and triumphs over trials.
About the Artist:
Robert Besana (b. 1976) is a painter who graduated from the Philippine Women’s University’s Fine Arts program in 2003 and completed his master’s degree in 2009. He currently the Program Director of The School Of Multimedia Arts of Asia Pacific Colleges in Makati, aside from providing consultancy advice for the Technical Committee For Multimedia Arts for CHED's Humanities Technical Panel and National Capital Region's Quality Assurance committee. Since his student days he has been participating in numerous local group exhibits, as well as garnering awards from various local competitions.
About the Music:
“Dustlight” from the album Suspension
About the Composers and Performers:
Hilyard (b. 1985) and Andrew J Klimek are both musicians that utilize ambient recordings from the environment to create soothing arrangements. Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure. A form of slow instrumental music, it uses repetitive, but gentle, soothing sound patterns that generate a sense of calm. Ambient music assists listeners with study, sleep, massage, meditation, inspiration, and creating peaceful atmospheres in their environments.
About the Poet:
Aracelis Girmay (b. 1977) is an American poet. Born and raised in Santa Ana, California, Girmay earned a BA at Connecticut College and an MFA from New York University. Her poems trace the connections of transformation and loss across cities and bodies. She is the author of the innovative and hybrid poetic forms, stating, “I wonder what new explorations of form might have to do with documenting the new and old ways of thinking about power. [….] Perhaps the so-called hybrid poems are about dislocating or splintering the central lens.” Her poetry collections include Teeth (2007); Kingdom Animalia (2011); and The Black Maria (2016), named a “Top Poetry Pick” by Publisher's Weekly, O Magazine, and Library Journal. In 2011, Girmay was awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2015 she received a Whiting Award for Poetry. Girmay is on the faculty of The School for Interdisciplinary Arts at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
About the Devotional Writer:
Dr. Oscar Merlo
Director, Center for the Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Oscar Merlo is passionate about empowering new generations through the Holy Spirit and illuminating the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has served in executive leadership positions for profit and nonprofit multinational organizations. Merlo has traveled extensively to over 35 countries in five continents and has experienced how God’s Missio-Dei is at work in diverse places such as: Cuba, Tel Aviv, Bissau, Istanbul, Guatemala, local communities in Los Angeles, and other places in the global South. He leads global plans in Evangelism & Transformation initiatives and has participated in social justice advocacy, the Latin America Free of Corruption Initiative and coordinated global leadership training programs. Merlo served as a co-founder of the OMEGA generation project; an initiative to mentor Latin-X millennials in the 21st century. He has developed EDEAM (School of Evangelists Alberto Mottesi) academic programs expanding to 136 international centers throughout Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Oscar is happily married to Lexa and they have two daughters.