The Wreck of the Deuschtland, Stanzas 1-5
To the happy memory of five Franciscan Nuns, exiles by the Falk Laws, drowned between midnight and morning of Dec. 7th, 1875
Thou mastering me
God! giver of breath and bread;
World's strand, sway of the sea;
Lord of living and dead;
Thou hast bound bones & veins in me, fastened me flesh,
And after it almost unmade, what with dread,
Thy doing: and dost thou touch me afresh?
Over again I feel thy finger and find thee.
I did say yes
O at lightning and lashed rod;
Thou heardst me truer than tongue confess
Thy terror, O Christ, O God;
Thou knowest the walls, altar and hour and night:
The swoon of a heart that the sweep and the hurl of thee trod
Hard down with a horror of height:
And the midriff astrain with leaning of, laced with fire of stress.
The frown of his face
Before me, the hurtle of hell
Behind, where, where was a, where was a place?
I whirled out wings that spell
And fled with a fling of the heart to the heart of the Host.
My heart, but you were dovewinged, I can tell,
Carrier-witted, I am bold to boast,
To flash from the flame to the flame then, tower from the grace to the grace.
I am soft sift
In an hourglass—at the wall
Fast, but mined with a motion, a drift,
And it crowds and it combs to the fall;
I steady as a water in a well, to a poise, to a pane,
But roped with, always, all the way down from the tall
Fells or flanks of the voel, a vein
Of the gospel proffer, a pressure, a principle, Christ's gift.
I kiss my hand
To the stars, lovely-asunder
Starlight, wafting him out of it; and
Glow, glory in thunder;
Kiss my hand to the dappled-with-damson west:
Since, tho' he is under the world's splendour and wonder,
His mystery must be instressed, stressed;
For I greet him the days I meet him, and bless when I understand.
“[Suffering] co-exists with him in the world, and thus demands to be constantly reconsidered”
Salvifici Doloris, 2
Suffering is a complex topic that often leads people to question the goodness or even the existence of God. We are witness to so many facets of suffering in this world, whether physical or spiritual. As John Paul II writes in his encyclical, suffering intimidates.
Intimidation is what we find Hopkins struggling with at the beginning stanzas of his poem. Having already claimed God as his master, he confesses a spiritual anxiety toward God’s almighty power. To follow God brings danger, but the path to Hell also brings danger.
In stanza 5 Hopkins finds peace about God as he contemplates the grandeur of nature. The One who created such beauty in the world must be worthy of worship, despite the mystery that He is. But if God is infinite love itself, then how could he allow suffering? Why would he let bad things happen? These are the age-old questions that leads many to grapple with their faith. This even occurs within the Bible: a just man named Job suffers endlessly, and his friends try to convince him that he did something wrong to deserve it. They see suffering as a punishment, but what if there is another way to look at suffering? A salvific way that leads us back to Love?
John Paul II says, “The one to whom he puts the question is himself suffering and wishes to answer him from the cross, with his own heart of suffering” (Salvifici Doloris 26). But we’ll talk more about that next week ;)
What has been your view of suffering? Has it changed? Join me on this six week study of suffering through the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Saint John Paul II!
Thanks for sharing, Stephanie! This is a great topic.
My view of redemptive suffering has grown over the years from little to no understanding of it, to something I now strive to embrace when it comes my way. (Easier said than done!) This growth has happened through several experiences:
1. My father's battle with cancer which lead to hospice care and then his passing in our home.
2. A Sunday homily from Father Mike Schmitz a while back
3. Reading about the saints who beautifully lived out redemptive suffering.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the study.