The Wreck of the Deuschtland, Stanzas 6-10
Not out of his bliss
Springs the stress felt
Nor first from heaven (and few know this)
Swings the stroke dealt—
Stroke and a stress that stars and storms deliver,
That guilt is hushed by, hearts are flushed by and melt—
But it rides time like riding a river
(And here the faithful waver, the faithless fable and miss).
It dates from day
Of his going in Galilee;
Warm-laid grave of a womb-life grey;
Manger, maiden's knee;
The dense and the driven Passion, and frightful sweat;
Thence the discharge of it, there its swelling to be,
Though felt before, though in high flood yet—
What none would have known of it, only the heart, being hard at bay,
Is out with it! Oh,
We lash with the best or worst
Word last! How a lush-kept plush-capped sloe
Will, mouthed to flesh-burst,
Gush!—flush the man, the being with it, sour or sweet,
Brim, in a flash, full!—Hither then, last or first,
To hero of Calvary, Christ,'s feet—
Never ask if meaning it, wanting it, warned of it—men go.
Be adored among men,
God, three-numberéd form;
Wring thy rebel, dogged in den,
Man's malice, with wrecking and storm.
Beyond saying sweet, past telling of tongue,
Thou art lightning and love, I found it, a winter and warm;
Father and fondler of heart thou hast wrung:
Hast thy dark descending and most art merciful then.
With an anvil-ding
And with fire in him forge thy will
Or rather, rather then, stealing as Spring
Through him, melt him but master him still:
Whether at once, as once at a crash Paul,
Or as Austin, a lingering-out swéet skíll,
Make mercy in all of us, out of us all
Mastery, but be adored, but be adored King.
Not out of his bliss…
We cannot deny that suffering is an experience of evil. As John Paul II writes, the Bible did not have a word to distinguish “suffering” from “evil.” God does not delight in evil.
So we return to the question: why does God allow suffering? Hopkins gives his own answer to this in the next stanzas, describing God the Father’s mercy and God the Son’s own suffering. Warm-laid grave, dense and driven Passion… Christ himself suffered, most notably during his crucifixion. This grand suffering led to our salvation, which is a liberation of evil. John Paul II makes this important distinction:
“Even though the victory over sin and death achieved by Christ in his Cross and Resurrection does not not abolish temporal suffering from human life, nor free from the suffering the whole historical dimension of human existence, it nevertheless throws a new light upon this dimension and upon every suffering: the light of salvation.”
Human suffering itself has been redeemed.
There is mercy in suffering, as Hopkins describes in his stanzas. God can win souls gently, stealing as Spring, but He also wins souls in wreckage and storm. Through suffering we are drawn to the hero of Calvary. He has opened his suffering to us so we can become sharers in it and thus rediscover it with new meaning. There is mercy in this because those who become sharers become worthy of the Kingdom.
Make mercy in all of us, out of all of us.
We will dive into this concept of becoming sharers next week. Have you seen suffering as a way to share God’s suffering? What emotions does this evoke?
Really appreciated this Stephanie as I'm going through a period of suffering. I've learned though that we almost need to be educated in our suffering, as you are helping us with here. Through beauty and words, we can learn how to understand and find meaning in the darkness. I love the idea of sharers too. Our truest friendships can be such a light through suffering, and I think those greatest connections stem out of being "sharers" as you framed it.
Thank you, Stephanie, for helping us to dive into the grace of redemptive suffering. The following lines really caught my attention:
We cannot deny that suffering is an experience of evil. As John Paul II writes, the Bible did not have a word to distinguish “suffering” from “evil.”