Fire on the Earth
“You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
The prolific Indian Catholic artist Jyoti Sahi draws on the aesthetic sensibilities of the folk art of the Subcontinent to reimagine fragments and themes from the Christian visual canon. Fire is a frequent feature of his art: the fire of Pentecost that changelessly transforms and transfigures both the message of the Gospel as it takes root in new hearts, and those hearts that it ignites in grafting them into life of the ever-burning Fire of divinity.
The subject of this busy painting is actually the burning bush, a frequent topic of visual meditation for Sahi, as Paul Neely identifies. When ancient Christians read the Bible, they often saw the burning bush as a type or figure of the Virgin Mary, who, in being a Virgin who gave birth without the corruption of her virginity, overturned the usual order of nature in a way parallel to that bush which, though burning, was not consumed. But here, the burning bush is the torch which is kindling the “fire on the earth” which Jesus pines for at the incipit of this week’s Gospel lesson. In the foreground, we see two broken idols, one of heroism, and one of fertility: though they stand proudly, a river of skulls flows past their feet. But in the Mother of God with the Christ Child at her breast, in fiery form in the heavens, we see the true image of — not only heroism and fertility — but life and humanity. The fire of God kindled upon earth is not just divinizing, but humanizing. Not only does it destroy our idols, but it impresses upon our hearts the true image of the true God, restoring our hearts to that good purpose for which God created us and the thriving he intends for us.
Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
—Jerimiah 23:29
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
Keep your Church, O Lord, by your perpetual mercy; and because without you the frailty of our nature causes us to fall, keep us from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable for our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
O God of Earth and Altar
The pairing of GK Chesterton’s serious and rousing hymn with the intense Vaughn Williams melody “KING’S LYNN” was a stroke of absolute genius, and has made “O God of Earth and Altar” an especially well-beloved early 20th C hymn. Missouri musician Jeff Wooldridge here offers a nice folksy guitar cover of the song.
Chesterton’s fervent verve pairs nicely with this week’s Gospel lesson. The people of God suffer division from the “swords of scorn,” and yet also look to be refined, through the fires of faith, to be forged afresh into a “single sword” lifted unto the Father.
