Prayer is the artisan that shapes us when we are broken

In Pastorius Park a group called "Time for Three" played a piece that was commissioned for the city of Pittsburgh where the decline of the steel industry has caused great loss. The music conveyed this pain as well as healing imaged by two rivers (the Monongahela and the Alleghany) flowing into one (the Ohio). I thought of the steel mill and the cauldron that contains molten metal heated to 3000 degrees. One steel company has used the image of the cauldron for dialogue between union and management. The conversation could become pretty heated and because it was contained or borne by this image of the cauldron it was also creative. It can be poured into a useful shape. One of the ways we bear life when it has become over-heated is through community and contemplation. Hugh of St. Victor (1096-1141) wrote that prayer can be like an artisan that when we become broken and fragmented, melts us down or “liquefies” us. The fire that melts is the fire of divine love and we are poured into the likeness of Christ. To mix the metaphors like "Time for Three" did in their music, the melting and melding is like two rivers flowing into one.