Even if the "vocation of art consists in expressing goodness, truth, and love,"(26) still human suffering, too, has always been a theme in artistic presentation. Evil, guilt, the recognition of human frailty, and the need for salvation are problems which artists rightly pose and seek to express in their works.
"Without the reality of evil the reality of the good, of redemption, grace, and salvation cannot be comprehended either. This is not an excuse for evil but an indication of its place....
When the reality of evil is shown, according to the inner logic of art, presenting what is terrible as terrible, the intention is to unsettle people. Thus the presentation does not aim at leaving it with the evil; rather it aims at things not becoming worse, but different, i.e., better."(27)
The "mirror of the negative" must not become an end in itself, for people to find pleasure in evil and joy in destruction; rather, it must direct us to the hope which is given us in Christ.
"To my mind the problem does not consist in art expressing the dark sides of life, but in this darkness being penetrated by so little of the light of forgiveness, mercy, and grace."(28)
The artist is called to make tangible in his works the central point of the Christian faith, the theme of guilt and atonement, human suffering and guilt, which hopes for grace and forgiveness and thus ends in redemption.
"Suffering is the way of salvation, of redemption: It allows us to participate in the passion of Christ, which was a transition to the resurrection. Believing artists cannot help expressing this thought in their art. Nowadays many people stress human misery and primarily present the sufferings of Christ; but for believing artists the passion cannot merely be the silence of God or the inhumane hard-heartedness of man. The passion is also compassion and hope."(29)