Praying with Icons

Cushman:  Praying with Icons

Guest Writer Susan Cushman

“I have chosen icons because they are created for the sole purpose of offering access, through the gate of the visible, to the mystery of the invisible. Icons are painted to lead us into the inner room of prayer and bring us close to the heart of God.”—Henri Nouwen in Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons (Ave Maria Press, 1987).

In the 1980s, Henri Nouwen spent time at a spiritual retreat in France for four years in a row. Each year, someone placed an icon in the room where he would be staying. At the end of these visits, he wrote a book about his experiences with these icons—Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons. He gazed at these four icons for hours at a time, and, after patient, prayerful stillness on his part, they began to speak to him. As a man who loved the art of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Marc Chagall, he could have chosen any of these Western treasures for his meditations. But he chose icons.
When I became an Orthodox Christian, I embraced icons as “windows to heaven,” and have prayed before them for many years. As an iconographer, I have written many icons—some commissions, some as gifts, and some that I have kept in our home—and found the process very much like a prolonged prayer. These images of Christ, the Mother of God, and various saints and angels, draw my heart to God in a way that nothing else does. In addition to the “set” prayers I pray in the morning and evening, sometimes I pray specific prayers to saints depicted in the icons. Here is one to the Mother of God:

“Forasmuch as thou art a well-spring of tenderness, O Theotokos, make us worthy of compassion; Look upon a sinful people; Manifest thy power as ever, for hoping on thee we cry aloud unto thee: Hail! As once did Gabriel, Chief Captain of the Bodiless Powers.”

—St. John of Damascus, quoted in “Icons Will Save the World” in First Things (12/20/2007) by Susan Cushman.

Susan Cushman

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Dolphins and Going Deeper

 Dolphins and Going Deeper

“This challenging time we are living through now may actually be a spiritual gift for us. Maybe the invitation from the Spirit within us is to see this time as a precious opportunity to go deeper, to discover a rich and wondrous world within us to be explored, with the Spirit as our guide.”—Br. Geoffrey Tristram SSJE. Society of St. John the Evangelist.

We arise early to get a good view of the pageantry of the sea, waking up at the Gulf of Mexico. We are not disappointed. The ocean is almost motionless, like a sheet of blue-green glass stretching as far as we can see in every direction. Only a few dolphins have been visible since we arrived. They come out in droves this morning. Finally, a huge dolphin from the pod comes too near the water’s edge. We worry he will beach on the sand, but he knows what he is doing. My husband first thinks he is a shark, but alas, he is the majestic black creature from the deep with sonar vision that we now see up close.

Why do I so love dolphins? They live predominately beneath the surface, and then rhythmically glide above water in a circular dance movement and back down. They are the water ballet of the sea. We see them best when the waves are stilled, not choppy, as they are this early morning. 

As I read this morning’s words from Brother Tristram, I realize the dolphins may be a metaphor for the trip of our soul, our journey to the unconscious, the ground of our being as the Spirit leads us to the Christ deep within us. Our journey is easier to observe if the waters of our lives are calm and still. When the waves are too high, and the weather is stormy, the parts of ourselves showing us the path may be less visible.

We must find a sacred place each day away from the choppy waters of our lives, where the sea is stilled. We do not necessarily have to be alone. We can find this place in community with spiritual friends. There we are renewed, and then return to the sea for new adventures. We also need to return intermittently to this place, even for brief minutes, for renewal during the day. We can go deeper each time, but must always come back up to breathe.

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Turning Each Day Over to God

Turning each day over to God

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”—Romans 8:26.

In a past post about this Daily Lectionary reading from Romans1, Trent Palmer reminds us how this Romans passage has changed his prayer life. He is trying to wait for the Holy Spirit to lead him in prayer, knowing that God is doing for all of us far more than we can pray for or imagine ourselves.2 I need to hear this from The Daily Lectionary, Romans, The Book of Common Prayer, and Trent each week.

My prayers, especially for others, are a way to move out of my orbit and know that something is going on more significant than my mind, my feelings, and my world. The space I live in is only a minor piece of God’s world, perhaps like a grain of sand. But still, the God who loves us so much cares deeply about us, each grain of sand, each hair of our head, and loves us beyond what we can imagine. It is comforting to know that no matter what we pray for, the Spirit is present to guide our prayers. Sometimes I try to remember this by leaving a period of silence in prayer, followed by a few sighs of my own, hoping they will catch up with the sighs of the Holy Spirit!

Friends tell God, “I turn this day over to you for your care.” I admire them. I take more than nine words to turn over my day and those I care for and pray for. That is why intercessory prayer has become so important in my life. Of course, I aim for the shorter versions, but I am praying in long division today.

1Trent Palmer, “Morning Reflection” from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Monday, July 9, 2018.

2 “Prayer for Those We Love,” Book of Common Prayer, p. 831.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/