Praying an Icon As I made plans for my annual retreat, I wanted to do something that would stretch my sense of the spiritual. As a result, I registered for a retreat at Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center located in Hiawatha, Iowa near Cedar Rapids. As we approached Prairiewoods, Sr. Maryam Gessling shared a bit of history with me. The property was purchased by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in the sixties with the view of building a new motherhouse or at least a house of formation because their congregation had grown to approximately one thousand members. Before the plans were completed, Vatican II happened and the numbers of Sister decreased until today there are about four hundred members. The property on which Prairiewoods is located is seventy acres of virgin soil, a large portion of which is woodland. They have tried to make the spirituality center earth friendly: growing most of the fresh vegetables that are served to those using the facilities, using solar energy to heat the water in the guest house (providing the hottest showers I’ve ever experienced), using the earth to insulate the buildings, and allowing wild flowers to flourish. Seventeen participants gathered Sunday evening for the opening prayer of the retreat and introductions. We each staked out a place at one of the tables that filled the room and found a prayer to be said before working on an Icon as well as brushes and a sketch of Mary of Magdala. Each day we worked on the Icon for about six hours under the able guidance of Sr. Maryam, who is a skilled Iconographer. Her works were arranged in the center of our prayer circle and magically drew us into the spirit of the retreat. We were given instructions on how to pray with an Icon as well as an historical overview through several videos. One of the primary foci during the week was to commune with the saint that we were painting. At one point I became frustrated with the outcome of my work on Mary Magdalene’s robe and finally told her that if she wanted to look nice she had better help me.
Tradition tells us that St. Luke, the writer of the third Gospel painted the first Icon of the Virgin Mary. The creation of Icons continued for several centuries until the Seventh Ecumenical Council held in 787. At that time some of the Church leaders believed the Icons should be destroyed but others felt it was more prudent to establish guidelines to govern the iconographers and the making of Icons. These rules are still adhered to today. An Icon must be two dimensional to avoid realism and idolatry. They are a stylized form of art to reflect the holy nature of the saint they depict. The eyes are large because they have seen great things; the ears are larger than normal because they have heard the command of the Lord; noses are elongated because they have smelled the fragrance of the Holy Trinity; the mouths are small because the saints need only a small amount of food to survive; and the blessing hands are overly large to depict the importance of the act of blessing. Colors also have special meaning. When I returned home, I looked across my living room, and was surprised to recognize that I had two Icons looking back at me. One was a poster of the Mother of the Disappeared and the other was a thirteenth century print of St. Clare of Assisi. I am drawn to this new form of prayer and hope to be able to write other Icons in the future. Sister Arleen Bourquin, SFP
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Franciscan Sisters of the Poor
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