teresa, one thing I am appreciating more and more is the way we all learn and discover together. It’s truly a pleasure to share things – I receive so much from all of you!

C.O., I think I mentioned to you before that my maternal grandparents had this Icon over their bed for decades, and after they passed away, my aunt, who had taken care of them for years, decided to sell the house and move into a small apartment. Anyway, she asked us all to take anything we wanted, so I asked for this Icon, because I had loved it since my childhood. It hangs in our bedroom now.

Beth, I’m very sorry you’re going through a dark time. If it’s anything you’d like to talk about, we’ve got a wonderful little group of good listeners here, or you can email me (I mean that). I’m happy the Icon is bringing you some comfort and light. I think I will do one more short post on Icons to wrap things up a bit. God bless.

But truly, all the thanks for this go to the Redemptorists who wrote the book I mentioned in my post on the Feastday of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Like you, Ann, I have been personally blessed to have had this particular icon in my life for decades, but until I read that little book (which contains much, much more than I could possibly post here), I was not aware of the significance of its elements either. In fact, until fairly recently, I was not even aware that meditating upon an icon was a method of being drawn into contemplation (I believe I experienced this for years gazing at that icon, but I didn’t know anything about it.)

G, what a stunning icon and explanation of it.. I’m going to print that out and go very slowly through it all. Thank you so much on behalf of all who aren’t familiar with praying with icons. Mary’s eyes, here, are exquisite, and something tells me yours are very much like them.