This is the chapel of the Mother of God ~ Joy of All Who Grieve, or Joy of All Who Sorrow. The chapel was built to house an icon with the same title and to memorialize the tragedy of 1972, Svetlogorsk, Russia, when a military plane crashed into a kindergarten school. We live on a dangerous planet; grieving is all around us. To grieve is to feel a deep sadness over loss. Grief is to suffer heart-ache - a broken heart.
But look, the chapel door is open! We are invited to enter, to approach the icon with our heart-concerns, our awareness of and sharing in the grief of others.
Look carefully at the six scenes depicted to left and right. There is an endangered ship, a whole community behind brambles or wires, (are they martyrs?), the wounded, the elderly, even a soldier with a cane (is this a wounded veteran?), an angel escorting a procession of small children wandering in wilderness, and mothers carrying lifeless infants.
Then yesterday, the tragedy of Las Vegas, and I thought of George Harrison's 1973 post Beatles song, Give Me Love (Give me peace on earth). The song is a pleading prayer, asking for divine help.
Give me love
Give me love
Give me peace on earth
Give me light
Give me life
Keep me free from birth
Give me hope
Help me cope, with this heavy load
Trying to, touch and reach you with,
heart and soul.
O my Lord
Please take hold of my hand, that
I might understand you
Won't you please
Oh won't you
Give me love
Give me love
Give me peace on earth
Give me light
Give me life
Keep me from from birth
Give me hope
Help me cope, with this heavy load
Trying to, touch and reach you with,
heart and soul.
