The Shuiskaya icon of the Mother of God was created as a place of intercession during the plague of 1654 in Shuia, Russia. But while the plague abated, the wonders continued. Sadly, the original icon disappeared in 1922. Healing science didn't exist in the mid 17th century the way it does for us in the 21st. So the new religious/spiritual question is: What plagues us today?
In his recent Holy Week homilies Pope Francis spoke of another kind of sickness which afflicts us: our divisions and wars. our love of power, appearances and money, our hatreds, selfishness, pride, greed, revenge and idolatry. He often speaks of the reckless destruction of our planet-home: the oceans choked with plastic, the ground ripped open for its minerals, the extinctions of plant and animal life. And that we have lost our sense of shame.
Notice that while the icon was painted during a time of deadly sickness, its painted message is not gloomy. The Mother of God doesn't frown, but smiles maternally. She holds the Divine Child in her right arm and his foot with her left. He sits in her embrace playing with his right foot. Her maphorian (mantle) is ample - large enough to enfold our weary world.
Where we might expect sorrow (or even punishment if the painter had been able to anticipate the sickness of our own time) there is only light, bright-joy and solidarity, as the Mother and Child interface with us. We might even sense the playfulness of God who invites us to change.
If the Child's scroll were un-rolled, maybe the message would read: "Save your planet. Stop hating each other. Stop all the killing."
