Here is the Chapel of The Mother of God ~ Life-Giving Spring, hidden away in the Starorusskiy forest of Russia. Look, the doors are open! Notice the single cupola on the top of the chapel. It is designed to shed snow, but all the more it is a stylized candle, expressing that this little house is warmed and enlightened by hearts at prayer.
Here is the icon we would encounter inside. The Theotokos (Mother of God) and her Divine Child sit in a kind of mountainous fountain. Water flows and pools up where the elderly, the weak and the sick come in their vulnerability and need—the anxious mother with her infant; the old man with his pitcher; the fragile woman who seems to crawl to the pool, leaning on its edge; the mother escorting her blind boy; a young man with diseased skin walking on hand crutches.
And here is the prayer Christians have prayed to the Mother of God in times of need since the 3rd century! It is the oldest prayer in existence dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In Latin it is titled: Sub tuum praesidium. The word praesidium is a powerful word— referring to the strong assistance given to young troops going off in times of war. Fighting a devastating disease, the world needs this prayer today, doesn't it? In our imagination, we might enter the chapel where we can stand before the icon, to pray deeply from the heart.
Beneath your compassion
we take refuge, O Mother of God,
do not despise our petitions in time of trouble
but rescue us from dangers,
only pure, only blessed one.
