I've saved this photograph for a special occasion. And here we are — this is the 1800th Pauca Verba post. The charming chapel in the woods bears the title, Mother of God Life-Giving Spring. The single cupola on top of the chapel signifies Christ. It is also a stylized candle — that the church burns with the love of God in Christ. I like that the fallen snow has landed on the ends of the logs to left and right, as if the building is decorated with white dots. And how wonderful is this, the door is wide open inviting us to enter — to rest, to warm up, to pray. Indeed, there are prints in the snow leading up the steps to the door. Perhaps they are ours. Imagine it! Inside and up front near the altar we would find this 17th century icon — The Life-Giving Spring.
Here the Mother of God sits in a fountain which overflows into the basin beneath her. She holds the Infant Christ. Always the Lord, he is depicted as a little man. The Holy Mother and Child have an angel escort. The aureole (body halo) shines with a bright, layered softness.
The bottom of the icon, from left to right, shows the sick-crowd who have come to this source of health and wholeness. There are frail old folks, cripples, the exhausted. Above them on the right there are royal persons wearing crowns. No one escapes troubles. On the far left we see a group of monks and mitered bishops. One bishop dips a cup into the basin. Perhaps his prayer asks for the Church to be healed of its affliction, apparent in every age. Church and State in need of healing.
These are angry days. As the racial portrait of the nation changes, not a few people are fearful of losing their privileged status. Media outlets foment fear, fevered resentment, even violence. We might enter this chapel in our imagination and intercede for our nation before the Life-Giving Spring icon. And prayers for those Christians too who have lost their Christic center — substituting a political party for their religion.
