This icon is titled, "Mother of God of the Sign." She stands in the prayer position called orans. The Christ-Child (always depicted as the Lord) is held in an orb from which he blesses us and holds the scroll of his teaching. But it is for us to unroll the scroll, so to discover its message.
In praying with arms outstretched, like a priest at Mass, the Mother of God intercedes for us. She carries no weapon. She is not closed in on herself arrogantly, like a bully with arms folded across the chest. She is open to God and to us.
But notice, She looks off to the sides perhaps searching for humanity where it squanders its genius, devolving into the deep darkness of self-destruction, despoiling wars, waste, hatred and death. May the light radiating from her mind and that of her Son, brighten consciences.
A terrible invasive war in Europe is on our minds these days. People of good will all around the world are grieving and feeling powerless. The Mother of God looks to the sides where those left behind are hiding—the mothers with their frightened children, the elderly, the poor, the homeless. She searches with the scores of refugees who are fleeing west to hoped-for safety. She looks to the sides where the missiles and bombs have left behind destroyed apartment buildings, the ravaged scarred earth. She sees the lies of the destroying invaders.
Heaven sees our insanity. And it is insanity, isn't it—one Christian nation invading and destroying another Christian nation. Maybe we shouldn't wonder that someone overwhelmed with disappointment would give up on religion—except that hundreds of religious priests, brothers and sisters are staying behind—Diocesan clergy, Franciscans, Jesuits, Pallotines, Dominicans, opening their churches, hostels, monasteries, retreat houses to care for suffering refugees.
