Savio Rodrigues SJ

The icons of the Eastern Church with their symbolic language based on images, speak very powerfully. Icons are actually written rather then painted. They have long been understood as a visual manifestation of the word of God or as a symbolic actualisation of the gospel. Everything that presents itself to us for our consideration is a kind of text.

In adopting the traditional method of Lectio Divina for praying with the icons, reading refers to a contemplative engagement with the icon itself as the text. Instead of mulling over the written texts in the traditional way, one reads the imagery of the icon, engaging with its message and iconographic signs, trying to learn and speak the language of the mysteries and of prayer. In Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, we see the Word through the medium of the flesh of Jesus and its extension in the icon. The essential texts here are the icons themselves.

Meditation in this sense then, means developing a visual receptivity which allows the imagery of the icons to enter deeply into the soul so as to awaken a spiritual response to the mysteries they meditate. In this contemplative process, connections are opened up and consciousness is widened. The icons make us look into the historical, cultural, social, liturgical and spiritual imagery they project.

First the cultural origins of the icon and the faith they depict cannot be overlooked. The second is the liturgical dimension. Even the church building is a kind of icon, with the nave symbolising earth, the altar area the heaven and the dome the highest heavens. This provides a setting for the liturgy in which the whole cosmos in its inter-relationship are represented. Icons are most at home amidst the rituals wherein the language of sacred signs binds the community in common worship.

The third aspect is the opening the icon makes beyond itself through its references to God and the transcendent mysteries it mediates, by means of paint and wood. It is a sacramental object leading the one who contemplates it into communion with the Divine. As an extension of the incarnation, the icon mediates a personal communion with the Divine. This confers upon the icon an elevating function, enabling it to lift us up into the higher state of the mystical.

Applying this method of Lectio Divina to praying with icons, the ultimate aim is to enkindle the flame of contemplative prayer, to allow the heart to be carried out of itself in a transcendent contact with God through the sacramental power of the icons.

1. The lectio entails therefore a contemplative reading of the icon.

2. The meditatio is the active process of absorbing the imagery of the icon.

3. The above two activities in turn give birth to oratio, or prayer. This prayer shoots up out of the heart, in short inspired phrases which are suggested by the texts that accompany the icon. This in the traditional Lectio Divina, is a normal sequence.

Prayer, when it ignites in the heart, will produce words and sentiments unique to each person who prays.

There can also be a silent communion with God. This is a state of prayer, a gift to those who abandon themselves completely in faith. Learning the language of prayer, of relationship with God, means passing from the idea of God as an intellectual concept, to an experience of a presence in the darkness of faith.

Through the symbolism of the icons, access is gained to the absolute God. Through the sense of sight one goes to the One who is beyond vision.

The Prayer Method on this page has been provided with permission from the book Pray: How? by Savio Rodrigues SJ