Blessing of our sanctuary icon on Pentecost Day
June 9th, 2019
Yesterday, on Pentecost we had the blessing of our new Our Lady of the sign icon. Our former icon was damaged beyond repair after using an oil lamp to light at Compline each night for many years. We commissioned Mary Bennett of Philadelphia Pa. to write the icon for us. Mary is the blood sister of our Sr. Nettie. Mary has written other icons for us and we esteem her as a great iconographer. She proved it again with the icon of Our Lady of the Sign.
 |
| Prayers blessing the icon |
 |
| Incensing the icon |
Fr. Mark Scott, the abbot of New Melleray Abbey blessed the icon at the end of Sext. It was a beautiful and meaningful event for our community which we will have for years to come. This icon will be lighted with an electric light! Fr. Mark then joined us for dinner.
 |
| Sopranos singing
Regina Caeli Jubilee
|
The icon depicts the Theotokos during the Annunciation at the moment of
saying, "May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38).
The image of the Christ child represents him at the moment of his conception in
the womb of the Virgin. Someone
mentioned to me that the face of Christ is of an infant but the face of Mary is
not of a young teenage mother but a mature woman who has been under the cross. This icon is also sometimes called the Virgin
of the Sign, a reference to Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.”
The Holy Spirit gave birth to the Son of God descending into her womb;
and gave birth to Church of God ascending into the upper room.
The Greek letters to the right and left of Mary’s head is an abbreviation
for “Mother of God”. The three stars on
the Virgin signify that she was a Virgin before, during, and after the birth of
Christ. Her halo signifies her holiness
and the gold cuffs on her sleeves portray her as a Queen and indicate her intercession
for all people. Her mission is dedicated
to the coming of the Kingdom of the Son of God.
Inside
the mandorla, appears the King of the Universe. The Greek letters on left and
right are abbreviations for "Jesus Christ". He appears vested in divine robes of gold
that symbolize his divine glory. His
halo and the lettering within, proclaim his divinity: "I am who
am". His right hand is raised in a blessing.
Every year a few days before Christmas a few sisters go out to the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree for our refectory. We have a tree farm and lots of woods so there are many to choose from. This year we chose a Norway spruce. It is a very wide tree.
