Icons Will Save The World

We live in a sensual world that hunger and thirsts and aches for miracles and for supernatural phenomenon.  It is as if there is a void inside of us all. But if we live in a physical world then how can we long for the supernatural?  The two things do not seem to be complimentary but rather they seem contradictory don’t they?

Here is what I mean by that.  Senses are of the physical world.  They are tangible, measurable and understood by all who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and tongues to taste, noses to smell and bodies to touch.   On the contrary, miracles and supernatural phenomenon are not tangible but are unexplainable and most probably understood as being more spiritual than material or physical in nature.  

So what is the answer? Do we just continue to stuff our face with food and drink? Do we keep reaching out for sex and creature comforts? How are we to stop feeling so empty and unfulfilled? The answer is in the question.  We long for fulfillment of physical and spiritual because we have been created as physical and spiritual persons.  The senses may seem to be just physical aspects to our humanity but if we are body and soul then their effects must be felt within both.

St. Anthony called the sense the doorways to our souls and in fact wondered how much images affected our hearts and souls to either order them rightly or disorder them.  In fact scripture tells us in Luke 11:34 “The lamp of your body is your eye. When your eye is sound, your whole body too is filled with light; but when it is diseased, your body too will be darkness.”

In todays world we see that people are searching, longing and hungry for more than just food to satiate their taste buds or movies or music to delight their eyes and ears.  We are all searching for something beautiful.  The double rainbow guy on YouTube demonstrated an unadulterated response to seeing something profoundly beautiful and but even more than that they was given a glimpse into the spiritual reality that it “meant” something. 

Paul Evdokimov, a Russian theologian that believed all people should have an icon in their homes.  He wrote  that “if mankind aspires to beauty, it is because we are already bathed in its light; it is because mankind by nature thirsts for beauty and yearns to see the Face of God.”  I agree with him that we thirst for beauty and yearn to see the face of God.

It is my opinion that the double rainbow guy yearns to see the face of God.  In fact I have often shared with youth that very same video.  Before I have them watch the video I ask them to imagine his reaction to seeing this beautiful rainbow was the reaction of Adam when we awoke in the Garden of Eden and saw Eve for the very first time.   After they stop giggling, a quiet hush comes over the group.  I think the girls are in awe of feeling that someone could look upon their feminine goodness with such joy, such appreciation, wonder and excitement.  They boys are looking around with new eyes and thinking to themself; “Is the gift of woman something more spectacular than I have previously thought?”  When we become desensitized to the beauty around us, we must find ways in which to re-encounter it.  Icons are one example of how to do this. 

The double rainbow guy responded in a way that I could imagine a human being responding in the first encounter of being in the presence of a living icon.  Eve was “written” in the image and likeness of God.  Her body revealed something about God to Adam and in their meeting he understood his own body in an entirely new way. 

We are made in the image and likeness of God.  The difference is that we have not yet been transfigured.  I have met some people that radiate Christ, like an icon.  This is of course the goal and what ultimately attracts people to Christ, we we act as a living monstrance and radiate Christ to all those around us. 

But what is an Icon?  Simply put an Icon is sacred art that is also theological in that it literally (not figuratively) teaches the doctrine of the Catholic Faith in regard to the person or persons it is “written” about. 

Author Michel Quenot writes “ An icon is certainly not the image of a discarnate world-in the sense that it would refuse creation. Rather, it is the image of a world transformed, transfigured, rendered transparent by a spiritualization which embraces the entire cosmos.”

So our choice is to understand personhood as the corporealization of the soul or the spiritualization of the body.  Icons chose to reveal the latter.  Icons’s write this truth.  I say written because Icons are said to written and not painted.  In fact, years ago an iconographer had to get an imprimatur of his work to make sure it was free from doctrinal error lest someone would be led astray.  That is how precise an icon is. 

Iconography actually means to “write an Icon”.   Icon’s are more than just pictures or paintings; they are theology in color.  The person creating or commissioned to the do the icon was usually a monk or priest trained in the canons and rules of iconography.

There are many aspects that distinguish an icon from other kinds of sacred or even secular art.   There are also certain specifications and criteria that set icons apart.   Because an icon is a language and it speaks truth about the sacred mystery that its image contains there is no room in the image for the artist to insert his or her interpretations.  This is one of the most important things for us to remember. 

The clothing style, colors, postures, gestures, geometry of the image, in fact every aspect of the icon is held to a strict and unyielding set of rules to ensure that in the end the icon will reveal the invisible existence of the world beyond our material senses.   An icon makes visible the invisible and it is for this reason I believe it is the pictorial language of Theology of The Body. 

Leonid Ouspensky, a Russian iconographer wrote that “the task of the icon is to guide every emotion as well as our reason and all the other faculties of our nature towards Transfiguration”. 

In fact that is a major component of icons.  They reveal the transfiguration to us in a way we can receive.  It is gentle, non-judgmental and inspires us to greatness beyond our comprehension.  That’s the beauty of it, you do not have to understand it to receive from it. 

We may not be aware of why the image both seems to draw us in and repels us but in fact it is making visible the invisible reality of the journey that we are all on.  We are being called to what all Saints have done before us, Embrace Our Greatness.  We are to embrace the Holy Spirit, to allow Him to permeate, penetrate and transform our hearts and in doing so we will emanate Christ to all those around us.   If images can open our hearts and bypass intellect and reason then perhaps we should surround ourselves with images that enable our hearts to be made flesh rather than to harden them like stone.   If you don’t have an icon in our home, pray to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to bring you one.

St. Paul writes in  Romans that “all creation is eagerly waiting for the revelation of the sons of God” (Rom 8:15).  All creation means that the entire material world, the cosmos even time itself inherited our human destiny, which was tainted by original sin.  Then it must be true that as Christians we have an obligation to help liberate all of creation from sin and evil. 

Michel Quenot states in his book “The Icon” that “It is our task to spiritualize the matter we use every day to help further restore all creation to God. “(Eph 1:9-10)

He is not talking about making them idols.  Our contemplation, love and worship is reserved for God and God alone but icons permit us to contemplate beauty and incarnation which of course draws our attention to the creator God Himself.  Icons speak of the incarnation.  They make visible the invisible reality of the supernatural; they reveal God came in the flesh.  In fact most iconographers first icon that they write is that of Jesus Christ as He reaffirms to them that God was made flesh.  This is the entire premise of an icon. 

The Muslim world understood this so well that it became their reason the Muslims destroyed icons during the iconoclast period.  They viewed Icons as images of God, which was against their religion.  It should be stated that Icons really are an image of God as the Shroud of Turin ( the cloth covering Jesus Christ in the Tomb which then captured the image of his body at the time of resurrection) was the template used to create the first Icons of Jesus Christ.  Jesus say’s “whoever sees me sees the father”.  There is a great mystery in the incarnation and how Christ made visible the invisible and icons reveal this same mystery. 

Not all images make visible the invisible however a true icon can.   How can an icon make visible something that is invisible? It is because an icon is Eschatological.   This is from the word “Eschaton” and speaks of where we as human beings are headed.  We will one day be resurrected and reunited to our glorified bodies and so in a real way an icon is revealing a person that has been so permeated and penetrated by the Holy Spirit that the light of truth and God shines from within them.  We see the entire person, body ad soul radiating from an icon.  That is why there is no external light source like we see in traditional art.  The focal point of the piece also draws our attention to a bigger theological truth rather than to an object. 

Icons reveal persons not objects or bodies.  In today’s world we are moving more and more to seeing people as objects of use.  Nicholas Gogol wrote that “When souls start to break down, then faces also degenerate.”

We are no longer seeing the person in front of us.  What is beautiful about icons is that they are revealing how God has given us “personhood”.    Personhood is that dignity of being unique and unrepeatable persons.  There is no one like another and our person will exist for all eternity.  Our personhood is also male or female.  Our bodies make visible that invisible reality and are inexplicably tied to it.  Death was never God’s plan for human beings.  It was sin that disordered our human nature and so an icon reveals the transfigured person.  This is our destiny.  We are called to become new creations in Christ.

God was made flesh and in this flesh given a face.  We belong to him and his gift of self has given us freedom from being faceless.  Our identity then, is from Christ.   In a world where most peoples identities are so flawed and in need of restoration, icons draw us to the reality that no one is faceless.  If we continue to move towards a world that seeks to remove the face and the person that is revealed there, we will lose our identities.  We see this happening already in secular art and even photography.  Why is it that artists used to paint portraits so regularly while now we see animals or objects instead?   That has even translated to photography.  Many people no longer get professional portraits done.  It may be that today’s art is reflecting a world in crisis. If this is true, then perhaps icons are a language of truth, life and love that our wounded world is in desperate need of discovering.

Icons speak to us.  They speak truth, life and love.  The reveal to us the entire person yet we see them without corruption.  It is as if we are seeing the human being yet we are seeing their transfigured bodies filled with the Holy Spirit, thus the light that shines from their faces and bodies as well as by seeing their enlarged eyes or foreheads (filled with wisdom permeated by love) etc.  There can be exaggerated size to the senses for the exact reason with the exception of the ears, as the ears no longer need to listen to the sounds of this world.   

When a person views an icon and sees the person faced towards them, their frontality attracts the viewer and in fact begins to open them to the existence of an interior life.  Icons then, bestow a grace of receptivity.  Like a plow opens a field, they open the earth to receive the seed, which is the word.  Icons seem to be a means from which the Holy Spirit can flow through to all in its presence; all that is required is for someone to look upon it

There is another aspect of an icon that speaks of an eschatological aspect.  This is the fact that many times the laws of geometry, proportions or even gravity may not apply.   That is usually because icons seek to manifest the heart or the essence of the objects, animals, mountains, buildings or even people that it is capturing to better express their meaning and the meaning of life.  In fact the icon is not just seeking to express the theological truth or meaning of a person it is to incarnate the spiritual presence of that person. 

Monk Gregory, a famous Iconographer said “Only a picture that has a face looking at us and human face transfigured by divine grace has the right to be a holy icon.”  This was why he said the eagle used in the Gospel of John couldn’t be used as an icon or image of St. John but only a symbol.   Icons are not symbols.  They are doorways that we can move toward them and that the person in the icon can move toward us.  It is a spiritual movement but movement nonetheless. 

What we look at does affect us and can open or close our hearts.  Iconography is a unique form of art that not only opens our hearts; it transforms them with truth, life and love.  Once we understand the basics of what an icon is we will explore the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to discover the truth, life and love that is “written” there for the Church of the 21^st Century.  It is a message of hope, battle, of healing and of Mercy.  It’s message has been waiting for the Church of this century to discover it and we have never needed it more than we do now. 

Our lady of Guadalupe’s image on the Tilma, which I call the Icon of the New Eve and the Shroud of Turin, which I call the Icon of the New Adam, are two icons that were not “written” by men but “written” divinely.   If we can receive spiritual grace by being in the presence of icons, how much more will receive from an image not painting by man but written by the finger of God Himself?

Icon of the New Adam and New Eve: The Shroud and The Tilma

The Shroud of Turin and The Tilma with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Both images are Icons.

What is an Icon? An Icon is said to be "written" not painted because it is sacred art that has a purpose. It is a Catechism in color. Every line, every detail means and teaches something. That something is a theological truth about God and man's relationship to Him. Icons are spiritual doorways because when we contemplate them, there is an internal movement towards God incarnate, which is what Icons are, and when we move toward God, He moves towards us.

Icons are God incarnate because they are the physical manifestation of theological truth. They make visible the invisible. It was said that every man and woman are icons because we are made in the image and likeness of God, male and female He created them so to see a "persons" is to see the likeness of God. Perhaps that is why we greet one another with a gesture of reverence. Some cultures shake hands and some bow in the presence of others.

So now, in a world where the belief of the supernatural is almost lost, we are once again in need of a simple catechism. Like children, we need to be re-engaged through the beauty of pictures. "Beauty will save the world" and perhaps sacred art is the very beauty Dostoyevsky was speaking of.

(This Icon "written" by Michelle Leonille Jennes using the shroud as her guide and Divine Mercy)

So what do I think they are Icons of? Well, several things but here are four of the biggest. I believe they are Icons of these four things.

Icons of;

1. The Wedding Feast
2. The Eucharist
3. The Redemption of Man and Woman
4. The Song of Songs

1. The Wedding Feast:

TILMA; Tilma worn during marriage ceremonies, worn on the body as a covering. Bridegroom and Bride are tied together as a symbol of their union during ceremony of wedding. It also is used to carry children later, in the fold which is then tied around the waist of the person. The Tilma is worn by average people therefore revealing that ALL are called to Union and Communion. Two pieces of cloth were sewn together, in fact the center of this cloth is the exact middle of the image. It is where two have become one. Two pieces of cloth become one garment. This also brings dignity to male and female he created them as marriage is only between a man and a woman. In the image, I content the exact center of the tilma is also where the divine mercy image is in the robe. But that is another thing.

SHROUD; The Shroud is believed to be the table cloth of the last supper. This is the wedding feast of of the lamb, the table an earthly banquet but the feast is on Jesus Christ, the true food and true drink. This last supper is THE wedding feast and we are ALL called to the Wedding feast. The cloth of the shroud is two pieces sewn together. The two become one once again revealing the theme of "marriage". Also revealing the dignity of male and female he created them as marriage is between a man and a woman.

2. The Eucharist

TILMA; The image of Mary, with Christ incarnate, is God made flesh. This is a Eucharistic image. She is the tabernacle that brings us Jesus. She is the ark of the New Covenant that holds manna for us. Even the words of Juan Diego "is this the land of the flesh, the land of the corn, the land of my people" is indicative that the food of his people is linked with flesh. Fr. Miguel Guadalupe wrote in 7 Veils of OLGuadalupe, that even the image is shaped like a ear of corn, the fruit!

SHROUD; The image of Jesus, on the tablecloth is the very meal upon which we are receiving. The miraculous impression, a foreshadowing of what would continue on earth at the hands of the priest. Jesus uttered the words over the cloth upon which hours later he would be covered. He broke the bread and gave it to us as true food and true drink. Later, his body, broken would be laid upon the cloth once more, and at the moment of his consecration, of the fulfillment of scripture, he rises and in an instant his glorified body manifests the image, makes visible the invisible, onto the table cloth.

3. The Redemption of Man and Woman; The New Adam and The New Eve

TILMA; Not only do the constellation's placed precisely over her image where theological truths are conveyed, but she reveals that her immaculate conception is woman fully participating in the redemption of man. Just as Eve took of the apple and ate, so did Adam and so BOTH fell from the glory of what God had intended for them. In God's plan for the redemption of man, He could have done it by any means He saw fit, yet, He chose for the participation of mankind, and begun so through A woman. Male and female He created them, so would not God make it known that male and female they are redeemed? If we are made in his image, male and female, then we see how beautiful it is that before Christ takes His flesh from her, the merits of His sacrifice are applied to her at the very moment of her conception. OLGuadalupe appears to St. Juan Diego on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, linking this truth to the image.

Sts. Joachim and Ann, Icon handwritten by the iconographer, Nancy Lee Smith, IHM
(Copyright, Saint Ann Catholic Church and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)

The truth of Redemption "written" in this icon is that God makes all things new. Eve, of her own free will, in the garden of paradise, free from concupiscence and free from sin, she took from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, the fruit and ate it. She brought it into her body, through an act of the will and it bore death to the world.

This image reveals through Iconography, that Mary, The New Eve, free from sin (immaculately conceived) brings into her virginal garden (an icon of eden) with an act of her free will, she brings into her garden the fruit of ALL KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL and through her yes, brings life into the world. Not just spiritual life but the physical life of Jesus Christ full man and full God. "The Body makes visible the invisible".

Even the process of Iconography reveals a theological truth and Our Lady of Guadalupe is no exception. For instance, her inner robe is a rose or earth color and is understood by the Nahuatl Indians as meaning she was created from the dust of the earth. Through the lens of Iconography we can see that ALMOST ALL OF THE NAHUATL GLYPHS hold a message NEVER BEFORE considered because we have not looked upon the image through the LENS OF ICONOGRAPHY.

Through the lens of Iconography, we would first understand that the clay bole used on the image as well as the gold leafing found there have a HUGE message and symbolic meaning!

The clay symbolizes the earth from which Adam (and all humanity) was created. With
the gold leaf, you "breathe life" into the clay, as God breathed life into Adam.

Just as raw clay is fired into a handsome and durable pot, applying gold leaf "fires"
the clay bole into luminous beauty, reflecting earthly and heavenly light. So through the lens of Iconography, the message found in OLGuadalupe reaffirms that She is the New Eve and that where I see the torso of Christ in her inner robe which is done in these clay tones, IS the New Adam and the gold leafing, reveals the breath of God, the Divine Light.


SHROUD; The New Adam, free from sin, with an act of his free will allows the manifestation of our sins, the spiritual depravity, to make itself visible upon His body so as to bare it and then birth us all through his sacrifice into His Father's heavenly kingdom. The New Adam's glorified and redeemed body is what created the image onto this holy cloth.

4. The Song of Songs

"Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, and come with me.

See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land."
(Song of Songs 2:10-12)

It is as if Mary is being invited to rise and be assumed into heaven! To demonstrate the redemption of woman as well as man has been accomplished. God unties all of the knots that Adam and Even tied. He makes all things new.

Tilma; Mary is both sister and bride as well as Mother. As sister, she has provided the flesh and blood, without a biological father, thus acting as a twin might. The splitting off from one person and the creation of another. This is what took place when Adam was asleep and Eve came from His side. There was not a union of two become one flesh. So in the tilma we see Mary, offering her side, her flesh, for the Son of God to be given the hands and feet upon which to give His life for the Redemption of the world. The constellation of Gemini is over her torso. The Nahuatl indians wrote in glyphs and not letters. There way to write the most beautiful of love songs and poetry was the glyphs of flowers and flower clusters. Music, was the highest form of prayer and to dance and sing was the highest form of worship. The flower glyphs on the robe of our lady is "written" by God revealing to the indians this is a divine love song of the greatest form of love and of worship of the one true God. To love, free from concupiscence.

Even now, I have been told that Msgr. Eduardo Chavez has placed pins into the center of the flowers and tested his theory to see if a song or melody would manifest and indeed, there is. I have believed this from the moment I began to see that OLGuadalupe is an Icon of the New Eve. She is the Bride that sings her beautiful song to the Bridegroom. That song is an invitation for the world to ponder the biblical book of the bible and discern and contemplate the love poetry of our God in the Song of Songs. We are called to love our sister and our bride. Jesus himself, desires for us to be nourished at his mother's breast, as we see in many pictures of the saints that had mystical experiences of this. We are called, to be brothers and sisters by sharing in His mother's milk and in fact her protection under her mantle. She is His sister , His mother and His Bride. I have also found significant writings of Blessed Amadeus as well as Fr. Miguel Sanchez that believed this image had a message for the church as the lady of the apocalypse. He believed that she would be a great intercessor of healing and evangelization to the world. He even speculated that the flowers on the hill, which were many, held great significance to the story. I have researched these flowers and agree. There were many flowers gathered on Tepeyac hill and I believe they are all significant to the story being told through Iconography to the Church of the 21st century.

SHROUD; There has been the discovery of the flowers within the image. Not only has there been similarities to iconography, but there is even some experts that believe that there are "cartoon" shaped flowers on the image. I suspect that they also would play a song if pins were placed into the centers and that if played while the tilma song played, would create a melody and harmony. These images are receptive and the parallels and similarities are great. These are only SOME of what I have found and I am a nobody, a no one, a mother of 8. But, St. Juan Diego was also an average everyday person, and perhaps sometimes, the littlest ones are the ones that hear. I could be wrong, but I believe we are all being invited to contemplate the images of the Shroud and the Tilma in light of one another (also with Divine Mercy).

For more info on other areas I am developing, please read the other articles related to this on my blog.