This space is for you. A little chapel where you can slip in quietly and just be for a few moments. To pray, as Dom John Chapman beautifully said, “as you can, not as you cannot.” A time of pandemic changes us and you may need a new way or place to pray. Maybe you can find it here.
This icon, in your chapel, resides at St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. https://www.sinaimonastery.com/index.php/en/ The oldest continually occupied and active monastery on earth. Here is Pantocrator or Sustainer of All. Isn’t that who we need Jesus to be? The following prayer practice simply invites a steady gaze and open heart. The prayer is deeply contemplative and different to anything else you’ll be doing today! It doesn’t matter if icons haven’t been part of your prayer, it’s about Jesus and being with Him.
christ of sinai from st catherine’s monastery, Sinai https://www.sinaimonastery.com
Perhaps listening is more your thing right now. There is a prayerful, encouraging voice from a time of not one but three plagues in the mediaeval town of Norwich, England. Julian, named for the church where she was anchoress, had sixteen visions which she spent the rest of her life prayerfully reflecting on. She gives us one of the most consoling phrases from the lips of God modern humans have heard . “All shall be well. All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well“.
Click the link to play an arrangement of these words to Julian (which she believe were for us, not just her) and we’ll eat our collective hats if it doesn't have you feeling more hopeful by the end!
Written during a Summer 2011 Internship/Formation in Albuquerque at the CAC, the truth of the Julian of Norwich quote was suddenly very apparent. We say, “Thanks ConfusedSis3 for your beautiful composition”.
If you'd like to pray more with Julian we recommend Meditations with Julian of Norwich by Brendan Doyle and All Shall Be Well: A Modern-language Translation of the Revelations of Julian of Norwich by Ellyn Sanna. Trust us, these are nourishing with a capital N.
We hope your pause in the chapel was refreshing. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. +