Patricia Loring

I have occasionally found the experience of sitting before an icon to be startlingly similar to the experience of intentionally opening myself before God in prayer and worship. If the attention stays with the visual object, that object may become an idol: that which intervenes in the place of God. As something that opens, leads or guides to God (another meaning for icon in the early church), it can be a legitimate starting point for prayer.

It is part of our formation in a listening spirituality to find which practices, at this time in our lives, are most supportive of our inward listening for the word, the guidance, the challenge, the reproof, the love – or simply intimations – of God’s presence. These can take many outward forms. It is a matter of some listening and discernment to find those which are right for us at any given moment.