Icons

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Pray for Us

Now you are ready to pray with this icon. Remember that praying with an icon means praying with your eyes open. This is visual prayer. Take your icon of Perpetual Help and go to a quiet place. If the icon is large, place it directly before you at eye level so that you can easily see it. If the icon is small, you may decide to sit quietly with it in your hands resting in your lap. You will be gazing at the icon you are holding. 

Next make an act of reverence to the icon by standing and bowing before it, kneeling for a moment, kissing it, lighting a candle before it. Ask the Holy Spirit to be with you and give you the grace to be present to Mary and Christ as you pray before the icon. Then be seated and look at the image in silence. As you gaze at the icon, you may want to focus on the whole image or only a part. Perhaps you will be drawn to be with the Blessed Mother or with Jesus. Take time to allow yourself to see, to listen, to experience, and to respond. When you have ended, pray the Hail Mary or the Memorare, then reverence the icon and conclude your prayer.

Joseph Weiss, SJ, is a Jesuit priest of the Wisconsin Province. He is the pastor of Saint Thomas More Catholic Community and School in Saint Paul, MN.