Our Mother of Perpetual Help

The Original Icon is the Property of the Redemptorist Order founded by St. Alphonsis de Ligouri

Merciful Father, You have given us the picture of your Son’s Mother to venerate under the title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Grant that in all the difficulties of life, we may be asisted by the Continuous Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Prayer of Gazing

The Prayer of Gazing

An Ancient Tradition Renewed

In the last few decades there has been a renewed interest in devotions to Our Mother. A prominent aspect of this renewal has been the growing attraction to Traditional Forms of Prayer and Devotion associated with Icons.

The Redemptorists are at the forefront of this revival, instructing congregations worldwide in such devotions, including through what has been called the prayer of gazing.

This course draws its inspiration from the works of Brother Dan Korn, C.Ss.R. For the past 20 years Brother Korn has preached missions on the Icon throughout North America. In 2015, in an effort to make these teachings available to a wider audience, Brother Korn published Embracing the Icon of Love. The course is in particular an elaboration on Part Three of Brorther Korn’s book in which he discusses various prayers and exercises including the prayer of gazing.

We also owe a depth of gratitude to Fr. Gregory Mayers, C.Ss.R. who has worked tirelessly to restore the ancient Catholic tradition of Contemplative Prayer.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, was a master of practical, affective spirituality. He is widely credited with having revived the practice of prayer and the use of meditation by ordinary Catholics in the 18^th Century.

It is in the spirit of St. Alphonsus that we offer you here some of the fruits of our study of the Icon. We hope as well that you will find this course to be infused with our love and devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. We pray that this course will be a springboard for your deepening devotion to Our Mother. May you always open your heart to her. Through her, all things are possible!

Course Structure

The course consists of 5 sessions of instruction on the prayer of gazing before the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. The first 3 Sessions are primarily devoted to the actual practice necessary to quiet the mind and develop a receptive spirit for prayer.

The last two days deal with the symbolism of the Icon and its significance as a vehicle for prayer and contemplation. Each day begins with an Introduction to the lesson at hand, followed by Assessment Questions that will orient you to the day’s materials. The heart of each lesson is the Reflection section which follows. It serves as an in-depth guide to the day’s primary topic. Finally, there is a Practice section that offers progressive instructions on the prayer of gazing.

We estimate that the first three sections of each lesson could take as little as 15 minutes. We encourage you to then dedicate 20 minutes daily to the quiet prayer of the Practice section.

This course is intended as a practical guide for developing a prayer practice of gazing on the Icon. It’s important to give this process time to develop and integrate into your overall prayer life. The process of finding and fostering a space and time of quiet in your day in itself will take strong intention and persistent effort.

For this reason we encourage you to do the course in a slow and deliberate manner.

We suggest that you repeat each lesson of the course two or three times before moving on to the next day’s lesson. Alternatively you might prefer to go through the 5 lessons of the course and then repeat them two or three times over a period of three weeks.

The goal of this course if to create the foundation for a regular or daily routine of devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help through the prayer of gazing. We hope you will find these lessons to be a useful tool for that purpose.

Finally, if you do not already have one, we encourage you to obtain a medium-sized or large print of the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help that you can gaze on during this course. There are a number of online sites that sell prints of the Icon. You might also find through Google Images an image of the Icon that you can print off on a home printer.

Features of the Icon

The Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Represents the Christian Mystery of Redemption

Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a Byzantine Icon – believed to have its origin during the 13th – 15th Century. The Icon in known for being Miraculous. Over the centuries countless healings and special graces have been attributed to it, so much so that the Image has been honored and venerated by many Popes.

The Icon is painted on wood and measures 21 inches in height by 16.3 inches wide, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary under Her Title “Mother of God,” holding the Child Jesus.

***************

1: Greek Characters: Largest and near the top of the icon, we see the Greek letters ΜΡ θΥ = Mother of God; over the angel on the right is inscribed O AP M = the Archangel Michael; over the angel on the left is O AP I O = the Archangel Gabriel

2: Mary’s Star: Reminds us she is the DAWN announcing the coming of Jesus. It symbolizes the role of Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church. The star indicates that she is the one who will lead us to Christ.

3: Mary’s Eyes: Mary’s eyes are filled with compassion and love, are fixed on us, her children on earth. She is our source of constant comfort and hope. Her eyes draw all who look into her face toward the mystery of Redemption which she holds in her arms.

4: Archangel Michael: He is holding a lance, a pole with a sponge, and a vessel of vinegar. These prefigure scenes from Jesus’ crucifixion. The Archangel’s veiled hands inculcate reverence for holy things.

5: Archangel Gabriel: Gabriel is holding a cross and nails, the very instruments of the coming death that has driven the boy Jesus to His mother’s dafe embrace. His veiled hands inculcate reverence for holy things.

6: Mary’s Cloak: The colors of Mary’s cloak symbolize both her virginity (red) and motherhood (blue). These are also the colors of royalty.

7: Mary’s Hands & Arms: Mary’s hands and arms hold Jesus in a manner that indicates she is presenting Him to us. Her flat pointing right hand points directly into the heart of the Christ Child, up to the Cross the angel is holding. Her left hand position, along with the view of the right hand, is one of presenting the Child to those who stand before the icon as she says: “Receive the Word of God.”

8: The Face of Jesus: The Christ Child looks out beyond the instruments of His passion to our future redemption. While Jesus’ body is that of a child, His face is more mature, symbolizing wisdom beyond His years.

9: Jesus’ Hands: The joining of his hands with his mother’s signify the perfect conformity of Mary’s will with Her Son’s, and that together with Him, she participated in the work of the Redemption.

10: Jesus’ Clothes: His green tunic symbolizes His humanity and creation. The red sash around His waist symbolizes the Blood of Christ shed for our salvation. The gold cloak is symbolic of the Resurrection. Together, the colors of the garments are a statement of the Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.

11. Mary’s Face & Mouth: The smallness of her mouth teaches us to be silent before the presence of God.

12. Jesus’ Feet & Sandals: The falling sandal informs us that He became human like us in all things but sin. Showing his heel is from the promise of God in the book of Genesis 3:15.: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

13. The Gold Background: The gold background represents heaven and the divine light of the Resurrection shining through the garments of Jesus and Mary entering into the one praying before the image. The original picture is painted on wood, in colors of the composition designated by artists as tempera.