Meditation 81
The Crown of Life
Icons are repeatedly
called windows or gates to heaven. Iconography or the art of writing
icons is a sacred art and true iconographers gets a vocation just
as priests and religious in the orders. Before an iconographer begins
to “write” he prepares himself just as a good priest before celebrating
the mass with long and deep prayer and contemplation. Thus the
iconographer is able to enkindle life in the icon, he has something
important to tell. He gives us an account from his travels in the land
of truth, beauty, light and love, the fatherland of the white nation of
everlasting joy and of the saints in the Victorious Church in heaven
where Jesus, Mary and Joseph live in the fathom of the Holy Trinity in
the same love as saturated the atmosphere in their humble home in
Nazareth.
By his spiritual devotion the iconographer is able to discern something of the wonders God’s power works continuously within His creation with his spiritual intellect. Thus he expresses the effects of this power with the strokes of his brush. It is not often that our Lord revealed the power of His glory on earth. Although we see some incidents of this in the Gospels where account is given of the effects of such a revelation of His power when Judas came with the guards to arrest Him, When Jesus said to them,
We see again the same thing repeat itself on the Mount of the Olives,
The unknown iconographer of the Icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help has obviously perceived this same power and he expresses the effects of this power on the crown of the blessed Virgin. We see that three rows of precious stones decorate the crown. The lowest one are red rubies nine in number. They refers to the gifts of infused love as it is also revealed by the nine jewels and the nine infused virtues. We see also nine other precious stones in the uppermost row. They are lucid, perhaps diamonds. They show us how the infused virtues become like gates into the Celestial City. Altogether these precious stones number 18 or are as many as the almond blossoms on the lamp stand. They are gifts of the great Seven days sun. The stones in the middle row are eight in number. They refer to the eight Beatitudes which were enkindled in the dark nights in the heart of the bride. THIS CROWN IS A TOKEN OF VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH!
The word dynameos or power appears approximately fifty times in the letters of St. Paul and is closely related to the Eternal birth of the Word and thus also to the Blessed Virgin, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow” (Lk 1. 35). As closely as this power is related to the mystery of the Blessed Virgin it is not strange at all that it has been revealed in an authentic way in one of her places of apparition, that is, in Medjugorje. It is also here where this power has actually been measured by the methods of modern sciences for the first time in human history. At first the Blessed Virgin was rather hesitant regarding this scientifically approach but the scientists managed through the help of the seers to convince her as to the value of such researches. The results have been published in Etudes medicales et scientifiques sur les apparitions de Medjugorje [1] where Professor Henry Joyeux and Abbé René Laurentin have published the results of these experiments.
It was Professor Boguslav Lipinski from the University of Boston who measured the supercharged energy field in the chapel of the St. Jacob's church in Medjugorje from 15th to 19th March 1985. [2] The instrument which Lipinski used was originally designed to measure ionic radiation in nuclear power stations, so called electroscope. He used an instrument Model BT 400 Biothech produced in Canada. The unity of measure is mR/Hr or millirad per hour on a logarithmical scale from 0 to 1 million mR/Hr. When Professor Lipinski made his measurements at 6 pm the 16th of March, just before the apparition began, the energy field in the chapel was measured as much as 100,000 mR/Hr, an energy drastically above the security limits of radiation for the human body which scientist estimate as 0, 1 rad daily.
At 11 o'clock in the morning all measurements indicated a normal level of radiation. Lipinski himself could not explain this energy otherwise than as the effects of prayer, worship and fasting! He maintained also that a nuclear power was out of the question in this context as all present had immediately died. Thus he named this energy simply SE (spiritual energy). This supercharged energy is simply far more than any human being is able to sustain by its own means. Professor Lipinski measured the effects of this energy field as far as 25 km from the center of its origin or as far as possible as the communist regime was still in power at that time in former Yugoslavia and suspicious and prevented further investigation. This supercharged energy field recalls involuntary to mind the saying of Christ, that nothing is impossible for God His Father,
Or by others words: a true Christian prayer becomes the thoroughfare of the same power which raised Christ up from the dead: the power of God His father. [see Med. 34]
In order to shed still further light on this fact it is interesting to study Christian prayer as “tuning in” on new frequency or attaining a new cycle of brain waves. This falls under the heading of religious psychology. It was the German Hans Berger who was first to show the connection between certain cycles of brain waves and various levels of consciousness. He classified the brain waves into four sets referring to four levels of consciousness which sheds light upon the fact, that it is not at all uncommon to people in general to approach such levels,
We can call the dynamic force active in true Christian contemplation “spannungskraft.” When God touches the conscious level of the soul she is involuntarily drawn to a deeper level of consciousness in the core of her being. This is the movement in the contemplative prayer: God's transcendence draws the soul to His real presence in the center point of her being or her essence, the imago Dei or Royal Image within (Gn 1. 26). The jewels of the Celestial City are thus as a golden chain down to this abysmal depth of the Trinitarian mystery. Thus God fulfills His intentional plan: “I Will Draw All to Myself” (Jn 12. 32), all souls who give heeds to His commandments!
The scientists had an unique opportunity to perform numerous experiments in Medjugorje. Professor Henry Joyeux from the University of Montpelier in France took electroencephalograms of the seers from March to December 1984. The electro- encephalograms showed normal and regular brain waves cycles. In advance it was expected that the alpha and theta waves would be predominant in ecstasy, but the results were unsuspected. The apparition lasted for some 62 seconds on the 10th of July and the scientists began their measurements one minute before the apparition and continued their work one minute after its close. The result did not point to group hypnotism or a dreamlike state, rather than other measurements made at Medjugorje. Before the suspension of the seers began the alpha waves were dominant (10-11 cps) but in their wake appeared fast beta waves (65 cps) which indicates a state of sobriety and watchfulness. Slow alpha waves reappeared again in the wake and the same phase was continuously at work in all the measurements. Before the apparition the 6th of October the alpha waves were normal (10-11 cps) but beta waves (20 cps) came in their wake and became very active (65 cps) and at last the alpha waves appeared again.
The experiment in other fields were also instructive. Electro-oculograms were taken which indicated clearly that the movements of the seers' eyes stopped exactly at the moment when the apparition began. Electrocardiograms indicated clearly an increase of the heartbeats up to as much as 90 beats per minute.
While the apparitions lasted the sense perception of the seers regarding bodily incitements seemed to be immune and they showed no responses against heath or prickles which indicates that the persons in question dwells on a deeper level of consciousness than the normal one. The value of the experiments in Medjugorje sustain the statements of contemplatives that other levels of consciousness are as authentic as the “normal” ones! They simply sustain the revelation of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle that the soul meets her Creator in accordance with His promise in the Old Covenant in the revelation of His glory above the mercy seat,
The “spannungskraft” or dynamic power sheds also light on a true Christian prayer as an oscillation between God's transcendence and immanence in the essence of the human being in the continuous prayer. The continuous prayer was practiced from the times of the Primeval Church and this methodology was based on St. Paul's words in his first letter to the Thessalonians,
St. Augustine was infatuated by the desert fathers who lived among the wild animals in the desert and respected the lions as friends like St. Francis brother wolf many centuries later. St. Augustine wrote a letter to the daughter of the Roman senator Propa – but she was one of the best educated women in whole of the Roman Empire in her times – and gave her brief account of the prayer life of the desert fathers. In this letter he wrote following words which later became famous, “They say that the brothers in Egypt use very short supplications which they so to say shoot aloft (quodammado iaculatas).” These words of St. Augustine were the reason why the Church began to speak of these supplications as shoot prayer (oraison jaculatioire). Perhaps no one has shed as good a light on the core of this practice as Teresa of Avila,
By these words she “hit the nail on the head” and exposed the prayer life as a kind of a shooting match between the soul and her Creator. This is God's Ludis Amoris or “game of love.” Each time when the Holy Spirit touches the soul its love flames up. The iconographer expresses the fruits of such an encounter on the Crown of Life on the head of the Blessed Virgin. That is the reason why John of the Cross called the jewels of the Celestial City: THE JEWELS OF BETROTHAL. [4]
The continuous prayer is also precious in times of spiritual dryness as well as an inseparable part of the soul's armory in its spiritual warfare against the enemies of her salvation: the demons. It is and has been the distinct mark of all saints in the Western and Eastern Church from earliest of times,
By his spiritual devotion the iconographer is able to discern something of the wonders God’s power works continuously within His creation with his spiritual intellect. Thus he expresses the effects of this power with the strokes of his brush. It is not often that our Lord revealed the power of His glory on earth. Although we see some incidents of this in the Gospels where account is given of the effects of such a revelation of His power when Judas came with the guards to arrest Him, When Jesus said to them,
'I am he' THEY MOVED
BACK AND FELL TO THE GROUND (Jn 18. 6).
We see again the same thing repeat itself on the Mount of the Olives,
After six days, Jesus
took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, and brought them up
into a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before them.
His face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as the
light” . . . and when the disciples heard the voice THEY FELL ON THEIR
FACES, AND WERE AFRAID” (Mt 17. 1-6). They were greatly disturbed just
as the disciple of Seraphim of Sarov when he saw his face shine like
the sun in the wood (Med. 22, n. 2).
The unknown iconographer of the Icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help has obviously perceived this same power and he expresses the effects of this power on the crown of the blessed Virgin. We see that three rows of precious stones decorate the crown. The lowest one are red rubies nine in number. They refers to the gifts of infused love as it is also revealed by the nine jewels and the nine infused virtues. We see also nine other precious stones in the uppermost row. They are lucid, perhaps diamonds. They show us how the infused virtues become like gates into the Celestial City. Altogether these precious stones number 18 or are as many as the almond blossoms on the lamp stand. They are gifts of the great Seven days sun. The stones in the middle row are eight in number. They refer to the eight Beatitudes which were enkindled in the dark nights in the heart of the bride. THIS CROWN IS A TOKEN OF VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH!
The word dynameos or power appears approximately fifty times in the letters of St. Paul and is closely related to the Eternal birth of the Word and thus also to the Blessed Virgin, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow” (Lk 1. 35). As closely as this power is related to the mystery of the Blessed Virgin it is not strange at all that it has been revealed in an authentic way in one of her places of apparition, that is, in Medjugorje. It is also here where this power has actually been measured by the methods of modern sciences for the first time in human history. At first the Blessed Virgin was rather hesitant regarding this scientifically approach but the scientists managed through the help of the seers to convince her as to the value of such researches. The results have been published in Etudes medicales et scientifiques sur les apparitions de Medjugorje [1] where Professor Henry Joyeux and Abbé René Laurentin have published the results of these experiments.
It was Professor Boguslav Lipinski from the University of Boston who measured the supercharged energy field in the chapel of the St. Jacob's church in Medjugorje from 15th to 19th March 1985. [2] The instrument which Lipinski used was originally designed to measure ionic radiation in nuclear power stations, so called electroscope. He used an instrument Model BT 400 Biothech produced in Canada. The unity of measure is mR/Hr or millirad per hour on a logarithmical scale from 0 to 1 million mR/Hr. When Professor Lipinski made his measurements at 6 pm the 16th of March, just before the apparition began, the energy field in the chapel was measured as much as 100,000 mR/Hr, an energy drastically above the security limits of radiation for the human body which scientist estimate as 0, 1 rad daily.
At 11 o'clock in the morning all measurements indicated a normal level of radiation. Lipinski himself could not explain this energy otherwise than as the effects of prayer, worship and fasting! He maintained also that a nuclear power was out of the question in this context as all present had immediately died. Thus he named this energy simply SE (spiritual energy). This supercharged energy is simply far more than any human being is able to sustain by its own means. Professor Lipinski measured the effects of this energy field as far as 25 km from the center of its origin or as far as possible as the communist regime was still in power at that time in former Yugoslavia and suspicious and prevented further investigation. This supercharged energy field recalls involuntary to mind the saying of Christ, that nothing is impossible for God His Father,
In truth I tell you,
if your faith is the size of a mustard seed you will say to this
mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; nothing will be
impossible for you (Mt 17. 20).
Or by others words: a true Christian prayer becomes the thoroughfare of the same power which raised Christ up from the dead: the power of God His father. [see Med. 34]
In order to shed still further light on this fact it is interesting to study Christian prayer as “tuning in” on new frequency or attaining a new cycle of brain waves. This falls under the heading of religious psychology. It was the German Hans Berger who was first to show the connection between certain cycles of brain waves and various levels of consciousness. He classified the brain waves into four sets referring to four levels of consciousness which sheds light upon the fact, that it is not at all uncommon to people in general to approach such levels,
Beta waves (more than 13 cps
(cycles per second). Active thought, state characterized by
watchfulness, open eyes and attention which is directed to something
outside the self itself.
Alpha waves (8-12 cps). State of relaxation where the eyes are probably open and the attention is directed to the self itself.
Theta waves (4-7 cps). Dreamlike state almost as hypnotism.
Delta waves (4 cps or less). Deep sleep. The person in question is awake without realizing this fact.
Alpha waves (8-12 cps). State of relaxation where the eyes are probably open and the attention is directed to the self itself.
Theta waves (4-7 cps). Dreamlike state almost as hypnotism.
Delta waves (4 cps or less). Deep sleep. The person in question is awake without realizing this fact.
We can call the dynamic force active in true Christian contemplation “spannungskraft.” When God touches the conscious level of the soul she is involuntarily drawn to a deeper level of consciousness in the core of her being. This is the movement in the contemplative prayer: God's transcendence draws the soul to His real presence in the center point of her being or her essence, the imago Dei or Royal Image within (Gn 1. 26). The jewels of the Celestial City are thus as a golden chain down to this abysmal depth of the Trinitarian mystery. Thus God fulfills His intentional plan: “I Will Draw All to Myself” (Jn 12. 32), all souls who give heeds to His commandments!
The scientists had an unique opportunity to perform numerous experiments in Medjugorje. Professor Henry Joyeux from the University of Montpelier in France took electroencephalograms of the seers from March to December 1984. The electro- encephalograms showed normal and regular brain waves cycles. In advance it was expected that the alpha and theta waves would be predominant in ecstasy, but the results were unsuspected. The apparition lasted for some 62 seconds on the 10th of July and the scientists began their measurements one minute before the apparition and continued their work one minute after its close. The result did not point to group hypnotism or a dreamlike state, rather than other measurements made at Medjugorje. Before the suspension of the seers began the alpha waves were dominant (10-11 cps) but in their wake appeared fast beta waves (65 cps) which indicates a state of sobriety and watchfulness. Slow alpha waves reappeared again in the wake and the same phase was continuously at work in all the measurements. Before the apparition the 6th of October the alpha waves were normal (10-11 cps) but beta waves (20 cps) came in their wake and became very active (65 cps) and at last the alpha waves appeared again.
The experiment in other fields were also instructive. Electro-oculograms were taken which indicated clearly that the movements of the seers' eyes stopped exactly at the moment when the apparition began. Electrocardiograms indicated clearly an increase of the heartbeats up to as much as 90 beats per minute.
While the apparitions lasted the sense perception of the seers regarding bodily incitements seemed to be immune and they showed no responses against heath or prickles which indicates that the persons in question dwells on a deeper level of consciousness than the normal one. The value of the experiments in Medjugorje sustain the statements of contemplatives that other levels of consciousness are as authentic as the “normal” ones! They simply sustain the revelation of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle that the soul meets her Creator in accordance with His promise in the Old Covenant in the revelation of His glory above the mercy seat,
There I shall come to
meet you; from above the mercy seat, from between the two winged
creature which are on the ark of the Testimony, I shall give you all
orders for the Israelites (Ex 25. 22).
The “spannungskraft” or dynamic power sheds also light on a true Christian prayer as an oscillation between God's transcendence and immanence in the essence of the human being in the continuous prayer. The continuous prayer was practiced from the times of the Primeval Church and this methodology was based on St. Paul's words in his first letter to the Thessalonians,
Always be joyful;
pray constantly, and for all things give thanks; this is the will
of God for you in Jesus Christ . . . May the God of peace make you
perfect and holy; and may your spirit, soul and body be kept blameless
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who has called you is
trustworthy and will carry it out (1 Th 5. 17-24).
St. Augustine was infatuated by the desert fathers who lived among the wild animals in the desert and respected the lions as friends like St. Francis brother wolf many centuries later. St. Augustine wrote a letter to the daughter of the Roman senator Propa – but she was one of the best educated women in whole of the Roman Empire in her times – and gave her brief account of the prayer life of the desert fathers. In this letter he wrote following words which later became famous, “They say that the brothers in Egypt use very short supplications which they so to say shoot aloft (quodammado iaculatas).” These words of St. Augustine were the reason why the Church began to speak of these supplications as shoot prayer (oraison jaculatioire). Perhaps no one has shed as good a light on the core of this practice as Teresa of Avila,
I was wondering or
not I'm speaking foolishly. But it seems to me that love is like an
arrow sent forth by the will. If it travels with all the force that the
will has, freed from earthly things, and directed to God alone, it
truly must wound His Majesty. Thus, fixed in God Himself, who is love,
it is brought back from there with the greatest gain, as I shall say. [3]
By these words she “hit the nail on the head” and exposed the prayer life as a kind of a shooting match between the soul and her Creator. This is God's Ludis Amoris or “game of love.” Each time when the Holy Spirit touches the soul its love flames up. The iconographer expresses the fruits of such an encounter on the Crown of Life on the head of the Blessed Virgin. That is the reason why John of the Cross called the jewels of the Celestial City: THE JEWELS OF BETROTHAL. [4]
The continuous prayer is also precious in times of spiritual dryness as well as an inseparable part of the soul's armory in its spiritual warfare against the enemies of her salvation: the demons. It is and has been the distinct mark of all saints in the Western and Eastern Church from earliest of times,
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Tabernacle of the Holy Spirit!
Be merciful to us the sinners!
Be merciful to us the sinners!
[1]. Edition de O.E.I.L., Paris
1985.
[2]. Etudes medicales et scientifiques sur les apparitions de Medjugorje, p. 126.
[3]. Meditations on the Song of Songs 6, 5.
[4]. Spiritual Canticle, 19. 6.
[2]. Etudes medicales et scientifiques sur les apparitions de Medjugorje, p. 126.
[3]. Meditations on the Song of Songs 6, 5.
[4]. Spiritual Canticle, 19. 6.
