The Virgin and Child Icon written by Sr. Linda Schoenborn OP in 2016 appears on our Congregation Christmas card this year.
Learning icon-writing fulfilled a longtime dream for Sr. Linda who believes that iconography shows us a glimpse of heaven through God’s hand. In 2018, Sr. Linda participated in an icon writing workshop. She shares her reflections on the icon she created: Hesychia.
Divine Peace, Icon Writing with Sr. Linda Schoenborn
Linda Schoenborn, OP sits with the icon Hesychia, one of her favorite icons in her room at Marywood.
Hesychia is Greek for the practice of withdrawing from the external world, focusing on inward stillness, contemplation, and prayer.
“The language of God is silence; everything else is translation,” said St. John of the Cross. “Hesychia exemplifies contemplative prayer in its highest form,” says Sister Linda.
Her hands are crossed, her palms held up and open wide. The expression on her face is one of holy contemplation. In the world of icons, Hesychia is the Angel of the Countenance of God or the Angel of Blessed Silence.
“She is in a state of constant contemplation of God, and when I gaze upon her I engage in her vision of the Divine. And she gazes back upon me, inviting me to divine peace.”
Sr. Linda Schoenborn is creating Hesychia during an icon writing workshop.