Iconic Participation is the term used to describe the tendency of the intensely spiritual to infuse itself into daily life. Thus, we see the images of the Lady of Gaudalupe flow into society, and it is the images, the Icons, that are the footprints of the divine.
When I used to set up the chairs for the people coming to see The Virgin appearances at Medjugorje, I was aware of the iconic participation when there was an appearance. I never saw anything, because I was being paid to work, not to stand around, idly staring, possibly being cured.
When I was a hermit at Chimayo, the icons of Guadalupe pervaded everything, and blessings flowed through the water courses, the acequias, like sweet water.
Those, my friends, were the days.
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I have a priest friend who says it all, as far as I'm concerned, about Marian apparitions. And I quote: "I'll be a lot more inclined to believe in them when she decides to appear to a non-Catholic."
Days that resonate in the present moment, perhaps.
Sage, she will not appear to a non-Catholic. That is the point - or one of the points - about Iconic Participation: the reality takes on the lineaments of the Icon...so the Holy is seen by a Catholic as The Virgin, by an ancient Greek as Hera or Gaia, by a Haitian as Elize Danto, and so on.
The Icon is the door through which the storm blows in.
Signs, I am writing about my days working on The Lady Tour, as we called it.
...I know an old geezer in Portugal who was a water-boy at Fatima back in the day...
It's good you are around to remind me of the essential spiritual reality that underpins and impels icons and popular pietistic practices. Generally, I have little patience with them as they often substitute for actually doing something useful to alleviate suffering and want in this world. So thanks.
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