Purgation, illumination, and union


In May of 2009 I was able to visit South Africa for a second time. While there, my group had the opportunity to visit the Cathedral Church of St. George the Martyr. This was the cathedral at which Desmond Tutu performed his duties as Archbishop of South Africa.
Up until that point, I had only ever studied labyrinths and had never actually walked one. There in the courtyard of the cathedral was a beautiful stone labyrinth. I am an experiential worshipper, which is why I think it was such a powerful encounter for me. Here I was in one of my favorite cities (Cape Town), at the church of a modern saint. And so I made the only choice one has to make upon discovering a labyrinth: whether to enter or not.

There are three stages of the walk. The purgation is the first part, performed on the inward spiral. This is where you let go of all the details of life. It is a spiritual catharsis. This is followed by illumination, or the time spent in the center of the labyrinth. It is a place of meditation and prayer. The return through the spiral is the union. This walk is representative of rejoining the higher work your soul is reaching toward.
After walking the labyrinth, I entered the sanctuary of the cathedral where I found several stations for prayer. Many of them boasted icons of various saints. As I moved around the sanctuary, I came upon a small hand-painted icon of St. George himself. Below, a short prayer hung on the wall. It read:

Gracious God,
Stretching out your hand of
Protection over St. George our patron;
Stretch out your hand to protect and
Bless all who are HIV positive and
Living with AIDS.
Empower us to overcome the dragon
Of stigma and fear and to embrace
Our own woundedness.
We ask this through Jesus
Who overcame sin and death for
Us and now reigns with you in glory.

How moving those words were! Here, in the heart of a city, on the coast of a country struggling against the AIDS pandemic was a prayer to break down the walls of stigma and oppression.
In this season of Lent as we reflect and pray, it is my hope that we would try new ways of encountering the Holy, whether that be walking a labyrinth, experiencing the Lectio Divina, practicing a nested meditation, or praying the Psalms. In all we do, let us hold the Prayer at the Icon of St. George the Martyr close to our hearts.
Empower us, Holy God, to overcome the dragon of stigma and fear and to embrace our own woundedness.

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