Jean Baptiste, a presence

I have always loved painting and drawing. Four years ago, I felt called to join an iconography workshop. I then begin with two icons: Saint Hypomonia, venerated in the Orthodox Church, then Saint John the Baptist. After the gentle face of the saint, the figure of the prophet reminds me of fire. It will be a great exercise! The initial enthusiasm quickly clashes with the harsh reality: I am struggling to complete the curls of my hair and the hermit’s coat, delaying in applying my teacher’s advice! Slow learning… But what a joy to finish two years later. The prophet joins Saint Hypomonia in my living room.

Six months pass before I decide to offer this icon to my parish, if our priest sees fit. Upon discovering it, he exclaims: “We’re taking it, that’s obvious! Let’s ask Jean Baptiste where he wants to be placed.” We are silent for a moment. Brandishing the icon, he enters the recently renovated oratory and places it on the wall perpendicular to that of the tabernacle. From the choir, she beckons us: the hands of the saint show the Lord present, like an invitation to enter to pray.

By giving this icon, I received two gifts. First of all, my modest exercise seems to have been commissioned for this oratory. Its colors blend perfectly with the tones of the room, and its size, smaller than that of the tabernacle, reminds us that the Precursor makes himself small before the one he announces. Then, this figure of the Baptist helps to pray: one Saturday evening, after leading the songs of mass, I come home with a joyful heart and meet a neighbor sitting at a table with one of her friends on a terrace. I sit down and we talk about art, about faith, about what weaves our lives together. One thing leading to another, I come to tell about my icons. “I can show you that of Jean Baptiste…” “To tell the truth, I know her: my son is enrolled in the parish and when I go to the oratory, she helps me to pray,” this woman who is experiencing a return to faith confides to me. I then realize how much this story is beyond me. From the beginning, isn’t everything in God’s hands? And again, I sing the refrain that accompanied me throughout the creation of the icon: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”, the very words of John the Baptist, according to the Gospel (Mk 1, 3).