The Chartres Labyrinth and Mary (8) The Life of Christ Window

Sharing life is richer when I ask those I’m with to tell me about what they are experiencing. Even though we are in the same place, our interpretations of what we are living is likely different.

My prayer

Word Made Flesh, help me to receive the words of others with an open, curious mind.

Biblical touchstone

The wise men from the East set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. Matthew 2:9-12 (NRSV)

Invitation to prayer

Ask someone you are with what they are experiencing. As you ponder their answer, notice what prayers are emerging in your heart, mind, body, and imagination. When you can, pray them.

Photo and placement of this image in relationship to the labyrinth

The wise men (kings) visit Jesus, who sits on Mary’s lap. The image is in the middle panel of the third row of the Life of Christ window. This twelfth century stained glass window is in the center of the west wall, directly under the rose of the Chartres Cathedral in France. This image is visible from all those places in the labyrinth where the walker is facing west. As one leaves the center the labyrinth, and on all the straight sections of the pathway as one returns to the threshold, the window and Mary are fully visible.