1. The choice of an icon should be based in part on the graces being asked for. If one seeks relief from anxiety, for example, the story of the calming of the storm (mentioned above) may be a good choice.

2. During prayer, one is likely to encounter moments of self-understanding, passion, zeal or conflict. Pay attention to these emotions, and what you were praying for when you experienced them. It is not uncommon for the image being gazed upon to change in affect as one continues to pray before it and through it.

3. After you finish your prayer, a reflective review can help to record the movements of the heart and of the Holy Spirit. Private reflection can be followed later by a conversation with a spiritual guide for guidance and discernment.

Praying with icons can help enrich our own spiritual lives, but the images can also help us to pray for family and friends, and even for an end to the maladies that plague our world. For example:

• Icons depicting God's love can be projected on loved ones, perhaps through the aid of a photograph. It is a way of putting on the love of Christ, to wrap our loved ones in the care of the heavenly mother and father. One might use an icon on the theme of Mary as Mother of Tenderness, which shows Mary and the child Jesus locked in a warm embrace.

• Icons expressing God's love for humanity can be used to pray for an end to war or relief from hunger and poverty. Icons of Christ's passion can be relevant here, as well as the genre known as Fountain of Healing, which pictures Mary and Jesus sitting atop a fountain of live-giving water.

• Icons of God's love can also be paired with images representing God's natural creation. By doing so one can achieve a sense of solidarity with God's world.