When I give talks or retreats on the Revelations of Divine Love of Julian of Norwich, I am repeatedly struck by how relevant her teachings are to our nation’s situation and to our world crises. What is it about this fourteenth century mystic that speaks so directly to us in the twenty-first? Why should we read and ponder Julian’s Revelations now?

Perhaps the best answer to the question “Why Julian now?” is that in our age of uncertainty, inconceivable suffering, and seemingly perpetual violence and war (not unlike fourteenth-century Europe), Julian shows us the way toward contemplative peace. In a time of rampant prejudice and religious persecution, Julian inspires us to non-judgmental acceptance and universal compassion. In a world of deadly diseases and ecological disasters, Julian teaches us how to endure pain in patience and trust that Christ is working to transform every cross into resurrected glory. In a generation of doubt, cynicism, and disbelief, Julian offers a radiant vision of faith and hope— not in ourselves, but in the Lord who created us, loves us, and will never, ever abandon us.

Moreover, across six centuries, Julian’s voice speaks to us about love. She communicates personally, as if she were very much with us here and now. Even more than theological explanations, we all hunger for love. Our hearts yearn for someone we can trust absolutely—divine love that can never fail. Julian reveals this love because, like Mary Magdalene, she experienced it firsthand. Julian tells us about her mystical visions of Christ’s love on the cross and how that love totally transformed her life. Unlike other medieval mystics (who may appear sometimes too extreme, too ascetic, or too intellectual for our postmodern taste), Julian comes across as a flesh and blood woman, thoroughly sympathetic to our human condition. And in heartfelt terms she expresses her profound awareness of God who became human like us, suffered, died, and was transformed into glory.

Why is Julian so appealing today? I think because she is totally vulnerable and transparently honest, without any guile. She is “homely”; in medieval terms, that means down-to-earth, familiar, and easily accessible. She is keenly aware of her spiritual brokenness and longs to be healed. So do we. She experiences great suffering of body, mind, and soul. So do we. She has moments of doubt. So do we. She seeks answers to age-old questions. So do we. Then, at a critical turning point in her revelations, she is overwhelmed by joy and “gramercy” (great thanks) for the graces she is receiving. We, too, are suddenly granted graces and filled to overflowing with gratitude. Sometimes, we even experience our own divine revelations.

​Again and again, Julian reassures each one of us that we are loved by God, unconditionally. In her writings, we hear Christ telling us, just as he told Julian: “I love you and you love me, and our love shall never be separated in two.” Indeed, Julian’s teachings have greatly endeared her to Christians and non-Christians alike. Everyone can relate to her as a spiritual mentor because we sense that, even though she lived and wrote six hundred years ago, Julian the mystic, the seeker, and the theologian is very much “a woman for all seasons.” Julian’s voice of prophetic hope, speaking to us from the fourteenth century, is one that we in the twenty-first century desperately need to hear.
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PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from "An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich" (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.

As we approach Christmas Eve, let us consider that in the first Revelation, Julian of Norwich had a “ghostly” or “spiritual” vision of the Virgin Mary at the moment she conceived the Savior. Julian glimpsed “the wisdom and truth” of Mary’s soul as the young girl marveled that God “would be born of her who was a simple creature of his making.” Julian realized that Mary was, like herself, uneducated, and without any earthly status. She observed Mary’s “reverent beholding” of her Creator. “For this was her marveling: that he that was her maker would be borne of her that was made.” Julian understood that it was Mary’s recognition of her very “littleness” that made her tell the angel Gabriel, “Lo, me here God’s handmaiden.” But because the Creator chose her, Mary was more worthy than all the other creatures below her. And above her there was “nothing that is made but the blessed manhood of Christ, as to my sight.”

This tells us a lot about how Mary marveled as she beheld her Son in her arms after his birth. Again she marveled that God “would be born of her who was a simple creature of his making.” Again she reverently beheld her Creator and marveled that “he that was her maker would be borne of her that was made.”

Nakedly, Plainly and Homely
Julian was certain that the Lord is greatly pleased whenever a soul comes to him like Mary: “nakedly, plainly, and homely”; that is, simply, humbly, and intimately [like home], full of eagerness to offer him everything. This Christmas, let us consider that God longs to be born of us, into every aspect of our daily reality with all its complexities, joys, and sorrows. Let us approach the newborn Christ Child in Mary’s arms “nakedly, plainly, and homely” -- like the poor shepherds, without anything to offer but our love. Then perhaps we, too, may realize that he who is our maker is being born of us who are made.

Then, contemplating Mary and the Child, we may whisper Julian’s own heartfelt prayer of wonder, adoration, and joyful surrender:
“God, of thy goodness, give me thyself. For thou art enough to me, and I may ask nothing that is less that may be full worship to thee. And if I ask anything that is less, ever will I be wanting. But only in thee do I have all.”
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I wish you all a blessed Christmas, full of the love of Christ in your hearts!

PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from "An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich" (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.

In the Fourteenth Revelation, Julian considers what the Lord taught her about different types of prayer. She understands the prayer of thanksgiving as “a true, inward knowing, with great reverence and lovely awe,” whereby we offer all our efforts and energies to the daily tasks that are God’s will for us, all the while “rejoicing and thanking inwardly.”

Notice that Julian stresses the importance of rejoicing in the good works we are enabled to do by the grace of God. Not only that, but she declares that our prayer and our trust should never be timid, but “both alike large,” which in Middle English suggests ample and even ambitious: “For if we do not trust as much as we pray, we do not give the fullest worship to our lord in our prayer, and also we hinder and trouble ourselves.” We must constantly remind ourselves that “our Lord is the ground in whom our prayer springs” and that prayer is itself “given to us by grace of his love”; then we will be able to trust that we will receive “all that we desire.”
 
This Thanksgiving Day, let us go deeper into The Art of Giving Thanks. Amidst the festivities, let us take some quiet time to discover a “true, inward knowing” whereby we realize that all we are, all we love, and all we have, come from our Creator who gives our lives to us out of love. Let us offer all our efforts from the past year, our joys and sorrows, our works and forms of service, “rejoicing and thanking inwardly” that we were given the grace to accomplish them!

Let our Thanksgiving Day prayer of gratitude be "large" and plentiful toward all those we love and with whom we work. And let us trust “mightily” that the values we sincerely strive to live by will bear fruit eventually. How can we be sure of this? Because, as the Lord revealed to Julian: “I am the ground of your beseeching.” Our longings for justice and truth; for greater compassion for the poor, the suffering, and marginalized;  for healing and mercy; for love and peace that arise in our heart during prayer come directly from the grace of divine love. Therefore, how could it be that our prayers would not be answered?

This Thanksgiving Day, and every day, let us give thanks that the Spirit is always praying within us: “for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Rom 8:26 NRSV). And let us rejoice that the work of the Holy Spirit never, ever fails.

I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving!

​​PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from "An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich" (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.

In the Fourteenth Revelation, Julian considers what the Lord taught her about different types of prayer. She understands the prayer of thanksgiving as “a true, inward knowing, with great reverence and lovely awe,” whereby we offer all our efforts and energies to the daily tasks that are God’s will for us, all the while “rejoicing and thanking inwardly.”

Notice that Julian stresses the importance of rejoicing in the good works we are enabled to do by the grace of God. Not only that, but she declares that our prayer and our trust should never be timid, but “both alike large,” which in Middle English suggests ample and even ambitious: “For if we do not trust as much as we pray, we do not give the fullest worship to our lord in our prayer, and also we hinder and trouble ourselves.” We must constantly remind ourselves that “our Lord is the ground in whom our prayer springs” and that prayer is itself “given to us by grace of his love”; then we will be able to trust that we will receive “all that we desire.”
 
This Thanksgiving Day, let us go deeper into The Art of Giving Thanks. Amidst the festivities, let us take some quiet time to discover a “true, inward knowing” whereby we realize that all we are, and all we love, and all we have, comes from our Creator who gives it to us out of love. Let us offer all our efforts from the past year, our joys and sorrows, our works and forms of service, “rejoicing and thanking inwardly” that we were given the grace to accomplish them!

Let our Thanksgiving Day prayer be large and plentiful toward all those we love and with whom we work. And let us trust “mightily” that the values we sincerely strive to live by will bear fruit eventually. How can we be sure of this? Because, as the Lord revealed to Julian: “I am the ground of your beseeching.” Our longings for justice and truth, for greater compassion for the poor, the suffering, and the marginalized, for healing and mercy, for love and peace that arise in our prayer come directly from the grace of divine love. Therefore, how could it be that our prayer would not be answered?

This Thanksgiving Day, and every day, let us give thanks that the Spirit is always praying within us: “for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Rom 8:26 NRSV). And let us rejoice that the work of the Holy Spirit never, ever fails.
​
I wish you all a blessed, holy Thanksgiving!

​​PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from "An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich" (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.

The “godly will” was one of the many insights that Julian of Norwich received during her decades of contemplation on the Fourteenth Revelation. She perceived that there is “a godly will that never assented to sin, nor never shall.” What is this godly will? Julian understood that the godly will is our divinely created nature, fashioned out of nothing in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). It is our existential link to our Creator, which may never be broken. It is the indwelling of God’s will in our soul, and it is our soul’s will and desire to be united with God. No one and nothing can satisfy that desire but God.
     Theologically speaking, the godly will is the “higher part,” or pure substance of the soul, which “wills good and works good in the sight of God.” It includes our mental capacities to be aware, to reason, to remember, and to choose the good. Unlike the “lower part” of the soul that conditions our natural appetites for food, procreation, and self-preservation, the “higher part” of the soul wills our spiritual perfection. In truth, “we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Eph 2:10). For Julian, we are not only created good; we are created "godly."
      Of course, we may misuse and abuse our godly will. Because of sin, the rational and sensual faculties of our soul have become weakened, ignorant, easily misguided. Thus we may turn away from the eternal good for which we are created, give in to the carnal drives of our lower nature, and choose lesser goods that involve sinful behavior. Then we may fall into a ditch of darkness and despair through our “feebleness and blindness.” But Julian insists that the soul that shall be saved never fully assents to serious sin; therefore, sin does not nullify the godly will, for it is ever kept safe and secure in the ground of our Christ-redeemed humanity.

      Think of it! Even when we sin, God sustains our soul’s awareness (without which we would not be able to experience anything), as well as our rational ability to know and to choose the good. Even when we go astray, God continues to love us unconditionally and sends his Son to bring us back home. Moreover, because of our glorious redemption, when God “looks” at us, God sees the Beloved, with whom he is “well pleased” (Mt 3:17; Lk 3:22). This is what it means for our essential nature to be kept “whole and safe”: we are inseparably knitted and oned to Christ.
      So let us not grow weary in following our higher nature in being good and in doing good, especially when the world around us seems to be on a dark trajectory. Divine Love upholds the truth and goodness of our godly will and Christ himself is overcoming the world!

​PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from "An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich" (InterVarsity Academic Press, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.

Julian knew well that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). In her mystical theology, she will carry that truth to its fullest implication: God cannot stop loving us because that’s who God is. Unlike the anthropomorphic image of a highly volatile God—loving us when we are obedient, then becoming “wroth” and punishing us when we disobey, then relenting and taking pity on us—Julian’s understanding of divine love is that it is eternally constant; it does not change. It is we humans who are changeable. We accept or reject or simply ignore God’s love. But God never ceases loving and protecting us, even in our misdeeds.
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How We View God
The way we view God is really up to us. If we are open and receptive to divine love and willing to share that love with each other, then we will surely recognize God as the wellspring and fulfillment of every love. If, on the other hand, we fail to love God and each other, if we are unjust, unkind, unforgiving, and unfaithful, eventually we become guilt-ridden. Then what do we do? We get angry with ourselves and project that anger onto God: “God must be angry  with me. God is a wrathful God.” What a terrible injustice to God. It may take a long time for us to outgrow our age-old projections of God as changeable, vindictive, and wrathful. Those of us who were terrified as children by the threat of God’s punishment may still be struggling to do so. Julian’s Revelations will help us. In fact, she sees that Christ scorns Satan’s evil designs on us, utterly deriding their (lack of) power. Christ wants us to do the same. This realization was so liberating for Julian, it made her laugh out loud.

Julian's Struggle
Nevertheless, as a devout Christian, Julian could not discount the gravity of sin and the necessity of punishment for wrong deeds, whether by suffering here on earth or after death, in purgatory or in hell. She readily acknowledges that she was never tempted to give up the teachings of the church on sin and restitution; in fact, she “had teaching to love it and like it." She freely admits “that we are sinners and do many evils that we ought to leave, and leave many good deeds undone that we ought to do, wherefore we deserve pain, blame, and wrath." Nevertheless, Julian could not deny the truth of her revelation that God is “never wroth” and assigns “no manner of blame” to sinners.

In our sadly divided nation, torn apart by mistrust, hatred, and horrific acts of violence, we ache to know how it is that Christ will “make alle thing wele” when it is obvious that all is not very well. In her own war-torn, divisive, and plague-filled fourteenth century, Julian longed to know the same thing. In the course of her visionary experiences, she dared to ask Christ on the cross: “‘Ah, good lord, how might alle be wele for the great harm that has come by sinne to thy creatures?’ And here I desired, as far as I dared, to have some more open teaching wherewith I might be eased in this.” In other words, just like us, Julian needed reassurance that even the worst evil could be transformed by Christ’s sacrifice.
 
Christ was not at all offended by Julian’s insistent questioning. With a loving expression, he answered that “Adam’s sinne was the most harm that ever was done or ever shalle [be done] to the world’s end.” Yet Christ did not want her to focus on that (or any other) devastating sin, but rather behold his own glorious atonement, which is more pleasing to God and gives more worship than ever Adam’s sin was harmful. The Lord wants us to take heed of this: “For since I have made wele the greatest harm, then it is my will that thou know thereby that I shall make wele alle that is less.” In other words, no sin is too terrible to be forgiven by the love and mercy of God (or too trite not to need forgiveness).
 
Christ’s Answer
Deep within her soul, Julian heard a glorious locution concerning the ways in which Christ makes all things well. “And thus our good lord answered to all the questions and doubts that I might make, saying very comfortingly: ‘I may make alle thing wele, and I can make alle thing wele, and I wille make alle thing wele, and I shalle make all thing wele. And thou shalt see thyself that alle manner of thing shalle be wele.’”
 
Here, Jesus reveals five distinct ways in which he makes “alle thing wele.” First, because he is Divine Power, Christ may do it in the sense that he is able to do all that needs to be done. Second, because he is Divine Wisdom, Christ can do it, which implies that he knows how to accomplish it. Third, because it is the Father’s wish, Christ will do it because he chooses to do so. Fourth, since it is Christ’s own intention to make everything well, he shall do it. And fifth, because he wants to comfort her, Christ promises Julian that she shall see herself that “alle manner of thing shalle be wele.” Julian further understands that where Christ says “I may,” that indicates the Father; where he says “I can,” that is the Son; and where he says “I will,” that is the Holy Ghost; and by the “I shall,” that is the unity of the Blessed Trinity. Finally, where Christ says, “Thou shalt see thyself,” she understood “the oneing of all mankind that shalle be saved into the blissful trinity.” (It should be noted that since the Middle English wele was a form of weal, it meant not only “well,” but the greatest possible happiness and “well-being.” Also, shalle in Middle English conveyed much stronger intent than will.)
 
Julian understands: “Therefore this is his thirst: a love-longing to have us all together, whole in him to his endless bliss, as to my sight.” Christ’s love-longing is like that of a parent who stands watch at the window, expectantly waiting to have all the children arrive back home at last, safe and sound. Julian further acknowledges that God is continually “making well” not only the noblest and the greatest things, but also the least little things. Nothing will be forgotten.
 
Yet Julian still laments that “there are many evil deeds done in our sight and such great harms suffered, that it seems to us that it would be unpossible that it ever could come to a good end.” Like us, she considers why we cannot see evil being made well right now. Julian explains why: “And the cause is this: that the use of our reason is now so blind, so low and so simple, that we can not know the high, marvelous wisdom, the might, and the goodness of the blissful trinity.”
 
Furthermore, we are burdened by sin, which is “the sharpest scourge that any chosen soul may be smitten with.” But Julian affirms that there is always hope for a complete transformation of every person: “by contrition we are made clean, by compassion we are made ready, and by true longing for God we are made worthy.” As we are purified by suffering, both individually and communally, we will develop the minds and hearts to see how all things are being made well—in an ultimate sense. That is Christ’s promise.
 
PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from the just-published An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich (InterVarsity Academic Press, June, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.
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What is it about Julian that speaks to us today? Why are her fourteenth-century Revelations of Divine Love so relevant to us in the twenty-first century? What is Julian telling us that we desperately need to hear in our violent, suffering world? . . .
 
A Voice for Our Time
Perhaps the best answer to the question “Why Julian now?” is that in our age of uncertainty, inconceivable suffering, and seemingly perpetual violence and war (not unlike fourteenth-century Europe), Julian shows us the way toward contemplative peace. In a time of rampant prejudice and religious persecution, Julian inspires us to non-judgmental acceptance and universal compassion. In a world of deadly diseases and ecological disasters, Julian teaches us how to endure pain in patience and trust that Christ is working to transform every cross into resurrected glory. In a generation of doubt, cynicism, and disbelief, Julian offers a radiant vision of faith and hope—not in ourselves, but in the Lord who created us, loves us, and will never, ever abandon us.
 
Moreover, across six centuries, Julian’s voice speaks to us about love. She communicates personally, as if she were very much with us here and now. Even more than theological explanations, we all hunger for love. Our hearts yearn for someone we can trust absolutely—divine love that can never fail. Julian reveals this love because, like Mary Magdalene, she experienced it firsthand. Julian tells us about her mystical visions of Christ’s love on the cross and how that love totally transformed her life. Unlike other medieval mystics (who may appear sometimes too extreme, too ascetic, or too intellectual for our postmodern taste), Julian comes across as a flesh and blood woman, thoroughly sympathetic to our human condition. And in heartfelt terms she expresses her profound awareness of God who became human like us, suffered, died, and was transformed into glory.
 
Why is Julian so appealing today?
I think because she is totally vulnerable and transparently honest, without any guile. She is “homely”; in medieval terms, that means down-to-earth, familiar, and easily accessible. She is keenly aware of her spiritual brokenness and longs to be healed. So do we. She experiences great suffering of body, mind, and soul. So do we. She has moments of doubt. So do we. She seeks answers to age-old questions. So do we. Then, at a critical turning point in her revelations, she is overwhelmed by joy and “gramercy” (great thanks) for the graces she is receiving. We, too, are suddenly granted graces and filled to overflowing with gratitude. Sometimes, we even experience our own divine revelations.
 
Again and again, Julian reassures each one of us that we are loved by God, unconditionally. In her writings, we hear Christ telling us, just as he told Julian: “I love you and you love me, and our love shall never be separated in two.” Indeed, Julian’s teachings have greatly endeared her to Christians and non-Christians alike. Everyone can relate to her as a spiritual mentor because we sense that, even though she lived and wrote six hundred years ago, Julian the mystic, the seeker, and the theologian is very much “a woman for all seasons.” Julian’s voice of prophetic hope, speaking to us from the fourteenth century, is one that we in the twenty-first century desperately need to hear.
PLEASE NOTE: The excerpts above are from the just-published An Explorer’s Guide to Julian of Norwich (InterVarsity Academic Press, June, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the express permission of the author.