"I Am the Ground"

In the Fourteenth Revelation, Julian of Norwich shares what Christ taught her about prayer:
And all this our lord brought suddenly to my mind, and shewed these words and said:
I am the ground of thy beseking [beseeching in prayer]. First it is my will that thou have it, and next I make thee to will it, and next I make thee to beseke it—and thou besekest it! How should it then be that thou shouldst not have thy beseking?
In an astounding moment, the Lord completely inverts the idea that prayer is initiated in any way by Julian with the Revelation that it is entirely his own idea. He identifies himself as the instigator and basis of all prayer. First, in his great goodness, Christ wills to give her some grace, then he makes her conscious of the desire for it . . . Next, he inspires her and gives her the desire to enter into prayer in order to beseech it. And then, she actually does beseech it in her prayer. Finally, Christ asks Julian the all-important rhetorical question: “How could it be that you would not receive what you were beseeching me for?” (since it was Christ himself who conceived the grace he wanted to give Julian in the first place!). Of course, this Revelation assumes that what Julian will be led to pray for will be to her most immediate benefit, as well as her eternal salvation, and will bring the greatest blessings upon those for whom she prays.
Julian became convinced that when we pray it is in response to God’s desire to grant what we most urgently need. Our prayers of beseeching do not cause graces and gifts to come to us from God. It is God’s own goodness, the ground of all that is, that initiates every good thing he ever chooses to give us. He is ready to give before we even ask.

A Mighty Comfort
Julian experienced “a mighty comfort” in receiving this divine illumination . . . For it is the most unpossible [greatest impossibility] that may be that we should seek mercy and grace and not have it. For every thing that our good lord makes us beseke, he himself has ordained it to us from without beginning.
Julian experiences prayer in an entirely new and radically hope filled way. She is sure that Christ wants all his “lovers on earth” to know how he directs our prayer, because “the more that we know, the more shall we beseech,” if we understand this teaching wisely, as our Lord intends. . .

Pray Wholeheartedly
Julian also understands that prayer makes us more like Christ through the graces we receive when we pray, as we are already like him in our human nature. Since it is Christ’s will that we be fully restored to the image and likeness of God, Julian describes how he urgently exhorts us:
Pray interly [wholeheartedly]: though thou think it savour thee not, yet it is profitable enough, though thou feel it nought. Pray interly, though thou feel nought, though thou see nought, yea, though thou think thou might not [have any strength]. For in dryness and barrenness, in sickness and in feebleness, then is thy prayer fully pleasant to me, though thou think it savour thee not but little. And so is all thy living prayer in my sight.”

Even when we have no “savour,” or taste, for prayer, no sense of enjoyment in it, no palpable feeling during it, no strength to persevere in it, we must still try to turn our hearts to prayer. Julian even suggests that Christ is “covetous” to have us praying often in his sight, because of all the rewards and endless thanks he wishes to give us. Regardless of what prayer feels like to us, “God accepts the good will and the travail of his servants,” He is greatly pleased when we work “in prayer and in good living by his help and his grace.” He also cautions Julian that he wants us to be “reasonable with discretion” and not tire ourselves out with endless repetitions of the same prayers which can become mindless. The main directive is to keep our soul’s focus on God’s presence within, until such time as “we have him whom we seek in fullness of joy: that is, Jesus. . .”

Three Aspects of Prayer
Julian summarizes three aspects that should determine our understanding of prayer. The first, as already mentioned, is to know from whom and how our prayer originates. Christ made clear that he is the instigator of prayer when he said, “I am the ground.” And he revealed how prayer develops because of his goodness when he said, “First, it is my will that thou have it.” The second aspect concerns the manner in which we say our prayers. Our will should always be turned entirely toward the will of the Lord, not in fear but in great enjoyment. Christ clarified this for Julian when he said: “I make thee to will it.” And the third aspect focuses on the fruit and goal of our prayer, which is “to be oned with and like our lord in everything.”
And to this meaning and for this end was all this lovely lesson shewn. And he will help us, and he shall make it so, as he says himself. Blessed might he be!
Additionally, Julian suggests that both our prayer and our trust should be equally “large,” which in Middle English implies generous and ample, 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.
Julian considers that the reason we become hesitant and lacking in trust is that we think the impetus to pray is coming from ourselves instead of from Christ. If we were absolutely certain that Christ is the “ground in whom our prayer springs” and that prayer is itself “given to us by grace of his love,” then we would naturally trust that we would have “all that we desire.”

Disappointment in Prayer
But sometimes it comes to our mind that we have prayed a long time, and yet we think that we have not received what we asked for.
But therefore we should not become depressed, for I am seker by our lord’s meaning that either we must wait for a better time, or more grace, or a better gift. He wills that we have true knowing in himself that he is being. And in this knowing, he wills that our understanding be grounded with all our strength, and all our intention, and all our meaning. And in this ground, he wills that we make our [dwelling] place and our wonning [home].
Julian knows only too well that even with rightful prayer and persevering trust, sometimes our heartfelt petitions do not seem to receive any answer. Then, we become depressed and perhaps feel rejected by God. It is a too-familiar cycle. Julian is certain that there is a divine reason: a better time, more grace, a better gift. And again, if we rely on our faith that Christ himself is the source of all “being,” all that we could possibly long for, we will not lose heart. In fact, if we ground ourselves in this knowledge, holding this awareness in prayer with all our strength of mind and purpose and intention, we will discover a spiritual dwelling place that is immovable: Christ himself will become the answer to every prayer.
Julian considers three things that follow upon this realization. First, our creation; second, our precious redemption, which Julian terms againe-byeing or “buying back”; and third, everything in creation that Christ, out of love, sustains in order to serve us. It is as if Christ said to us, every time we begin to pray: “Behold and see that I have done all this before thy prayer occurred. And now thou art, and prayest to me.”

Since Christ has already performed such great deeds in times past, as the church teaches, we should give thanks and pray for the deed that he is doing right now, which is to rule us and guide us to his worship in this life and to bring us to everlasting bliss. Christ wants us both to see that he does everything for us and also to pray for it to be done. If we only pray and do not see that he does every good deed, we feel depressed and full of doubts, and this does not contribute to his glory. And if we see that the Lord is the cause of all good things and yet do not ask that his will be done, we do not fulfill our responsibility to pray. As a result, we may not be able to “see” God’s providence reveal itself in our lives. Julian suggests that, in some mysterious way, our prayer is intimately linked to God’s actual working, and God is worshiped best (and we are most benefitted) when we both acknowledge that he does everything that is done, and pray that he may do it.

Julian reiterates this imperative to pray for all that Divine Providence has preordained to do, both in particular instances and in general. This kind of prayer gives such great joy and bliss to Christ and will bring us such thanks and honor that Julian writes: “it passes the understanding of all creatures in this life, as to my sight.”

NOTE: Quotations translated from the Middle English and excerpts above are from my book, Julian’s Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Orbis Books).