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As we begin Lent on Ash Wednesday, Julian of Norwich has a word for us. In her first Revelation, she states that every man and woman who “desires to live contemplatively” must desire “to nought all things that are made in order to have the love of God that is unmade.”
What does Julian mean by nought? The word was not known before the twelfth century, when it meant, literally, “nothing” (like zero). In medieval mystical literature, noughting implied the deliberate letting go of attachment to self, as well as the renunciation of worldly goods and concerns, in order to attain a deeper spiritual union with the divine. Noughting was considered the essential way of purgation, before illumination and spiritual union with God could be achieved. Does Julian’s idea of noughting mean that we must turn our backs on those we love and cherish, give up everything we enjoy doing, cease working to realize our dreams, and cut ourselves off from the world? Not at all. But Julian does imply that unless we attend to our spiritual lives, we will never find true happiness. Julian was well aware that in her fourteenth century Norwich (as in our twenty-first century world) people were consumed by “things,” myopically focused on success, often indulgent in pleasures and violent in disagreement. She considered that “they who are occupied willfully in earthly business and evermore seek worldly wellbeing, are not completely at ease in heart and soul” because “they love and seek here rest in this thing [like the hazelnut] that is so little, where no rest is. And know not God who is all mighty, all wise, and all good.” In other words, she saw that we become so consumed by demands and desires that we can miss the point of our lives! The sense in which Julian uses nought implies a self-denial, a turning away from human selfishness and its obsession with finite, ever-changing, always-decaying goods that can distract the soul from seeking the infinite, unchangeable, and everlasting good. In modern terms, we could say noughting involves a negation of self-centeredness in order to become more focused on the “other,” an absolutely necessary component of learning to love. For Julian, it means letting go of the unnecessary in order to focus on the one thing needful. Is Julian speaking to us? Perhaps she is. What if this Lenten season we committed ourselves to seeking rest in God more than in “things”? What if we dedicated time every day for silent meditation, rather than escaping into activities that cannot satisfy the deepest needs of our heart? What if we examined our thoughts and actions every morning and evening in order to see just how addicted we have become to emails and iPhones, gossip and criticism, even jealousy and outbursts of anger? What if we sincerely decided to nought a bad habit by letting go of it a little more each day, turning it over to God, and allowing grace to replace it with a more positive type of behavior? What if we went out of our way to please someone else instead of ourselves? What if we “gave up” a bit of our self-centeredness and really focused on another’s needs? What if we stopped talking and really listened, not only to each other, but to God? Julian assures us that only God is “true rest.” Perhaps this Lent we could practice resting in God. Perhaps we might let go of worry and fear. Perhaps we could create more inner silence simply to “be still” with the Lord. Perhaps we might consider less “needing” and more noughting. PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author.
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As part of the Thirteenth Revelation, Christ gave Julian a special understanding and direct teaching on the “werking and shewing of miracles”:
“It is known that I have done miracles here before, many and numerous, high and marvelous, honorable and great. And just as I have done I do now continually, and shall do in coming of time.” It is known that before miracles, come sorrows and anguish and trouble. And that is so that we should know our own feebleness and mischief that we are fallen into by sinne, to humble us and make us fear God, crying for help and grace. And great miracles come after, because of the high might and wisdom and goodness of God, shewing his virtues and the joys of heaven, as far as it may be possible in this passing life, and that for the strengthening of our faith, and increase of our hope in love. Therefore it pleases him to beknown and worshipped in miracles. Some millennials have serious problems with miracles. To them, miracles are the equivalent of old wives’ tales, superstition, or sheer gullibility. Only the Laws of Nature can be counted on. Only scientific proof is reliable. But oftentimes, science cannot explain a sudden cure of the incurable, a radical conversion of a hardened heart, an astounding escape from great danger. Some might simply call that “good luck.” Earlier, Julian had said that there is no such thing as good or bad luck: And I saw truly that nothing is done by happe [good fortune] nor by aventure [bad accident], but all by the foreseeing wisdom of God. If it be happe or aventure in the sight of man, our blindness and our lack of foresight are the cause. In other words, unexpected miracles are happening all the time, both in full view and hidden within the depths of the individual soul. But because of our blindness – and the fact that we cannot know the infinite potential of the future – we fail to see the miracles. We do not even believe in their possibility. So we dare not ask for them. Gradually, we lose the ability to hope for them. As a result, we fail to recognize them when they happen. Julian's divine dimension In Julian’s view of the world, however, nothing occurs without divine grace. She intimates that miracles done on earth are a glimpse of God’s unsurpassed and everlasting creative delight, a foretaste of both the deed that will be done immediately when we come into heaven, and of the Great Deed to be revealed at the end of time. Julian cautions, however, that miracles occur only after long periods of “sorrows and anguish and trouble.” She understands that this painful process is absolutely necessary. All through the gospels, the pattern is the same: a penitent is in desperate need, paralyzed by illness, sin, and suffering, cries out, seeks forgiveness from Christ, and then is healed of the infirmity, first of soul, then of body. For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Stand up and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed and go to your home” (Mt 9:5–6, Mk 2:9–11). Only in true contrition is the suffering soul able to feel the scales fall from its eyes and experience the miracle of regaining its inner sight (Acts 9:18). Only with the eyes of faith can we being to "see" miracles happening. Julian discloses that Christ does not want us to become overly depressed because of the “sorrows and tempestes that fall to us.” She remarks that it has ever been thus . . . just before miracles happen. PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. Julian of Norwich ends the book of her Revelations with these words:
And I saw full securely in this and in all [the Revelations], that before God made us he loved us, which love was never satiated, nor ever shall be. And in this love he has done all his works, and in this love he has made all things profitable to us. And in this love our life is everlasting. In our creation, we had a beginning, but the love wherein he made us was in him from without beginning, in which love we have our beginning. And all this shall we see in God without end. Deo Gracias. These seem to be the perfect words from Julian for Christmas: a much-needed reminder that we have been “in” the love of God from without beginning and so shall be without end. It is too vast and unimaginable to fathom. And yet, when we think of the little Babe of Bethlehem, the love of God becomes very, very real. And very, very close. We can hold God’s love in our arms. In our hearts. In the love we have for each other. In the compassion we feel for all those suffering throughout the world. For it is all one love. May the newborn Child fill your hearts to overflowing with the love in which we are all created, sustained, and in which we dwell—like the very air we breathe. May he bless you with the joy and peace that the world cannot give—and cannot take away. May he enable you to see how “alle shalle be wele” precisely because God’s love will not have it any other way! God is love and in his love, as Julian reminds us, God does all his works. He will see to it that everything becomes “profitable” to us, no matter how difficult or impossible that may seem to us right now. May we trust this Divine Love to heal, to renew, and to empower us from the depths of our soul to the heights of our great longing. And with Julian may we pray this Christmastime with full conviction: Deo Gracias—Thanks be to God!—for the Incarnation of Love. I wish you all a Christmas full of unimaginable blessings and profound joy! PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. In meditating on the Fourteenth Revelation, Julian writes about the great importance of thanksgiving. But she does not talk about giving thanks for “things” or “health” or “success” or even being spared from disaster. She considers thanksgiving as a continual state of mind, “a true, inward knowing, with great reverence and lovely dread” (that is, awe in God’s presence). For Julian the prayer of thanksgiving is our ongoing act of worship.
Overwhelming Julian reveals that sometimes this prayer of thanksgiving is so overwhelming that it breaks out in full voice saying: “Good lord, grant mercy, blessed may thou be!” It is a sudden realization of the sheer wonder of being alive, being loved, being liberated from sin, being blessed by God. Indeed, of simply being. At other times, when the heart feels dry and empty, or else is undergoing temptations, Julian admits that then prayer “is driven by reason and by grace to cry aloud to our Lord, remembering his blessed passion and his great goodness.” In such times, she stresses the importance of remembering all the great works (such as the work of our salvation) that Christ has done for us in the past and is doing in the present and will continue to do in the future. We are to rejoice in them all – even those that have not yet happened. Either in joy or in sorrow, Julian believes that when we remember in a spirit of thanksgiving, the power of the Lord enters the soul, enlivens the heart, begins a new spiritual work by means of grace, and enables the soul to pray more blissfully and to rejoice in him. “This is a very lovely thanking in his sight.” In fact, it is the essence of thanksgiving: to know in the depths of our soul from whom we receive our life, our breath, our courage, and our hope in every moment. Giving Thanks Let us give thanks for each other this Thanksgiving Day. Let us give thanks for specific blessings that have been bestowed upon us, and for all the times of fear and suffering that God has enabled us to survive. Let us also take time out from the hustle and bustle of preparations for the feast to spend time in silent contemplation in order to experience “a true, inward knowing, with great reverence and lovely dread.” Then, like Julian, we may feel an inspired prayer of joy-filled thanksgiving rise up in our hearts for the pure reality of God, the ground and source of all our reality: And so the power of our Lord’s word converts the soul, and enlivens the heart, and initiates a true work of the soul by God’s grace, and make the soul able to pray most blissfully and truly to enjoy ourselves in our Lord. This is complete and lovely thanksgiving in his sight. A blessed Thanksgiving to you all! PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. A number of people have asked if Julian was a Universalist; that is, if she believed that eventually everyone would be saved. In my book, “Julian’s Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich,” I deal with various aspects of this crucial question, from early church teachings on predestination (inspired by St. Augustine) to medieval preaching on hell and damnation.
It was inevitable, given the world in which she lived, that Julian would be concerned about her “evencristens” (fellow Christians) who had sinned grievously and fallen away from the faith. In the Fourth Revelation, as Julian contemplates Christ bleeding on the cross, she envisions the outpouring of his blood as both “plenteous” and “precious,” precisely because it is the boundless blood of the Son of God. She remarks that it is also “our own nature” because it is very human blood, just like ours. And as precious as it is, so is it plenteous, sufficient to cleanse every and all sin, if only humankind will allow itself to be purified by it. She writes: “Behold and see the virtue of this precious plenty of his dearworthy blood! It descended down into hell and burst their bonds and delivered them, all who were there who belong to the court of heaven. The precious plenty of his dearworthy blood overflows all the earth, and is ready to wash all creatures of sinne who are of good will, have been, and shall be. The precious plenty of his dearworthy blood ascends up into heaven in the blessed body of our lord Jesus Christ, and there is in him, bleeding, praying for us to the Father, and is and shall be as long as we need.” In this paean of praise to the “precious plenty” of Christ’s “dearworthy blood,” Julian imagines the blood descending deep into the bowels of hell and rising up, in Christ’s resurrected body, into heaven. She even suggests that the resurrected Christ is still “bleeding” (that is, pouring out his blood metaphorically in heaven) as he prays unceasingly for humanity to the Father, for as long as we shall need . . . From this Revelation, Julian understands that “the precious plenty” of Christ’s blood is ready to wash “all creatures of sinne who are of good will,” in times past and future. She makes no differentiation between evencristens and Jews or pagans, an extraordinary statement for her time. The first letter of Peter also taught that “Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God” (1 Pt 3:18). Various translations have suggested the original meaning of this letter is “once for all time,” or “once for all people.” Nevertheless, Julian would not have dared prophesy “universal salvation” outright, as this would have been opposed to the medieval church’s teaching of salvation only for those who believe in Jesus Christ, were baptized, kept his commandments, and died in the state of grace. Nevertheless, Julian writes that the “precious plenty” of Christ’s salvific blood “overflows all the earth” with its perfect cleansing. In her inclusive interpretation, Julian implies that Christ’s outflowing blood will reach all and save all who are touched, in some mystical way, by its liberating power. Julian completes this apocalyptic vision, seeing the blood of the Lamb of God as divine energy flowing evermore throughout heaven, “enjoying the salvation of all mankind that is there and shall be there, fulfilling the number that faileth” (12:24–25.169). This refers to the medieval belief that the predestined number of souls of the elect to be saved would equal the number of angels that had dropped out of heaven when, because of pride, Lucifer fell “like a flash of lightning” (Lk 10:18). According to St. Augustine, only God knows who and how many there will be. Julian must have been haunted all her life by the thought of all those who had died during the Great Pestilence that wiped out half the population of Norwich—and one third the entire population of Europe. She also lived in a time of constant war, when soldiers and civilians died “unshriven,” with no opportunity to confess their sins and receive absolution. While Julian repeatedly attested that she saw “no wrath in God’ throughout her visions of Christ on the cross, she knew that the church taught we are all sinners and worthy of condemnation. This seemingly insoluble paradox weighed heavenly on her mind: how could “alle thing be wele” as Christ promised her, if even one soul were damned? In desperation, Julian begged Christ for understanding: “I cried inwardly with all my might, seeking into God for help, meaning thus: “Ah, lord Jesus, king of bliss, how shall I be eased? Who shall tell me and teach me what I need to know, if I may not at this time see it in thee?” How should human beings consider themselves: as fully saved or justly condemned? It was a question that could not be put aside. This was not a scholastic issue, open to debate. There were people’s eternal lives involved: Julian’s, her family members, both living and deceased (some without benefit of the last rites of the church), friends, servants, all her evencristens from the lowliest peasants to the highest overlords, on up the social ladder to kings and queens and two popes, with the whole of Europe being torn apart by the brutalities of war and papal schism. If Julian was to go on living with some measure of divine comfort and reassurance, she had to know the answer to her question: How does God behold us in our sin? Julian was answered in a visual and highly mysterious parable concerning a lord who had a servant. However, she did not understand the hidden meaning of the parable so she could not write about it until twenty years later—in her Long Text. There she gave a brilliant interpretation of who the lord was (God) and who the servant was (both Christ and Adam). In explicating the nuances of this profound story, Julian affirmed that: “Because of the rightful oneing [perfect union] which was made in heaven [between God and man], God’s Son might not be separated from Adam, for by Adam I understand all mankind.” In stating this, Julian no longer differentiated between “them that shalle be saved” and the rest of humanity, that is, believers from non-believers, the righteous from sinners. Here I think she was writing in more universal terms, because this was the way in which she was taught by Christ to understand the import of the parable. She understood that there can be no essential separation between one man or woman and another. All are included in the appellative “Adam” (even Eve, since for Julian “Adam” includes both sexes), inasmuch as God became man to save all. In her exegesis on the parable, Julian described the incarnation with poetic originality: God’s Son “fell with Adam into the hollow of the maiden’s womb” (even as, in the parable, the servant Adam fell into the hollow of the ditch). And because of this incarnation of God as perfect humanity, Adam, representing the whole of humanity, was purified in his fundamental nature, excused from blame both in heaven and on earth, and fetched out of his “hell.” Indeed, even though the Catholic Church has taught that there is a hell (as the necessary alternative to the concept of heaven), it has never stated officially that any single soul is actually “in” hell. In “Julian’s Gospel,” I discuss many other aspects of this complex issue. But for now, let us ponder with Julian the astounding reality that, as she understood: “our good lord Jesus has taken upon himself all our blame, and therefore our Father may not, nor will not, assign any more blame to us than to his own dearworthy son, Jesus Christ.” PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. During her Revelations from Christ on the cross, Julian learned a great deal about about the nature of prayer. Especially in the Fourteenth Revelation, the Lord told Julian very clearly:
I am the ground of thy 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 beseech it—and thou beseechest it! How should it then be that thou shouldst not have thy beseeching? In this astounding moment, the Lord completely inverts the idea that prayer is initiated in any way by Julian (or any one of us) with the Revelation that it is entirely his own idea! Jesus identifies himself as the instigator and basis of all prayer. First, in his great goodness, Christ wills to give Julian (or any one of us) some special grace. Then he makes her conscious of the desire for it, deep within her heart. 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 then 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. The same holds true for us. Thus 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. She realized that the refusal of the Lord to grant our heartfelt prayer would be, in her delightful Middle English word, “unpossible”: 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 beseech, he himself has ordained it to us from without beginning. As a result of this Revelation, Julian experienced prayer in an entirely new and radically hope-filled way. She became certain that Christ wants all his “lovers on earth” to know how intimately 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. Frustration in Prayer Yet how often we beseech God for good things for ourselves, our loved ones, and for all those suffering in our world, yet seem to receive no answer, no clarification, no help! Then we become disheartened, maybe even disillusioned with prayer. And then we stop praying. Julian ascribes our loss of faith in prayer to a lack of trust: Oftentimes our trust is not full. For we are not certain that God hears us, and we think it is because of our unworthiness, and because we feel nothing at all. Julian assures us that the feeling (or lack of feeling) we experience in prayer has no bearing on the depth or sincerity of our great longing. And that longing is itself Christ’s own prayer in us. Moreover, Julian became convinced that when we have prayed a long time and yet not received what we have asked for, we should not become depressed. She is certain that "either we must wait for a better time, or more grace, or a better gift." All the while, we must trust "mightily" that Christ is always at work, in us, in everyone we love, in the whole world, even if we cannot see it happening. Julian adds: 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. Indeed, persistent trust in prayer opens our minds and hearts wider and wider so that we may become more capable of receiving the graces that the Lord wants to give us and everyone for whom we pray. Thus we must never give up praying, precisely because we trust that the Lord’s initiation of our prayer is already the guarantee of its answer: Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you (Mt 7:7). PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. Nothing brings home to us how much we need each other as a catastrophe like the one unfolding as a result of hurricane Harvey in Texas. The images are so terrifying, the dangers so real, that our hearts break open in compassion. And also fear, precisely because we know that a similar catastrophe could happen to any one of us or to someone we love. We are as terrified of being stranded on a rooftop in a flood as were the disciples in the boat during a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee.
We imagine ourselves dialing emergency numbers until our cell phone goes dead; screaming for help after hacking our way from the attic through the rooftop; standing in the pouring rain, waving a sheet to attract attention, just like the thousands who have called 911 and prayed that help would arrive before the waters closed in over their heads. Unconditional Help When someone finally answers 911, we are not asked whether we are white or black or brown; documented US citizens or undocumented workers; native-born Americans or recent immigrants; LGBT or straight; young or old; Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheists or agnostics; Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. We do not have to give our social security number or insurance information to ascertain if we can pay for the rescue service out of pocket. We don’t have to state annual income or professional credentials. We are promised help solely on the basis of our shared humanity: because we are people in need and therefore eminently worthy of help. When help comes, whether by helicopter in the sky or a boat on the water, we are not judged by whether we live in a large house or a tiny one; both are nearly submerged. Everything inside, whether valuable or not, is already destroyed. Whether we own a big business, labor in a factory, grocery store, or work on the land, all the merchandise, food, and crops are already a total loss. The only thing that matters in that moment is escaping with our lives. The Kindness of Strangers And that depends on the kindness of strangers who are willing to risk their own lives to save ours. All we can feel is gratitude, relief, a glimmer of hope. Even though we have lost everything we thought we needed to survive, we begin to believe again, not in ourselves, but in the goodness of people. All people. Suddenly we realize what we have in common, that no ideology or class or color or creed or sexual orientation can separate; we are one living, breathing, magnificent creation. And we are, at heart, all bound together by our need for each other. Just as no wall can separate the floodwaters from county to county or country to country, so nothing can contain the human need for help. We also find hope in the realization that we are not alone. That person we feared or resented or who we thought didn’t “belong” in our country is the very one who arrived to save us in a flat bottomed boat or an inflatable canoe. That person we discriminated against—or who discriminated againt us—is the very one being let down in a helicopter to our rooftop, strapping us in a life jacket, and lifting us to safety. That man or woman with whom we had an argument last week is the same one offering us and our family a ride through the rising waters in a pickup truck. Julian of Norwich lived with the constant threat of violent storms and giant waves that blew in from the North Sea and inundated the marshlands and peat bogs, causing the Wensum River by her home to overflow its banks, sweeping houses and families away in a sudden rush of floodwaters up and down the East Anglia coastline. All her life, she must have heard about fishermen who had drowned in the sea, as well as sailors and soldiers lost in the English Channel while crossing to and from France. She herself may have had a great terror of drowning, since few people in the Middle Ages knew how to swim. Deadly stories of the dangers of the sea were the stuff of nightmares for children and grownups alike. This is what she wrote out of her deep fear of rising waters: One time my understanding was led down into the sea ground, and there I saw green hills and dales, seeming as it were overgrown with moss, with debris and gravel. Then I understood thus: that if a man or woman were there, under the broad water, and he might have sight of God—since God is with a man continually—he should be safe in soul and body, and take no harm. And even more, he should have more solace and comfort than all this world may or can tell. Do Not Fear! Yes, Christ walks on the water, then as now. He tells us not to fear, and calms the wind and waves, and takes us safely to dry land. But sometimes Christ looks and sounds like someone against whom we discriminate or hold a grudge, or whom we have built up into our personal “enemy.” However, when we’re desperate, the only thing that matters is that this same person is offering us help. Then we know it is surely Christ: “Don’t be afraid. It is I.” Hopefully, in our extreme gratitude at being rescued from certain death, we are transformed by the experience. Perhaps our minds, our attitudes, our very hearts undergo a metanoia, a complete and lasting turnaround. We come to realize what we had failed to acknowledge before the disaster: That, as God’s children, we’re all in the same boat. PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. And this vision was a teaching to my understanding that the continual seeking of the soul pleases God very greatly. For the soul may do no more than seek, suffer, and trust. And this is wrought in every soul that has it by the holy ghost. And the clearness of finding, it is because of his special grace when it is his will. The seeking with faith, hope, and charity pleases our lord, and the finding pleases the soul, and fulfills it with joy.
Julian writes these words after describing her vision of Christ’s Passion in the Second Revelation. She is inspired to reflect on her earlier theme of seeking and seeing. She reiterates her understanding that God wants the soul to keep seeking even if, and especially when, it is “in travail” (which can also mean “in labor,” as a woman labors to give birth). That is, when we are conflicted, sorrowful, depressed, and seem to have no hope. At these times (and we know them only too well!), the soul does not feel any hint of God’s presence, yet it must continue to seek and walk by faith through these “dark nights.” To our amazement, Julian considers this “seeking” of God every bit as important as “seeing.” And she is sure that God will show himself to the soul through a special grace if it is patient—when and where and precisely how it is the Divine Will to do so. Then God himself will teach the soul how to “have” him in graced contemplation. Julian considers that this beholding of God in prayer is the highest honor and reverence human beings can give to God, and extremely profitable to souls, producing the greatest humility and virtue, “with the grace and leading of the holy ghost.” For the soul “that only fastens itself onto God with true trust, either in seeking or in beholding,” gives him “the most worship.” Think what this means: Our greatest worship lies in our trusting surrender to whatever God wants! Seeking and Beholding Julian defines two distinct werkings that become apparent from the Second Revelation. One is seeking, the other beholding. Seeking is the common lot, given as a grace to all by the teachings of holy church. (It is what we must do unceasingly in this life on earth.) Beholding, or mystical seeing, however, is only in the provenance of God. (It is given as a gift in contemplative prayer.) Julian also considers three aspects of seeking which are conducive to seeing. First, one must seek willfully and diligently, without becoming lazy, disheartened, or depressed by the effort. Rather, one must seek “gladly and merrily, without unskillful heaviness and vain sorrow.” It is notable that Julian gives an inkling here of her own lifelong battles against these very human tendencies to sloth, depression, and sorrow. She knows only too well that such often self-indulgent moods are not those that will most please God and give him worship. She goes so far as to call them “unskillful,” meaning unreasonable, unproductive, and even destructive of the spiritual life. For Julian, the true seeker is a glad-hearted and hope-filled soul, not because it is free from suffering, but because it trusts in the One it seeks. Such a person comes to believe that the Ultimate Answer to every Why? . . . loves us. The second way of seeking is that “we wait for him steadfastly because of his love, without grumbling and striving against him unto our life’s end, for it shall last but a while.” Julian warns her fellow seekers that grumbling against God is to be avoided at all costs. (The onomatopoeic Middle English word she uses is gruching, very close to “grouching.”) That, and “striving against him” (which would be outright disobedience) are deadly to seeing. The third way of seeking is that “we trust in him mightily, with full, seker faith.” The Middle English word seker, which Julian uses repeatedly in her text, is so full of rich meaning! It connotes absolute security that the soul is protected from all danger, is not at any risk, is spiritually safe, and is even among the already saved. Sudden Appearance For it is his will that we know that he shall appear suddenly and blissfully to all his lovers. For his werking is private, and he wants to be perceived, and his appearing shall be very sudden. And he wants to be believed, for he is very pleasant, homely, and courteous. Blessed may he be! Julian ends this section with the promise that these three ways of seeking will have blissful results, when one is least expecting them. God will work in the soul in a secret manner, yet his own great desire to be perceived and to be believed will make him suddenly appear (not necessarily in a vision, but by granting a spiritual sense of his intimate presence). And then the soul that has been seeking, suffering, and trusting will, for a suspended time, be filled with joy, as was Julian. PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. But he wills we take heed thus: that he is the ground of all our whole life in love, he is our everlasting protector, and mightily defends us against all our enemies that are extremely dangerous and terribly fierce towards us. And our reward is so much greater if we give him occasion to love and heal us by our falling.
This theme of Christ as “the ground of our whole life in love” colors and highlights every aspect of Julian’s theology. Christ is not the unapproachable “other,” the distant God-man whose anger must be appeased by every extreme means possible. He is, in a very real sense, what we are, in our flesh and blood and bones, having taken on the fullness of our human nature, save sin, in order to help us combat the suffering of temptation and guilt, and to show his sublime peace and love. He knows exactly how our minds work, what our failings and compulsions are, and longs to teach us how to reorient our attitudes and desires toward the highest good. And he has endured every possible physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual agony we go through. This is the Christ Julian knows to be at the foundation, the very ground, of our being. This is where the “godly will” resides, that never wills sin: in our Christ-redeemed nature. Supreme Friendship And this is the supreme friendship of our courteous lord, that he keeps us so tenderly while we are in our sin. And furthermore, he touches us most intimately, and shows us our sin by the sweet light of mercy and grace. Julian is convinced that even when we are in the midst of harming ourselves or others, and seem to be abandoning God, he does not abandon us. Instead, he whispers in our heart and mind, moves our conscience to feel remorse, and leads us to ask forgiveness, guiding us by his own “sweet light of mercy and grace.” However, Julian is acutely aware that when we sin, “we see ourself so foul,” we think (indeed, we assume) that “God is wroth [angry] with us for our sin.” Here, Julian is describing her own sense of personal guilt, with a keen understanding that Christians persistently harbor a wrong view of God as being wrathful. She explains that though we may remain convinced that God must be angry at us while we are in sin, it is precisely his ever-present mercy and grace which enable us to turn back to him, confess our failure, and ask forgiveness. Christ gathers us up like his prodigal son (or daughter) and encloses us in the royal robe (the restored innocence of our baptism), calls his servants to kill the fatted calf and prepare a banquet (the Eucharist), and invites all the saints to join in the celebration: “because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found” (Lk 15:32). What Julian is describing here is not only the parable of the prodigal son, but also the never-ending story of the exorbitant love of the prodigal Father. Do Not Despair Julian makes very clear that when we feel we are being “punished” here on earth with sorrow and suffering, it is not because of God’s “wroth” but as the inevitable result of our personal and collective sinfulness. And God will not allow us to lose one degree of spiritual value from what we must bear, for God sees sin not as a cause for casting us out but “as sorrow and pains to his lovers, in whom he assigns no blame for love.” Julian assures us that as long as we take ourselves to the Lord and ask forgiveness, we need never despair over our failures. On the contrary, we shall be greatly rewarded for our frequent repentance and for whatever we have to suffer as a result of our own sins. The reward we shall receive shall not be little, but it shall be high, glorious and honorable. And so shall all shame turn to honor and to more joy. For our courteous lord does not want his servants to despair for often falling nor for grievous falling. For our falling does not hinder him from loving us. Peace and love are ever in us, being and working. But we are not always in peace and in love. PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. Near the end of her Revelations, Julian of Norwich summed up her understanding of three distinct properties of God: “life, love, and light.” By God’s life, she meant his familiarity, intimacy, and enduring closeness to us in the ground of our being, out of which he will never come. By God’s love, she understood his all-embracing and courteous care for our souls. And by God’s light, she saw his everlasting Being that will never change or alter its expression toward us.
One Goodness Julian recognized this trinity of properties as the one goodness of God, to which her mind wanted to be united and her heart wanted to cleave “with all its powers.” She marveled at the sweet feeling of unity she gained from realizing that our human reason exists in God. She appreciated, with much greater depth after many years of contemplation, that this reason “is the highest gift that we have received, and it is grounded in nature” In addition to our reason, she marveled at the gift of faith: Our faith is a light, naturally coming from our endless day that is our father, God; in which light our mother, Christ, and our good lord, the holy ghost, lead us in this mortal life . . .And at the end of woe, suddenly our eye shall be opened, and in clearness of sight our light shall be full, which light is God our maker, father and holy ghost in Christ Jesus our savior. Thus I saw and understood that our faith is our light in our night, which light is God, our endless day. Charity Julian further identifies the source of our light as none other than “charity” or spiritual love, which is measured out as is most profitable to us, according to the wisdom of God. The light of divine love is never allowed to be quite bright enough for us to be able to see our salvation clearly, nor is the heavenly light kept completely hidden from us, but it is enough light in which to live and work productively, thereby earning “the honorable thanks of God.” Thus charity keeps us in faith and in hope, and faith and hope lead us in charity. And at the end alle shalle be charity. Three Ways Julian was also shown three ways of understanding this light of charity: uncreated charity (which is God’s love), created charity (which is the soul within God’s love), and charity given (which is the virtue of love). This gift of love that is bequeathed to us through the working of grace enables us to “love God for himself, and ourself in God, and all that God loves, for the sake of God.” She marveled greatly at this virtue of love because she realized that even though we live foolishly and blindly here on earth, yet God always beholds our efforts to lead lives of love. And he takes great joy in our good deeds. Julian reiterates that the best way we can please God is by wisely and truly believing that we please him, and “to rejoice with him and in him." For as truly as we shall be in the bliss of God without end, praising and thanking him, as truly have we been in the foresight of God, loved and known in his endless purpose from without beginning, in which unbegun love he created us. In the same love he keeps us, and never suffers us to be hurt by which our bliss might be lessened. And therefore when the final judgment is given, and we are all brought up above, then shall we clearly see in God the mysteries which now are hidden from us. The Great Deed We will not understand how it is that each soul is given plenteous grace to rise again after every fall, or how even the most hardened sinners are converted into saints, until at last we come up to heaven and see in God’s eyes the hidden mystery of the magnificent process of salvation. But we can be sure of one thing: we will see that all has been done by God to perfection. This will be the Great Deed. And then shall none of us be moved to say in any thing: “Lord, if it had been thus, it would have been well.” But we shall all say with one voice: “Lord, blessed may thou be, because it is thus, it is well. And now we see truly that every thing is done as it was thine ordinance to do, before any thing was made.” In a world full of so much death, hatred, and darkness, let us seek courage and inspiration from Julian’s Revelations. Let us hope more than ever in God as Life, Love, and Light. Let us not succumb to depression and despair, for that would be to mistrust God. All the time these things are happening in our personal live and in our world, Julian reminds us that, even though we cannot see or feel it, God IS at work. Some day, in resurrected life, we will finally understand. Some day we will, as Julian assures us, “see truly.” PLEASE NOTE: The quotations above are from Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life & Revelations of Julian of Norwich (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books), Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Mary Rolf. All rights reserved. This article may not be copied or reprinted without the written permission of the author. |
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