Julian of Norwich Part I

We don’t even know her given name. 

At about age 50, twenty years after receiving a series of astonishing visions or “showings” from Jesus, she divested herself of her identity and entered a small apartment attached to a church to live out the remainder of her years in prayer. She took the name of the saint for which the church was named. Julian.

Julian lived her entire life in Norwich. She saw the bubonic plague descend on her town three times. She lived during the Hundred Years War. She witnessed the beginnings of dissent within the church and saw the Peasant Revolt of 1381.

Julian is famous today thanks to the efforts of scholars who rediscovered her writings and made them available. Born in 1342, she did not complete her “long text” report on her showings until the early 1400’s. It was 500 years later that copies were discovered. Half a millennium is a long incubation period. What can she possibly teach us today?

Breaking with my usual pattern of weekly posts, I will post this essay over three consecutive days. It’s too long for one day and it doesn't seem to warrant being spread out over three weeks. I make no claim to do justice to her writings. There will be a list of recommended readings at the end the Part III of this post.

In this essay I’ll touch briefly on three themes that I found in her writing: Christ’s wounds, the Church, and God’s love.

Christ’s Wounds

In typical medieval fashion, Julian focuses with jarring clarity and graphic precision on Christ’s physical torment. Christians of her time did not turn away from the gruesome aspects of Christ’s crucifixion as we are (as I am) inclined to do today. Julian likely received much of her knowledge about Christ’s crucifixion through annual passion plays that were the main event in the town of Norwich for many years. They were dramatic and emotional.

Actors would stage elaborate reenactments of Biblical events. Nothing was spared. The entire town would participate and watch as the mysteries of the Gospel were portrayed as vividly as possible. She longed to be part of Christ’s final hours and to see this suffering for herself.  The details of his torment served as an aid to devotion. She describes:

The great drops of blood fell down from under the garland (crown of thorns) like pellets, seeming as if it had come out of the veins…. And in the spreading abroad they were bright red.Chapter 4

And there is much more of the same. Julian describes the deep furrows on his back from the whips, the great wound in his side. She describes his dehydration, likening his mortal body to a sheet flapping in the wind.

Had I read Julian’s showings just a few years ago, I would have stopped right there. Concentrating on Christ’s physical suffering was and is to me a sentimental exercise resulting in guilt and sorrow but no enlightenment. Too much Mel Gibson and not enough N.T. Wright. There has to be more to his passion than mere physical suffering. It has to mean something. Julian is a woman of her time though and contemplating our Savior in pain was part of ordinary faith practice.

But there are surprises. The sight of Christ’s wounds opened in Julian an even greater love for her Savior and brought her sublime happiness. Happiness. In fact, she felt no sadness. She, in the revelations, saw others around the cross in deep distress, but she felt none of it. Her heart knew only bliss and joy. 

She advised her readers:

For it is God’s will that you take it (this showing) with as great joy and delight as if Jesus had shown it to you.

And there is more. Jesus speaks to her and asks if she is happy with his sacrifice!

      Then said our good Lord asking "Art thou well apaid (satisfied) that I suffered for thee?" I said, "Yes good Lord, great thanks. Yes, Lord blessed may thou be." Then said Jesus, our good Lord, "If thou art satisfied, I am satisfied. It is a joy, a bliss, an endless liking to me that ever I suffered my passion for thee, And if I might suffer more, I would suffer more." Chapter 22

      Julian and her fellow Christians are not to feel guilt for Christ's suffering. They are to be glad, joyous. Jesus wants us to rejoice in every aspect of our redemption. This startling development brings us to tomorrow’s topic: Julian and the Church.