A Reflection on Julian’s Revelations
By The Rev. Edward A. Fitzhugh, ‘20
When people think of God, what is the most common perception? Is it normal to picture a large being with a long, white beard in the sky, as depicted in Michelangelo’s famous Creation painting in the Sistine Chapel? The problem is that too many people try to give God a face with a specific figure because that seems to be the most natural and satisfying way of identifying our Creator; it is what our human minds most easily perceive. Being a lover of the subject of mysticism and passionate about mystical studies, I was excited to learn about Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love. Like Julian, mystics have always seemed to have a fair understanding of who God truly is, in that He is incomprehensible to humanity, yet His nature is more familiar to them (the mystics) than it is to most everyone else. The one attribute about this divine nature that Julian of Norwich brings out in her writings is that God is love. God’s love for us is so powerful and deep that we cannot comprehend it; in fact, it took an extreme act of asceticism for Julian to learn just how deep this love is.
To understand Julian’s perception of God’s love, knowing a bit about her religious devotion is helpful. Julian was a Christian ascetic who lived in the fourteenth century in Norwich, England. Her love for the Lord ran so deep that she became an anchoress – the female version of an anchorite, from the Greek word anachoreo, which means “to withdraw.” An anchoress was a Christian ascetic woman who permanently separated herself from the rest of the world by voluntarily placing herself in a small cell alongside a church, after which the cell was sealed behind her. This is much like being locked up and having the key thrown away. From that point on, the cell was the anchoress’ home, place of worship, and deathbed; she was never to leave that cell again. It was here that she was to live out the rest of her days in constant prayer, like a monastic. There were three small windows in Julian’s cell which had different purposes: one leading to the inside of the church so she could receive communion (her cell was attached to St. Julian’s Church, which is where she got her name), one to allow her to communicate with her maidservant whom she was assigned, and a third one that people could use when seeking her for spiritual counsel. This was a radical way of devoting one’s life to God – giving away one’s life because Jesus gave away his.
Starting in May, 1373, Julian wrote two texts concerning sixteen spiritual visions that she had. The first text is known as the short text, in which she quickly wrote down everything about her mystical experiences so she would not forget. In the second text, the longer one, she went into much more detail about these visions and her newfound understanding of God through these revelations.
No one knows her true name, nor does anyone know whether Julian’s visions led to her becoming an anchoress, or if she received her visions during her time in her cell, but the texts’ content is what’s important.
In a world that believed God to be a fierce, wrathful ruler, Julian learned and taught others through her writings that God was pure love. Some of Julian’s revelations occurred while she was staring at a crucifix. She saw a few different facial expressions of Jesus on the cross, one of which was of suffering and sorrow, but one was of bliss. It was then that Jesus spoke to her and informed her that this suffering on the cross pleased him to no end. This is not something that comes to many people’s minds when thinking of Jesus’ suffering during his crucifixion. He showed her just how much he loved his children.
He said to Julian, “It is a joy and a bliss and an endless delight to me that I ever suffered my Passion for you, for if I could suffer more, I would suffer.” This demonstrated to Julian that Jesus not only suffered willingly for her, but that he would do it again as many times as necessary, for as many people as necessary--he would do it in heartbeat. His suffering brought him pure delight because he loves us so much and knew that it was for our benefit – for a chance to be with him for eternity; thus, he would have it no other way than to die the worst kind of death possible from now until the end of time just to save us who are unworthy of such charity. This is a love that mere humans cannot begin to fathom.
The second revelation God showed Julian involved Jesus’ face changing color. This vision showed Julian the intensity of Jesus’ suffering for us during his passion. Is it possible that mankind is so dark and evil that Jesus had to die such a horrific death? Through this revelation, Julian realized this was so. Mankind was so lost and beyond redemption that it took an act of God to restore it. Man fell so far through sin that no one else could redeem humans than by the one who created them. The implication of this redemption is that we are to be imitators of Jesus. He suffered for us, so suffering for him is a pure and holy thing to do. This is the very reason why Julian chose to become an anchoress. She wished to suffer and live as uncomfortably as possible as a way of suffering with Jesus. She wished to feel everything he felt. What better way to feel the pains of our Lord and Savior than to live out one’s days as an ascetic, living by the bone and having little to nothing to call one’s own?
Julian’s desire to live a life of suffering in Christ was not limited to her ascetical lifestyle. Julian was deeply spiritual and loving before she received her visions from God. She wanted to know Jesus and understand his suffering so much, she asked him for three gifts: to relive Christ’s Passion with him, to suffer a serious illness, and to receive three wounds from God.
To relive the Passion was to understand the pains of what everyone who loved him was going through, and to understand what kind of bodily pain Jesus had to endure. She wanted this more than anything. It is easy to close one’s eyes and imagine Jesus’ pains and sufferings, but Julian wanted more than that. She wanted to truly know so she could connect with Jesus on a whole new level.
Most people would never ask to be sick. Julian asked in prayer to be struck with an illness. She wanted to come close to the point of death and for her fever and bodily pains to torment her so much that, once well, she would be closer to God than ever before. She wanted to be so sick that she “might receive all the rites of Holy Church,” and that others would see her and pray for her. She knew the spiritual benefits that would come with such experiences.
After her illness, her third wish came to pass. She wanted to receive three wounds, which were contrition, compassion, and a longing for God. Unlike the first two wishes, the wounds of the third wish stayed with Julian forever, which is exactly what she wanted. It was due to these wounds that she drew even closer to Jesus and would continue to long for him until her death.
Julian received more than she asked for through these experiences. It was during her illness that she started receiving her visions. She observed blood dripping down from Jesus’ crown of thorns on the crucifix she held, the changing of his facial expressions and all his many sufferings, a vision of the Mother Mary on earth and in heaven, and many other revelations that showed his love for us and his strong desire for us to love him. Julian’s desire for God and her desire to live an extreme ascetical life for Him is what opened up this door for her to have these visions in the first place. Through these visions, her life of poverty and discomfort in her cell gave her much bliss, much like the bliss Jesus had while suffering on the cross.
The wisdom and enlightenment Julian of Norwich gained through her spiritual experience and her life as an anchoress changed much of how we view God and interpret the Scriptures today – we understand that God is pure love. Jesus wanted to suffer and would do it again; he wants us to have this same desire for him. This spiritual connection God desires to have with us is what drives ascetics to live the way they do. It should be the driving force behind our own spiritual lives and relationships with God. It is true that we are not all meant to live lives of extreme asceticism, but we could all benefit from suffering a little from time to time.
Whenever we suffer, instead of immediately falling to our knees and asking to be delivered from it, we should first ask for it to benefit our spirituality. We should ask for it to draw us into a tighter bond with our Lord. We should understand that suffering will not last forever, so as long as we are suffering, we should embrace it to a healthy extent. Take spiritual advantage of the situation. In the words of Julian of Norwich, “When a soul has made itself as nothing for love, in order to have him who is all that is good, then he is able to receive spiritual rest.” (8)
References
Julian, and B. A. Windeatt, Revelations of Divine Love: The Short Test and the Long Text, New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Wellesley, Mary, “The Life of the Anchoress,” The British Library. March 08, 2018 Accessed October 05,2020. https://www.bl.uk/ medieval-literature/articles/the-life-of-the-anchoress.
The Rev. Edward Fitzhugh, ‘20, serves as Curate at St. Vincent’s Anglican Cathedral in Bedford, Texas. Prior to ordination, Fr. Fitzhugh spent his internship at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Keller, Texas, working with Fr. Andrew Petta and Fr. Greg McBrayer. While a student at Nashotah House, he said, “I received a healthy exposure to Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical, high church and low church traditions during my education. This exposure helped me find who I truly am. Now my family and I are back to a place that’s about as high church smells and bells as you can get.”