Julian of Norwich, Showings.
A first attempt at reading the medieval Christian mystics can be off-putting for many reasons. As contemporary men and women we are far removed from the spiritual milieu of the religious communities which formed these writers’ lives. Therefore, understanding their thoughts require a basic knowledge of the times, including the use of language and the imagination in medieval religious devotion.
Nonetheless, Julian of Norwich’s Showings, or Revelations of Divine Love, is a 14th century classic from the late Middle Ages that is worth every effort. Beautifully enclosed within many traditional Christian images, her sixteen ‘showings’ or ‘revelations’ point the reader’s attention towards the contemplation of a tender love which holds the world together and gives it meaning.
“In this vision he [Jesus Christ] showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut lying in the palm of my hand, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it and thought, ‘What could this be?’ The answer came to me, ‘It is all that is made.’ I wondered how it could last, for it was so small I thought it might suddenly disappear. And the answer in my mind was, ‘It lasts and will last forever because God loves it; and in the same way everything exists by the love of God.'”
In the Christian tradition, God is the unconditional ground of being, whose reason, will, and love governs creation. As St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) states, the entire structure of the universe is a movement of exitus-reditus; all things going out from God (exitus) as their beginning and all things returning to God (reditus) as their end. The journey between is a process of dynamic transformation wherein the human person, capable of supernatural knowing and loving, is to be perfected by grace. A radical humanism.
The dignity and immense giftedness of being human therefore is nothing short of the incredible offer to realize personally the highest reality, that of expressing one’s being in and through a knowledge and love that is divine.
Julian sees—or more correctly is shown—that although the smallness of the world can feel insecure and fragile, causing anxiety and fear (I wondered how it could last…it might suddenly disappear), the world does and will last as it is providentially guided towards its culmination, a friendship with God that is an everlasting communion.
So we may be driven emotionally by our instinctual desires for safety and security, affection and esteem, power and control; energy centers, according to Fr. Thomas Keating O.C.S.O., that motivate much of our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. However, if we are honest with ourselves by acknowledging our faults and cling with all our strength to God in faith, Julian assures us that “All shall be well.”
Every day is a chance to say ‘yes’ to God’s love. Each moment, in freedom, an opportunity to return.
“I saw that for us he is everything that we find good and comforting. He is our clothing, wrapping and enveloping us for love, embracing us and guiding us in all things…”
