Ps. 116:5, NIRV
Recently
teens in our area were foiled in a credible plot to carry out a mass shooting
at a nearby high school. Why would teens
(who feel slighted or filled with angry despair) choose this?--the darkest
possible action against their peers. Why
are such incidents increasing in number?
Isn’t the world already dark enough?--with terrorist attacks, desperate
refugees, pandemic scares, etc.
The list could go on and on. (Indeed, in 2021 the list did go on: Oxford, MI where 4 students died in a school shooting--and 7 were wounded--is a short 20 miles from our home.)
How often
the world’s darkness hides God’s Tender Loving Care (TLC) described, for example, in Psalm 25, which speaks clearly of God’s TLC in the form of “tender mercies,” “lovingkindness,”
and care throughout (ASV, KJV, WEB).
Julian of
Norwich, who has given us a great spiritual classic, lived
during an especially
dark time in history: several cycles of the Black
Plague (reminding us of Covid in our time) had swept across her
native
England (14th c.). At the same time, war between England and France
was a constant, and famine
knocked upon England’s door, as well.
In this
atmosphere, Julian experienced her own personal darkness: an illness that
carried her to death’s door—or perhaps beyond (?). Julian went through what we would today call
a near death experience. What Julian saw repeatedly in that other-worldly experience was an astonishing account of the love of
God—including an especially tender encounter with Jesus. (Today Julian is revered with a feast day in Episcopalian, Catholic, and some Lutheran
churches: a witness to the respect that is given to her spiritual classic Revelations of Divine Love, which is built upon what Julian saw and learned in this experience.)
It was as
if in this experience Julian saw beyond all the darkness that would ever be
possible in this world and saw that this darkness could never outweigh the
greatness and tenderness of God’s abiding love for us. Julian’s experience reminds us of words from
the Gospel of John, which speak of the revelation Jesus brought to us: “The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” or “The
Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out” (Jn.
1:5, NIV and the Message paraphrase).
Pope Francis speaks of being in “awe” or
“a bit . . . out of ourselves” (and rightfully so!) when we experience something of
the greatness of the love or joy of God.[1] Julian was certainly beside herself--or almost out of herself--as she was filled with visions of God’s love in her
near death experience. She says: “And full greatly was I a stonned
[stunned] for wonder and marvayle [marvel]” at the “ghostly sight of his homely
lovyng [‘intimate love’].”[2] (Note: Julian wrote in Middle English; this
translation retains some of that original English. Also, of importance is the fact that Julian
is the very first woman to write in English—that is, in writings that have been
preserved for us.)
It is almost as if Julian cannot find
enough ways to speak about the love of God.
And yet, she does find ways—artful ways—to tell us of it, again and
again. In our personal estimation almost
no one has been able to speak quite as beautifully, poetically, and assuredly
of God’s love as Julian does in her great spiritual classic.
In her many
assurances it is as if Julian holds
out a great, comforting, sheltering blanket, wraps it around us with the utmost
tenderness, and says: I do this in the
name of God. This is how much God loves
you—this is God’s TLC for you. In this she encircles and enfolds us with
love in a similar fashion to that in which the author of Psalm 23 encircles us
with God’s Shepherding love and care.
In regard to our
metaphor of Julian’s comforting, sheltering blanket, note that the Holy Spirit
is often called the Comforter in the Gospel of John (e.g., Jn. 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7 in many translations). The modern term “comforter” for a sheltering
blanket could, indeed, be an appropriate metaphor (a metaphor that could be
helpful in meditation) for God’s tender love as expressed by Julian.
Regarding such
comforting love, note these thoughts from Julian:
“[O]ur
Lord showed me a spiritual sight of his familiar love. I saw that he is to us everything which is
good and comforting for our help. He . . . is
that love which wraps and enfolds us, embraces us and guides us, surrounds us
for his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us.” Or again, she says, “[S]o are we, soul and
body, clad and enclosed in the [secret
of the] goodness of God.”[3]
And why should
this be so? “For He beholdeth us so
tenderly . . . ,” Julian says. She also wishes
us to know that “our courteous Lord willeth that we should be as homely [intimately comfortable] with Him as
heart may think or soul may desire.”[4]
Julian speaks of
God revealing divine secrets to
us. She knows that sometimes it will look
like there is darkness all around us.
Yet in and through it all there is the hidden secret of God’s healing, uplifting love which God wishes to reveal:
“. . . He has great tenderness, and therefore He will Himself make them [divine
‘secrets’] more open to us whereby we may know Him and love Him and cleave to
Him.”[5]
And what is the center of God’s greatest secret? “For our
soul is so specially loved of Him that is highest [God], that it overpasseth [or
‘surpasses’] the knowing of all creatures. . . .”
Continuing, Julian says:
That is to say, there is no created being who can
[fully] know how much and how sweetly and how tenderly the Creator loves
us. And therefore we can with his grace
and his help persevere in spiritual contemplation [or "stand in spiritual
beholding"], with endless wonder at this high, surpassing, immeasurable love which
our Lord in his goodness has for us….[6]
However,
Julian also knows that hearing about this is one thing, but having some inner
sense, some experience of this, is another.
This is, indeed, another part of the secret:
that God “will Himself make them [divine ‘secrets’] more open to us whereby we
may know Him. . . .” This inner sense about a
divine secret is part of the Holy
Spirit’s comforting; this is often called “spiritual consolation.” We quoted Pope Francis above saying that
sometimes one feels “awe” as a “consolation.”
Sensing God’s love is another form of “consolation.” Pope Francis says, “Being Christian is being
spiritually consoled.” He also says we
should ask for this gift: “Lord, give me this grace that is the sign of our
encounter with you: spiritual consolation. . . .”[7]
Julian would
also encourage us to ask for the gift of knowing this great divine secret: how much we are loved. She sees that God wishes us to have a sense
of this knowing and to be spiritually
lifted and consoled by this intimate secret,
which is the beginning of everything else in the spiritual life--including our
love and care for others. (“Ask and it will
be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to
you”; Mt. 7:7.)
At the same time, Julian is concerned
about us: she knows that it is human nature to succumb at times to “doubtful
fear.” She tells us that
“God wants to have
doubtful fear, inasmuch as it induces to despair, turned in us into love by
true knowledge of [God’s abiding] love, that is to say that the bitterness of
doubt be turned into the sweetness of gentle love by grace, for it can never
please our Lord that his servants [and children] doubt in his goodness.”[8]
This again is a secret God wishes us to know in spite of
whatever worldly darkness we may see or experience.
Speaking of God’s consoling work on our
behalf, Julian says that
God’s “Mercy is a sweet gracious working in love,
mingled with
plenteous pity [compassion]: for mercy worketh in keeping us, and
mercy worketh turning to us all things to good [cf. Rom. 8:28].”
Furthermore, Julian says: “For . . . I saw a
marvellous compassion
that our Lord hath in us for [or during] our woe ...”[9] And this is true
because in all, “[O]ur
Lord showed me spiritually [part of Julian’s
revelatory experience] how
intimately he loves us.”[10]
And so we will find that if we seek and
allow it, again and again, the Comforter will be at work in our souls. Julian promises: “[T]enderly our Lord God toucheth us and blissfully calleth us, saying in our
soul: Let be all thy love, my dearworthy
child: turn thee to me—I am enough to [or for] thee . . .” And this is
all because of the overwhelming love of our “courteous Lord.”[11] And why should all this love for us be
assured? “For we [God’s children] are
His joy and His delight, and He is our salve [healing] and our life.”[12]
“But I have trusted in [Y]our faithful
love,” Psalm 13 declares (v. 5, CEB).
Julian wishes us all to know the
comfort, joy, “consolation,” “awe,” and empowerment of being able to make this confession.
Meanwhile, God makes corresponding
promises: “I will be present for
you, declares the Lord ...” And, “I have loved you with a love that lasts
forever. And so with unfailing love, I
have drawn you to myself.” (Jer. 29:14,
31:3, CEB).
“The light keeps shining in the dark, and
darkness has never put it out” (Jn. 1:5, CEV). In the Advent and Christian seasons, to
which we turn shortly, we welcome the "Incarnation":
the intimate coming of the Love and Light of Jesus into the world. See further discussion in our next post, coming in December.
* * *
We close with thoughts for meditation, prayer/poetry/proverbs:
Meditation upon a "Weight of . . . Glory":
C. S. Lewis: “[T]o be loved by God … delighted in as an artist
delights in his work … it seems impossible, a weight … of glory….
[One] which our thoughts can hardly sustain.”[13]
❆ ✼ ❃
And then, in a season that bounces back and forth--like the
seasons of the soul that Julian understood so well:
Autumn meditation upon Jn. 3:8:
(In regard to the last two lines, Evelyn Underhill
speaks of an
experience in which, “Consciousness has suddenly changed its
rhythm
and a new aspect of the universe rushes in. The [usual] teasing mists
are swept away, and reveal, if only for an instant, the sharp outline of
the Everlasting Hills [Deut.
33:12-15].”[14] This is very
similar to the
secret of God’s great Love that Julian saw and promised us.
And the
“spell” is similar to Pope Francis’s discussion of “awe” and
“consolations”--spiritual gifts/graces we can seek.)
* * *
Today the breezes seem to blow right through
me . . . as if
I were a part of it all--a cloud afloat and the same as . . .
the
magical spell in the air.
Today . . . but yesterday I held my own
council--
scolding God for those things that happen . . .
that reason cannot
unlock.
Today, I can say, “It is over, Lord” . . . and a hardness
has washed away--leaving me free and as light as the wind . . .
as it plays on this sweet autumn day.
(Often, before we can see as Julian saw, we must
allow ourselves
a “Let go . . . let God” experience [as discussed so wisely by AA and
various "Twelve Step" groups] expressed here by “It is
over, Lord.”)
An opening to prayer/meditation:
(With reflection upon Jn. 4:10, 15:4; NRSV.)
❃❃❃
Meditations upon awakening:
❃❃❃
Julian of Norwich’s song of the soul (quoting from Julian's Chap. 56): [16]
(Note: “Dalliance” might be compared to prayer time, meditation,
Sabbath time, etc.)
C. H. Spurgeon: "Even as [our Lord] Jehovah loves His
Only-begotten [Son], so does He love each one of His children."
❃❃❃
A Julian proverb: [17]
* * *
“Lavender Sky”
I love the purple evening
before it surrenders to darkness.
I love the etching of each pine tree
against the lavender sky.
I love the lamp lit windows,
the curls from the chimneys,
the hush that falls on the weary town,
the surrender to the night.
I love the purple evening
before it surrenders to darkness.
It whispers a lilting lullaby,
promising: All shall be well . . .
(With reflection upon Julian’s assurance: “For He loveth and
enjoyeth us, and so willeth He that we love and enjoy Him and
mightily trust in Him; and all shall be well.”[18])
* * *
Julian promises that no matter what happens God's
Grace, Love, "Light and Solace" are intimately with
us if we but "cling" to God[19]:
* * *
(See additional blog posts after the “Notes” in “Older/Newer
Posts.” Also see additional posts that deal with similar themes regarding the world's
darkness and pain.[20] )
……………….
Notes:
1. Pope Francis, “Peace is priceless,” 4/4/13 (by L’Osservatore Romano); http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/cotidie/2013/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20130404_peace-priceless.html.
2. Julian of Norwich, Showings: Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism, ed. Denise N.
Baker (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2005), pp. 8-9 (Chap. 4-5, Long Text). (Note:
Showings is another name for Revelations of Divine Love.)
3. Julian of Norwich: Showings, trans. Edmund Colledge, O.S.A. and James Walsh, S.J.
(New York: Paulist Press, 1978), p. 130 (Chap. 4, Short Text); Julian of Norwich,
Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Grace Warrack (London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1901,
1949), p. 14 (Chap. 6, Long Text). (Where Julian used clothing imagery we use the
modern imagery of the comforter.)
4. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Grace Warrack (London:
Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1901,1949), pp. 196, 189 (Chap. 81, 77, Long Text).
5. P. Franklin Chambers, Juliana of Norwich: An Introductory Appreciation and An
Interpretative Anthology (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955), p. 148 (from Chap. 34
of Revelations of Divine Love, Long Text).
6. Combining translations in Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 14 and
Julian of Norwich: Showings, p. 186 (both Chap. 6, Long Text).
7. Pope Francis, “Peace is priceless,” 4/4/13 (by L’Osservatore Romano).
8. Julian of Norwich: Showings, p. 324 (Chap. 74, Long Text).
9. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, pp. 101, 161 (Chap. 48, 64,
Long Text).
10. Quoted in Walter Holden Capps and Wendy M. Wright, ed., Silent Fire: An
Invitation to Western Mysticism, p. 99 (from Revelations of Divine Love, trans.
Clifton Wolters, Chap. 5, Long Text).
11. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, pp. 74, 193 (Chap. 36, 79,
Long Text).
12. Ibid., p. 193 (Chap. 79, Long Text).
13. C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, ed. Walter Hooper
(New York: Macmillan Pub., 1949, revised 1975), p. 13. (Also see Mt. 17:1-13.)
14. Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (New York: Meridian Books, 1955), p. 178.
15. Meditations, poetry/prayer/proverbs and journaling by Lorraine B. Eshleman.
16. Quoting Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 135 (Chap. 56,
Long Text), shape added (see Note 15).
17. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, pp. 198, 33 (Chap. 82, 14,
Long Text) and Eph. 3:21, KJV. (Capitalization and italics added.)
18. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 170 (Chap. 68, Long Text).
19. Ibid., p. 202 (Chap. 86), capitals added.
20. For other posts about the world's darkness and pain
see: "God’s 'Tender Mercies' and the World’s (Our) Pain";
also see "The 'Divine Romance,' God's Suffering, and God's 'Pathos'
(or Wrath?)";
Christmas meditations (near the crèche):
