My recent experiences with deep suffering cause me to introduce Lady Julian of Norwich who lived 1342-1416. Little is known about this amazing person of faith. Bubonic plague, the ‘black death’, swept through Norwich three times during the course of her life. It is very unlikely that any families would have remained untouched by the ravages of the plague. Virtually every person living in Norwich would have known great hardship through the loss of many loved ones: relatives, friends and neighbours. Indeed, if Julian had married (which probably would have been around the age of fifteen) then she could have lost both husband and children.
Whatever her family circumstances, Julian received sufficient education to become the first woman known to have written a book in English. The book, The Revelations of Divine Love, reflects her own life experiences of remarkable faith.
As a young woman she desperately longed to understand Jesus and his sufferings. A. W. Tozer in his excellent book, Man the Dwelling Place of God, writes of Lady Julian and cites her personal prayer: "'O God, please give me three wounds; the wound of contrition and the wound of compassion and the wound of longing after God.' Then she added this little postscript which I think is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read: "This I ask without condition." She wasn't dickering with God. She wanted three things and they were all for God's glory: 'I ask this without condition, Father; do what I ask and then send me the bill. Anything that it costs will be all right with me.'" http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/tozer/5j00.0010/5j00.0010.25.htm has the text of the entire book. (Paste this link to read the chapter.)
Julian prayed what I would deem, a dangerous prayer, a prayer that places no conditions on God, simply invites his work. It is important to note as well that Julian would have heard many sermons around two themes dominant at that time: death and judgment and, secondly, the passion and death of Jesus. Again, death was known personally by virtually every family through the outbreaks of plague and the hundred years war with France (1337-1453).
At the age of thirty Julian became deathly ill and her dangerous prayer appeared destined to go unanswered. Hope for her recovery was gone and last rites were administered. Miracously at the point of death, Julian experienced a dramatic change in her health. All pain was gone. It was at this point that she experienced the first of 16 "showings" or visions from God focusing on the Passion of Christ.
After recovering from her illness, she recorded her experiences and committed herself to a life of prayer and contemplation, pledging this as an anchoress. An anchoress is a woman who is called to a solitary life (and yet not a life cut off from the world but anchored in it). She lived in a small room attached to the church that now bears her name. The room had three small windows: one opening into the church so that she could hear and receive Mass; one through which she spoke to her servant; and one through which she spoke to the many people who came to her for prayer and her uncommon wisdom. She is virtually unknown but it is possible that during one of the darkests points of human history, hundreds of people were humbly ministered to by this little known follower of Jesus. Out of the deep sorrow of her life and her own spiritual encounters, God uniquely equipped her. It reminds me that our sorrows are never wasted.
The Apostle Paul writes, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the god of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God," II Corinthians 1:3-4.
Post new comment