Julian Meeting. 19th June 2024

XXVI

‘It is I’

Our Protector showed Himself in all His splendour, more so than I had yet seen Him.  From this I learned that our souls will never be at rest until they come to Him in the knowledge that He is the fullness of joy, intimate and welcoming, full of delight and the very essence of life. Our Protector Jesus said over and over, “It is I, I am the One: I am the One who is highest, I am the One you love, I am all that you enjoy, I am what you serve, I am that which you long for most, I am all that you desire, I am who lives in your thoughts, I am everything. It is I the Church teaches to you, and it is I who have shown Myself to you here.” He said this so many times that the words were too many for me to grasp; they were beyond my strength to comprehend.

Sanna, Ellyn. All Shall Be Well: A Modern-Language Version of the Revelation of Julian of Norwich (p. 119).

+

XXVIII

Christ Lives in our Love for Each Other.

I saw that our Protector takes joy in His servants’ troubles even as He feels both compassion and sorrow. In the lives of all whom He loves, He allows some trouble to enter. These trials are not punishments; in His eyes they have no shame, even though others may regard them with scorn, mockery, and rejection. When we are abused and violated, snatched out of our sense of who we are, we are at the same time rescued from this life’s emptiness, and our path toward Heaven then lies more clearly before us. There we will experience endless delight. For He said to me: “I will smash your empty desires and your unhealthy selfishness—and after that, I will gather you together, completely clean, completely whole, with all your hardness and rigidity melted and softened, made one with Me.”

Sanna, Ellyn. All Shall Be Well. (p. 127).

Julian Meeting. 12th June 2024

Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.
Here is the citadel of all my desiring,
where my hopes are born
and all the deep resolutions of my spirit take wings.
In this center, my fears are nourished,
and all my hates are nurtured.
Here my loves are cherished,
and all the deep hungers of my spirit are honored
without quivering and without shock.
In my heart, above all else,
let thy love and integrity envelop me
until my love is perfected and the last vestige
of my desiring is no longer in conflict with thy Spirit.
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.

+

Open unto me, light for my darkness
Open unto me, courage for my fear
Open unto me, hope for my despair
5Open unto me, peace for my turmoil
Open unto me, joy for my sorrow
Open unto me, strength for my weakness
Open unto me, wisdom for my confusion
Open unto me, forgiveness for my sins
10 Open unto me, tenderness for my toughness
Open unto me, love for my hates
Open unto me, Thy Self for myself
Lord, Lord, open unto me!

Howard Thurman

Julian Meeting. 5th June 2024

Holy Scripture says that God dwells in inaccessible darkness to the spirit of man, but when he introduces a soul into that darkness it becomes luminous to it. Then can it see all without seeing anything, it can hear all without hearing, and gain knowledge without knowing anything. This is called wise ignorance, or, as St. Denis explains it, the darkness of the light of faith. All that is necessary to know about it is that it is an operation of grace; allow yourself to be immersed in it with joy, let yourself be engulfed and lost in it as much as God pleases.

De Caussade, Jean-Pierre. Abandonment to Divine Providence: With Letters of Father de Caussade on the Practice of Self-Abandonment (p. 142). Ignatius Press.

+

To remain in a kind of inactivity, like an empty space, or a mere instrument waiting for the master-hand of the worker, is another operation of grace. In this state you have only to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Wait patiently in silence and resignation, as the holy king, David, said, “Like a servant waits with her eyes fixed on her mistress to forestall and accomplish her commands at the least sign from her”; if nothing is said, still wait in the same interior spirit of submission and abandonment.

De Caussade, Jean-Pierre. Abandonment to Divine Providence: With Letters of Father de Caussade on the Practice of Self-Abandonment (pp. 142-143). Ignatius Press.

Julian Meeting 29th May 2024

Fervour. J H Newman

Give to us, O Lord, that life suited to our own needs, which is stored up for us all in Him who is the life of humanity.

Teach us and enable us to live the life of saints and angels.

Take us out of the languor, the irritability, the sensitiveness, the incapability, the anarchy in which our souls lie, and fill them with Your fullness.

Breathe on us, that the dead bones may live.

Breathe on us, with that breath which infuses energy and kindles fervour.

In asking for faithfulness, we ask for all that we can need and all that You can give: for it is the crown of all gifts and all virtues.

In asking for faithfulness we are asking for effectual strength, consistency and perseverance: we are asking for deadness to human motives and simplicity of intention to please You: we are asking for faith, hope and charity in their most heavenly exercise.

In asking for fervour we are asking for the gift of prayer, because it will be so sweet: we are asking for that loyal perception of duty which follows on yearning affection.

+

We are asking for sanctity, peace and joy, all at once.

In asking for fervour, we are asking for that which, while it implies all gifts, is that in which all signally fail.

Nothing would be a trouble to us, nothing a difficulty, had we but fervour of soul.

Lord, in asking for fervour we are asking for Yourself: for nothing short of You, O God, who has given Yourself wholly to us.

Enter our hearts substantially and personally and fill them with fervour by filling them with You.

You alone can fill our souls, and You have promised to do so.

Enter into us and set us on fire, after Your pattern and likeness.

Julian Meeting 22nd May 2024

To be calm and quiet by yourself is not the same as sleeping. In fact, it means being fully awake and following with close attention every move going on inside of you. It requires the discipline to recognize the urge to get up and go as a temptation to look elsewhere for what is really close at hand. It offers the freedom to stroll through your own inner yard and rake up the leaves and clear the path so you can easily find the way to your heart. Perhaps there will be fear and uncertainty when you first come upon this “unfamiliar terrain,” but slowly and surely you will discover an order and a familiarity that deepens your longing to stay home with yourself.

Nouwen, Henri J. M. ‘You are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living’ (p. 135). John Murray Press.

The great spiritual task facing us is to so fully trust that we belong to God that we can be free in the world—free to speak even when our words are not received; free to act when our actions are criticized, ridiculed, or considered useless; free also to receive love from people and to be grateful for all the signs of God’s presence in the world.  We will truly be able to love the world when we fully believe that we are loved far beyond its boundaries.

Nouwen, Henri J. M.. You are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living (p. 389). John Murray Press.