Wounded by God

The Three Wounds of Saint Cecelia, Cathedral of Saint Cecelia, Albi, France

Today with Julian – January 21st
Julian Requests the Third Gift from God

For the iii gift,
by the grace of God and teachyng of holy church,*
I conceived a mighty desire
to receive iii wounds in my life:
that is to sey:
i. The wound of true Contrition,
ii. The wound of kinde [natural] Compassion,
iii. And the wound of willful longing to God.

And all this last petition I asked without any condition.
The first ii desires foresaid passid fro my minde, [vision of the Passion, and a deadly illness]
and the iiid dwelled with me continually.

(Mother Julian, Chapter 2)

*In the short version of her text, written just after the revelations, Julian recounts her knowledge of a story of Saint Cecelia, who is supposed to have suffered martyrdom by three sword wounds to her neck. Julian sees this as a metaphor for three spiritual wounds she wishes to receive from God.

These “wounds” are like the marks in the flesh from a hot branding iron. As a farm animal is branded with the identifying mark of its owner, so Julian wished to be marked as God’s own, and her three “wounds” are three “brands.”

Many people claim that there is no “ladder of perfection” in Julian’s writing – no ascent to scale to reach sainthood – for one already completely belongs to God. But there is a ladder of perfection in this passage. Not a ladder to be climbed to achieve grace, for grace is freely and proactively given. But it is an ascent of spiritual awareness that she describes:

1. True Contrition – sorrow for one’s own sins
2. Natural Compassion – heartfelt sympathy for Christ in His pains
3. A steadfast, willful longing for the presence of God

We accept (not fretting over) our own shortcomings. This honest self perception clears the way for us to focus not on ourselves but upon Christ, compassionately sharing His suffering that resulted from His selfless love for us. And this identity with Christ brings about the conversion we seek – to be changed into a person who constantly, ceaselessly, and with heartfelt intent, longs for union with God.

Unlike her first two requests, which seemed to her to be for extraordinary gifts, the third gift she seeks is to be marked as God’s own forever. This she can ask without worry, and of the three desires it is the one that remained constantly on her mind. And it is this wish to be marked as Christ’s own that brought about reception of the first two gifts: a sickness near to death in which she had a vivid vision of the Passion of Christ.

Beloved, let us pray for these wounds, that we may be marked as Christ’s own forever.

~ Will, ObJN