Mother Julian
Today with Julian, March 15th
Lent I, Saturday
As long as I saw the vision of the plenteous bleeding of the head,
I never stopped saying these words: “Benedicite domine!”
And in this showing I saw six things:
The first is the tokens of the blessed passion
and the plenteous shedding of His precious blood.
The second is the maiden who is His dearworthy mother.
The third is the blissful Godhead, that ever was, and ever shall be,
almighty, all wisdom, and all love.
The fourth is all things that He has made,
for well I understand that heaven and earth,
and all that is made, is great and large, fair and good,
but it was shown as so little to my sight
because I saw it in the presence of He who is creator of all,
and by comparison all creation seems so small.
For to a soul that sees the creator of all, all creation seems so small.
The fifth is that He made all things for love,
and by that same love all things are kept safe, and shall be without end.
The sixth is that God is everything that is good, as I see it,
and the goodness inherent in all things is God.
(Mother Julian, Chapter 8)
Julian gives us a summary of the six things she has learned from the first showing, the profuse bleeding of Christ’s head under the crown of thorns. We may be impressed and inspired by the wealth of understanding which comes to her from this vision, a vision which we ourselves may want to shy away from. Though many people quote many passages from Julian’s work, rarely do we see a quotation describing the horrible physicality of the crucifixion. Yet it is in this horrible physicality of “plenteous blood” That Julian receives the deeply profound sense of God’s unconditional love.
Lord, increase in my mind a knowledge of your passion, that you may increase in my heart a knowledge of your love. Amen.
~ Will, ObJN
Ye Bow & Shuttle 