Selections from Julian’s 16 Showings
*"All his revelation was shown in three ways … by what I saw with my
eyes, by words formed in my understanding, and by spiritual insight."*
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Bibliography for quotations
Del Mastro, M.L. (translator), Revelations of Divine Love of Juliana of
Norwich: New York: Doubleday, 1977
Furlong, Monica (compiler), The Wisdom of Julian of Norwich
Oxford: Lion Publishing, 1996
Upjohn, Sheila, All Shall be Well
London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1996*
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Chapter 1- Del Mastro translation - page 81
The first showing is of his precious crowning with thorns. In it are
contained and specified the *blessed Trinity, with the Incarnation, and
the uniting of man’s soul with God*. There are also many fair showing
and teachings of *eternal wisdom and love*. In these, all the showings
that follow are grounded and joined.
Reference: Chapter 8 - pp. 94-96 in Del Mastro translation - abridged
quotations
1. Tokens of the blessed passion and the abundant shedding of his
precious blood
2. The maiden who is his excellent mother
3. The blissful Godhead that ever was, is, and shall be, Almighty,
All-wisdom and All-love
4. All things he has made. I know well that heaven and earth and all
that is made is great, large, fair and good. The reason it looked so
little to me was that I saw it in the presence of him who made it all. …
5. He who made all things for love, keeps them in the same love and
shall do so forever.
6. God is everything that is good, as I see it, and the goodness
anything has is he.
*Upjohn text page 9:*
Therefore I pray you all, for God’s sake, and I tell you for your own
good, that you do not let your eyes dwell on the humble woman this was
shown to, but let your sight go beyond - and wisely, humbly, and
mightily behold God who, by his courteous love and endless goodness,
wishes it to be widely known to comfort us all.
*Second- discolouring of his face*
*Chapter 10 - Upjohn text pages 12-16:*
Altar from church of St Julian, Norwich*"I saw how he was scorned, and
spat on, and sullied and beaten - and many long-drawn agonies … I saw
this with my outward sight, dimly and darkly, and I asked for better
light, so as to see more clearly.*
*And I was answered in my mind: ‘If God wills to show you more, he will
be your light. You have need of none but him.’ For I saw him while I
sought him.*
*For here we are so blind and foolish that we never look for God until
he, in his goodness, shows himself to us. When we see something of him,
though his grace, then we are guided by the same grace to seek him with
great longing, and to see him more joyfully."*
*Two works that can be seen in this showing: one is seeking, the other
is seeing:*
* *The seeking is common to all - that is, every soul can have by his
grace - and ought to have, the discernment and teaching of holy church.*
* *It is God’s will that we have three things in our seeking:*
1. *That we seek willingly and actively, without sloth (as we can
through his grace), gladly and happily, without foolish sadness and
empty sorrow.*
2. *That we wait upon him steadfastly for love, not grumbling and
striving against him, until our life’s end - for it lasts so short a
time*
3. *That we trust him completely with certainty of faith. For it is his
will that we know he will come suddenly and joyfully to all who love
him. For his way is secret, his will is to be seen, his coming shall
be right sudden, and his will is to be trusted. For he is gracious
and homely. Blessed may he be!*
*…And so I was taught in my mind that seeking is as good as seeing
during the time he lets the soul labour.*
*And he himself shall teach a soul how it may come to have a sight of
him. And this is most glory to him and profit to you, and the richest
way to receive meekness and virtue by the guidance of the Holy Ghost.*
*Third- "I saw God in a point - that is to say, I saw him in my
understanding"*
Chapter 11 - Upjohn text page 17:*
"And I thought: ‘What is sin?’ For I saw in truth that God does all
things, no matter how small they may be. And I saw that *nothing happens
by chance, but by far-sighted wisdom of God*. If it seems like chance or
accident to us, it is because we are blind and blinkered …And here I saw
truly that sin has no substance, for in all this there was never a sight
of sin. And so the rightfulness of God’s work was shown to my soul.
Rightfulness has two good properties: it is right and it is complete -
and so are the works of our Lord God. They need the operation of neither
mercy nor grace, for they are complete and lack nothing."
*Fourth - Vision of Jesus’ Scourging*
*How it pleases God better to wash us clean from sin in his blood rather
than in water, for his blood is most precious*
*Chapter 12 - Del Mastro text page 103:*
"The precious plenty of his most highly valued blood overflows the
entire earth, and is ready to wash clean from sin all creatures who are,
have been, and shall be of good will. It descended down into hell and…
delivered all those there who belonged to the court of heaven….(It)
ascends into heaven in the blessed body of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is
there in him bleeding, praying for us to the Father; it is and shall be
as long as there is need. It flows in all of heaven forever*, enjoying
the salvation of all mankind* who are there, and *it shall fill up the
number that is lacking [of those who are to be saved.]"*
Fifth - "the fiend" is overcome by the precious Passion of Christ
Chapter 13 - Upjohn text pages 20-21
"And after this, before God spoke any word, he allowed me to look upon
him for a while. And all that I had seen and all the meaning of it was
there, as far as the simplicity of my soul could understand it. Then he…
formed these words in my soul: ‘By this [his Passion] is the fiend
overcome.’
God showed that the fiend has the same malice now as he had before the
incarnation. And, hard as he works, so he continually sees that *all the
souls of salvation escape him, gloriously, by virtue of Christ’s Passion*…
For all that God allows him to do turns to joy to us, and shame and woe
to him … he can never do as much evil as he would like, *for his power
is all taken into God’s hands*.
*But in God there is no anger*… For (He) always has in his mind *his own
goodness and the rewarding of those who shall be saved*. He sets his
might and his right in the path of the Evil One, who, for wickedness and
malice, busies himself to plot and work against God’s will … I saw the
Lord scorn the devil’s malice and expose his lack of power - and he
wills that we should do so, too.
*Because of this sight I laughed aloud and made those who were round me
laugh too, and their laughing rejoiced my heart....*
I see three things*: joy, scorn, and truth*. …. Joy that the fiend is
overcome… scorn because God scorns him and he shall be scorned hereafter
… truth in that he is overcome by the blessed Passion and death of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, which was done in truth and with hard labour.’
I thought of Judgement Day and of all those who shall be saved, whose
happiness he greatly envies … he shall see that *all the grief and
trouble he has brought upon them shall be turned into even greater joy
for them, without end*."
*Sixth - Gratitude full of honour with which God rewards his servants,
and its three joys - vision of a great feast in heaven*
*Chapter 14 - Upjohn text pages 22-23*
"..The Lord did not sit in state.. but ranged royally through the whole
house, filling it full of joy and laughter. He himself, courteously and
companionably, greeted and delighted his dear friends with love shining
from his fair face like a marvellous melody that has no end.
God showed *three kinds of joy* that every soul that has served God
willingly on earth shall have in heaven.
1. The *wonderful thanks of our Lord God*, which shall be his as soon
as he is delivered from this world’s pain… so great and glorious
that he will think it fills him to the brim … all the toil and
trouble that all mortal men together could suffer would not be
enough to deserve the glorious thanks that just one man shall have
who has served God willingly
2. This glorious thanksgiving shall be seen by all the blessed souls
that are in heaven. For God makes a man’s service to him known to
all the heavenly host … if a king thanks his servants, it is great
praise to them. But if he makes it known throughout his kingdom,
then the glory is that much greater.
3. That the freshness and delight of that moment shall last forever.
…No matter when, or for how long, a man or woman is truly turned to God,
*even for one day’s service given with his whole will,* he shall have
all three kinds of joy without end.
*And the more a loving soul sees this graciousness of God, the more he
wants to serve him all the days of his life.*
Seventh - Our frequent alterations of feelings - between "well being and
woe", both of which express the same love
Chapter 14 - Upjohn text pages 22-23
"…. God wants us to know that he keeps us safe through good and ill.
For his soul’s sake a man is sometimes left on his own, but his sin is
not always the cause. For during this time I did not sin, so why should
I have been forsaken - and so suddenly? Also I did nothing to deserve
this feeling of bliss.
But our Lord freely *gives what it is his will to give, ad sometimes
lets us suffer woe - and both are part of one love. For bliss is lasting
and pain is passing, and shall come to nothing for those who shall be
saved* … it is not God’s will that we should linger over pain with
sorrow… but that we should *pass quickly through it to joy without end*."
*Eighth - The last pains of Christ and his cruel death*
*Chapter 18 - Del Mastro text page 111*
"For it seemed to me my pain went beyond bodily death. I thought, "Is
any pain in hell like this?" And I was answered in my reason, "Hell has
another pain, for despair is there. But *of all the pains that lead to
salvation, the greatest is to see your love suffer*." How could any pain
be greater to me than to see him, who is all my life, all my bliss and
joy, suffer?
Here I felt truthfully that I loved Christ himself so much more than
myself that there was no pain that could be suffered like the sorrow I
had to see him in pain."
*Ninth - Pleasure in the blessed Trinity because of the accomplishment
of the Passion and death of Christ.*
*"In this joy and pleasure, he wills we have solace and mirth with him,
until we come to the full glory in heaven."*
*Chapter 23 - Del Mastro text pages 119-121*
"And in these words [of Christ], ‘It is a joy, a bliss, and endless
delight to me,’, three heavens were showed, as follows:
For the joy I understood the pleasure of the Father, for the bliss, the
glorification of the Son and for the endless delight, the Holy Spirit…
It is God’s will that we take true delight with him in our salvation
that is why he wills that our souls be cheerfully occupied with his
grace, for we are his bliss."
*Tenth - Jesus shows his heart cloven in two for love (the wound in His
side)*
*Chapter 24 - Upjohn text page 40*
"And there he showed a fair and lovely place, large enough for all
mankind that shall be saved to rest in peace and love.... And in this
dear sight she showed his blessed heart split clean in two.
And also, so that I should understand better, these words were spoken:
"Look how I loved you. Look and see that I loved you so much before I
died for you that I was ready to die for you, and now I have died for
you, and suffered of my own free will so I could do it.
And now all my bitter pain and agony is turned into endless joy for you
and me. How could it be that now you should ask me anything that pleases
me and I should not grant it you? For *my pleasure is your holiness and
in the endless joy and bliss you share with me*.’"
Eleventh - "a noble, spiritual showing of his excellent mother"
Three images: as she conceived, as she was in her sorrows at the Cross,
and as she is now in delight, glory and joy
*Chapter 25 - Upjohn text page 41*
" ‘Can you see in her how you yourself are loved? It was for love of you
that I made her so high, so noble, and so good. And this brings me great
joy - and I want it to bring you joy, too.’
But in all this I was taught not to wish to see her bodily presence
while I am here on earth, but to want to understand the virtues of her
soul - *her truth, her wisdom, and her love*. Through understanding this
I can learn to know myself and reverently praise God."
*Twelfth - Our Lord God is Being All-Sovereign*
*Chapter 26 - Del Mastro text page 123*
"Our Lord showed himself more glorious in my sight than I had ever seen
him before. In this I was taught that our soul shall never have rest
until it comes to him, knowing that he is *the fullness of joy*,
familiarly and courteously blissful, and *life itself*.
Our Lord Jesus frequently said, 'I am it! I am the one! I am that which
is the highest! I am what you love! I am what delights you! I am the one
you serve! I am what you long for! I am what you desire! I am what you
intend! I am all! I am what holy Church preaches and teaches you! I am
the one who has shown myself to you here.' "
*Thirteenth - God wills that we have great regards for his deeds and the
nobility of his creation*
"Behold and see! For by the same might, wisdom, and goodness that I have
done all this, I shall make well all that is not well, and you will see it."
*Chapter 27 - Del Mastro text pages 123-125*
"It seemed to me that, if sin had not existed, we would all have been
pure and like Our Lord, as he made us. Thus, in my folly, before this
time, I often wondered why, by the great foreseeing wisdom of God, the
beginning of sin had not been prevented, for then, I thought, all would
have been well.
This stirring definitely ought to have been given up; nevertheless, I
mourned and sorrowed on its account without reason or discretion. But
Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all I needed to know, answered
in these words, saying:
*/"Sin is necessary, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and
all manner of things shall be well."/*
…. I saw a *marvellous, lofty secret hidden in God*, which he shall make
known openly to us in heaven. In knowing it we shall see in truth the
reason why he allowed sin to come, and in this sight we shall endlessly
rejoice in our Lord God."
*Fourteenth- God is the ground of our prayer*
*Chapter 42 - Del Mastro text pages 147-152*
"Our Lord God wills that we have true understanding, especially of the
three things that belong to our prayer
* The first is from whom and how our prayer springs us. He shows "from
whom" when he says, 'I am the ground'; 'how' is goodness, for he
says, 'it is my will, first."
* ….we should pray in such a way that our will is turned toward the
will of God, rejoicing
…. we know that the fruit and end of our prayers is to be made one with
Our Lord and to live for him in all things …our prayers and our trust
should be equally far reaching."
Of the *properties of the Trinity*; how man's soul, a creature, has the
same properties, doing what it was made for: *seeing, contemplating, and
marvelling at its God*; and that, by so doing, it seems as nothing to
itself:
*"Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God. From these two comes the
third, which is a holy, marvellous delight in God, who is love. Where
truth and wisdom are, in truth, there is love, coming in reality from
both of them, and all are of God's making. For he is endless sovereign
truth, endless sovereign wisdom and endless sovereign love, all of them
uncreated.*
*And man's soul is a creature of God that has the same properties in
created form. It does forever what it was made for: it sees God, it
contemplates God, and it loves God. Because of this, God rejoices in the
creature and the creature rejoices in God, marvelling endlessly. In this
marvelling, it sees its God, its Lord, its maker - so noble, so great,
and so good that the creature seems like nothing to itself. But the
brightness and clearness of truth and wisdom make it see and recognise
that it is made for the love in which God endlessly preserves it."*
*Fifteenth - Joy, Bliss, and Heaven*
*Chapter 64 - Upjohn text page 148*
It is wholly blessed when man is taken from pain …and so it is a
wonderful comfort to the beloved soul….
It is God's will that we should set the point of our thought in this
blessed sight as often as we can, and remain there as long as we can, by
God's grace. … afterwards, when we fall back into our sadness and our
spiritual blindness, and in our frailty are prey to pains - both bodily
and spiritual - it is God's will that we know he has not forgotten us.
*Sixteenth - Glorious Sight of the Soul - in it the Trinity rejoices*
*Chapter 67 - Del Mastro text pages 206-207*
The place that Jesus takes in our soul he shall never remove himself
from, without end, as I see it. For in us is his most homelike home and
his endless dwelling. This he showed in the delight he takes in the
creation of man's soul. For as well as the Father could make a creature
and as well as the Son could make a creature, so well did the Holy
Spirit will that man's soul be made - and so was it done. Therefore the
blessed Trinity rejoices without end in the creation of man's soul, for
he saw without beginning what would please him without end.
Sin
I did not see sin, for I believe it has no kind of substance… *Chapter 38:* God also showed that sin would be no shame but an honour to man, for just as for every sin there is an answering pain in reality, so for every sin bliss is given to the same soul. Just as different sins are punished by different pains according to their seriousness, so shall they be rewarded by different joys in heaven according to the pain and sorrow they have caused the soul on earth. For the soul that shall come to heaven is so precious to God, and the place itself so glorious, that the goodness of God never allows the soul which will come there to sin without giving it a reward for suffering that sin. The sin suffered is made known without end, and the soul is blissfully restored by exceeding glories. In this sight my understanding was lifted up into heaven, and there God suggested to my mind David and others without number in the Old Law. In the New Law he brought to my mind first how Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, Thomas of India, Jude, Saint John of Beverley and others, also without number, are known in the Church on earth with their sins, and how these sins are no shame to them but have been transformed to their glory. By this honour, our courteous Lord shows for them here, in part, something similar to what is done for them in fullness there, for there the token of sin is transformed into glory. *Chapter 48:* Mercy is a property full of pity, which belongs to the motherhood [of Christ] in tender love. Grace is a glorious property, which belongs to the royal lordship in the same love. Mercy brings about preserving, suffering, bringing to life and helping, and all these come from the tenderness of love. Grace brings about raising and rewarding, endlessly surpassing what our loving and our bitter labour deserve, as it spreads abroad and shows the noble, abundant largess of God's royal lordship in his marvellous courtesy. This comes from the abundance of love. Grace transforms our failings full of dread into abundant, endless comfort … our failings full of shame into a noble, glorious rising … our dying full of sorrow into holy, blissful life. …. Just as our contrariness here on earth brings us pain, shame and sorrow, so grace brings us surpassing comfort, glory, and bliss in heaven … And that shall be a property of blessed love, that we shall know in God, which we might never have known without first experiencing woe. *Chapter 61* And in our spiritual bringing forth [Jesus] uses tenderness beyond comparison in keeping us - more than he used in our bodily bringing forth by as much as our soul's worth is greater in his sight than our body's. He kindles our understanding, he prepares our ways, he eases our conscience, he comforts our soul, he lightens our heart, and gives us, in part, a knowing and loving in his blessed, blissful godhead, with the gracious mentality of his sweet manhood and his blessed passion, and with a courteous marvelling at his noble, surpassing goodness. He makes us love all that he loves for his love, and be well satisfied with him and with all his works…. And yet after this he allows some of us to fall harder and more seriously than we have ever done before, as we imagine. And then we suppose that we are not entirely wise, and that all we have begun is nothing. But this is not so. For it is necessary for us to fall, and it is necessary for us to see it. If we did not fall, we would not know how feeble and wretched we are of ourselves, nor should we know so fully the marvellous love of our maker…. We shall se in truth that we never lost any of his love, nor were we ever of less worth in his sight. And by the test of this failure we shall have a noble and marvellous knowing of love in God…. (which) cannot be broken on account of trespass….. He wills that we take ourselves with great strength to the faith of holy Church and find there our most precious mother in comfort and true understanding with the whole communion of blessed ones. For a person by himself can frequently be broken, as it seems to himself, but the whole body of holy Church was never broken and never shall be, without end. Therefore it is a sure thing, a good thing, and a gracious thing to will meekly and powerfully to be fastened and joined to our mother, holy Church - that is Christ Jesus
God our Mother
It is a lofty understanding inwardly to see and to know *that God, who is our maker, dwells in our soul, and it is a still loftier and greater understanding inwardly to see and to know that our soul, which is created, dwells in God's substance*. From this substance we are what we are, by God. I saw no difference between God and our substance, but saw it as if it were all God. And yet my understanding accepted the fact that our substance is in God; that is to say that God is God and our substance is a creature in God. *For the Almighty Truth of the Trinity is our Father, for he made us and preserves us in himself; the deep wisdom of the Trinity is our mother, in whom we are enclosed; the lofty goodness of the Trinity is our Lord, and in him we are enclosed and he in us.* We are enclosed in the Father, we are enclosed in the Son, and we are enclosed in the Holy Spirit. The Father is enclosed in us - All-power, All-wisdom, and All-goodness: one God, one Lord." (/pages 179-180/) "God, the blessed Trinity, who is everlasting Being, just as he is endless from without beginning, so it was in his endless purpose to make man. This fair nature was first prepared for his own Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, and when he willed it with the full agreement of the whole Trinity, he made us all at once. In our making he first knitted us and joined us to himself. By this joining we are kept as clean and as noble as we created to be. By virtue of that same previous joining, we love our maker and become like him, praise him and thank him, and endlessly rejoice in him. And this is the work that is wrought continuously in every soul that shall be saved. This is the 'goodly will' I mentioned before. And thus in our creation *God Almighty is our natural father, and God all-wisdom is our natural mother, with the love and goodness of the Holy Spirit*. These are all one God, one Lord. In the knitting and joining he is our real, true spouse and we are his loved wife and his fair maiden. …. In our Father Almighty we have our preservation and our bliss, as far as our natural substance, which we have from our creation without beginning, is concerned. In the Second Person we have our preservation, in wit and wisdom, as far as our sensuality, our restoring and our saving are concerned. For he is our mother, brother and saviour. And in our good Lord the Holy Spirit we have our rewarding and our harvest for our living and our bitter labour, endlessly surpassing all that we desire in his marvellous courtesy from his lofty, plenteous grace. All our life is in *three modes*. In the first is our being. In the second we have our increasing. And in the third we have our fulfilling. The first is *nature*. The second is *mercy*. The third is *grace*. ….The Second, most precious, Person, who is our substantial mother has now become our sensual mother, for we are double by God's making, that is to say, substantial and sensual. Our substance is the higher part that we have in our father, God Almighty. The Second Person of the Trinity is our mother in nature, in our substantial making. *In him we are grounded and rooted, and he is our mother by mercy in our sensuality, by taking flesh*. Thus our mother, Christ, in whom our parts are kept unseparated, works in us in various ways. For in our mother, Christ, we profit and increase, and in mercy he reforms and restores us, and by virtue of his passion, death, and resurrection joins us to our substance. This is how our mother, Christ, works in mercy in all his beloved children who are submissive and obedient to him…. *Our substance is whole in each person of the Trinity, which is one God*. *Our sensuality is only in the Second Person, Christ Jesus, in whom are the Father and the Holy Spirit*. In him and by him we are powerfully taken out of hell, and out of the wretchedness on earth, and are gloriously brought up into heaven and blissfully joined to our substance, increased in richness and nobility by all the virtue of Christ and by the grace and working of the Holy Spirit." (/pages 187-189/) "[Christ] Our natural mother, our gracious mother, because he willed to become our mother in everything, took the ground for his work most humbly and most mildly in the maiden's womb…. Our high *God, the sovereign wisdom of all, arrayed himself in this low place and made himself entirely ready in our poor flesh* in order to do the service and the office of motherhood himself in all things. …. A mother can give her child milk to suck, *but our precious mother, Jesus, can feed us with himself*. He does so most courteously and most tenderly, with the Blessed Sacrament, which is the precious food of true life. With all the sweet sacraments he sustains us most mercifully and graciously. That is what he meant in these blessed words, where he said, 'I am that which holy Church preaches and teaches you,' that is to say, *'All the health and life of the sacraments, all the virtue and grace of my word, all the goodness that is ordained for you in holy Church, that I am*.' " (/pages 191-192/) "To motherhood as properties belong *natural love, wisdom and knowledge* - *and this is God*. For though it is true that our bodily bringing forth is very little, low, and simple compared to our spiritual bringing forth, yet it is he who does the mothering in the creatures by whom it is done. The natural loving mother, who recognises and knows the need of her child, takes care of it most tenderly, as the nature and condition of motherhood will do. And continually, as the child grows in age and size, she changes what she does, but not her love. When the child has grown older, she allows it to be punished, breaking down vices to enable the child to receive virtues and grace. This work, with all that is fair and good, our Lord does in those by whom it is done. Thus *he is our mother in nature, by the working of grace in the lower part of love for the higher. And he wills that we know it, for he wills to have all our love fastened to him.* In this I saw that all the debts we owe, by God's command, to fatherhood and motherhood by reason of God's fatherhood and motherhood, are repaid in the true loving of God. This blessed love Christ works in us. And this was showed in everything, especially in the noble, plenteous words, where he says, 'I am what you love.' " (/page 193/)
