This is the first in a series of Mystic Moments, each an example of the spiritual teachings of a mystic according to their unique spiritual path. Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, and Protestant mystics have gifted us with insights from their experiential connection with the Divine. We will focus here on brief prayers as in other Moment of Oneness experiences in the Upper Room Community. For your use, spiritual, historical, educational, and documentation resources for that mystic are included at the end of the prayer service.
Mystic Moment: Julian of Norwich, 1342 – c.1415
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OPENING PRAYER:
Beloved Holy One, just as your presence filled Mother Julian of Norwich with joy, hope, desire, and love, may we seek wisdom and courage from her to make your presence in our lives more conscious and vibrant. We desire to be responsive to the blessings, insights, and opportunities you offer us each moment of the day. It is our fervent hope that through Julian’s example we will take courage to make changes in our life that keep us from being more closely immersed in the heart of our Beloved. In the name of Mother Julian, we ask your gentle reminder to reflect the joy of Your Love through a smile to everyone we meet. Amen
MEDITATION HYMN:
All Will Be Well - Julian of Norwich - Warner (Taizé)Notre Dame Newman Centre
Julian’s visions proposed radical new interpretations of major theological topics,
including: God’s love is about compassion, not punishment; the idea of the feminine
face of God; God as our Mother; and our failures are opportunities to learn and grow.
After each of the meditations, which are from the Revelations of our Beloved to
Julian, all are invited to ponder and respond.
Statue of Mother Julian at the Norwich Cathedral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZheba5hjdU
4 minute Introduction
Meditation 1 Julian wrote in “Revelations”
“Everything I say about myself here I mean to apply to all spiritual seekers, for my Beloved has made it clear that He gave these Showings for the good of everyone. So, I advise you for your own benefit to disregard the humble servant to whom the revelation was shown and direct your attention to the One who revealed it. Contemplate your Beloved with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength. In His gracious love and goodness, He desires that this vision be of comfort to us all. We are all One in Love.
It is clear to me that God does not favor me over the simplest soul who loves Him. It is only in unity with my fellow and sister spiritual seekers that I am anything at all. It is this foundation of unity that will save humanity.
He desires us to seek Him. What pleases our Beloved the most is our continual search for Him, fueled by faith, hope, and love. We are to seek for our Beloved with all our might, till we are oned (union) at last. So, this is what I came to understand: that during the time in our life that we struggle and strive, seeking is as good as finding.” (Starr, The Showings, p.23)
WE ALL RESPOND:
Mother Julian, fill us with the same fervor you had for seeing our Beloved all of our days.
PAUSE FOR A MINUTE TO REFLECT ON A LINE FROM MEDITATION 1 THAT SPOKE TO YOU.
Meditation 2 During a century of extreme patriarchy, Julian wrote:
“As truly as God is our Father, so truly is God our Mother. Our Father wills, our Mother works, and our Beloved Holy Spirit, empowers. And so, by participating in our creation, Jesus is our true Mother in nature. All the loving tasks and sweet natural tasks of motherhood belong to Jesus our Beloved. I saw three ways to look at the Motherhood of God. The first is that She created our human nature. The second is She took our human nature upon Herself, which is where the Motherhood of grace begins. And the third is Motherhood in action, in which She spreads herself throughout all that is, penetrating everything with grace extending love to the fullest length and breadth, height and depth. All One Love. (Starr, The Showings, p.164.)
WE ALL RESPOND:
Mother Julian help us to sharpen our awareness so we see the face of the Divine Feminine in all of nature, whisper in our ear how to soften our response when we feel angry and hurtful toward others.
PAUSE FOR A MINUTE TO REFLECT ON A LINE FROM MEDITATION 2 THAT SPOKE TO YOU.
Meditation 3 In “Revelations, Chapter 27, 13th Revelation, Julian wrote:
“Our Beloved said to me: ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’
“I thought: but how can this be? This is the great mystery intended by our Beloved from eternity, treasured and hidden in His heart, known only to Himself. By this act He will make all things well, for just as the blessed Trinity made everything from nothing, just so will the same Trinity make everything wrong to be well. And I was overcome with wonder at this: our faith is grounded in God’s Word, and whoever believes in that Word will be preserved completely. Now we see and experience horrors and woes every day, and it seemed impossible to me that everything should be well, as our Beloved had shown me by revelation. His answer is this:”
‘What is impossible for you is not impossible for Me. I shall honor My Word in everything and I shall make everything well.’
So I was instructed by the Beloved to hold steadfastly to the faith, and at the same time, to believe firmly that everything will turn out for the best. For this is the great action that our Beloved will accomplish, and in this action, He will keep his Word entirely. And what is not well, shall be made well.”
Our contemporary, Matthew Fox writes: One can hope that Julian’s deep feminism and love attracts the future of spirituality, now that our species faces not only a deadly pandemic, but an even more deadly climate change emergency, along with other calamities and extinctions, will bring even more viruses along with it. Only such a quiet revolution will ensure her mighty vision might someday come true and that “all might be well.” (Fox, p. xxxix)
PAUSE FOR A MINUTE TO REFLECT ON A LINE FROM MEDITATION 3 THAT SPOKE TO YOU.
Thank you for your interest and support.
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