All shall be well: 650 years since Julian of Norwich’s Revelations
Embroidered on the screen that shielded the King from view as he was anointed at his coronation were the words: ‘All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ This is a quotation from the mystic Julian of Norwich, and embodies her spirituality of hope and trust in God’s loving care. Julian had a series of visions on 8th May 1373, after falling ill and coming close to death. She wrote down what she saw, and her reflections on the meaning of these visions, in what is now a profound classic work of English spirituality, as well as the first book in English known to have been written by a woman.
Although she experienced and reflected on these visions 650 years ago, her writing has had a lasting popularity. Partly her fourteenth-century world is perhaps not as far removed from our own experiences in the twenty-first century as we might think. Julian lived through a time of pestilence, war and social unrest and her writings offer a consolation and hope, rooted in God - a consolation and hope that we so badly need in our own day.
Like many mystical writers, Julian has a strong emphasis on the love of God. All God’s actions and purposes, however much beyond our understanding, are for love. In the very last chapter, by way of summary, Julian says,
‘From the time these things were first revealed, I had often wanted to know what was our Lord’s meaning.’ She is given this answer: ‘Love was his meaning. Who showed it you? Love. What did he show you? Love. Why did he show it? For love. Hold on to this and you will know and understand love more and more.’
It is because Julian is so sure of God’s love that she can offer such hope. It isn’t a false optimism, and she is aware of the reality of sin and evil in the world. But she knows that everything is held lovingly in God’s hands. This is clear from one of the most famous of her visions:
‘He [God] showed a little thing the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand as it seemed to me, and it was as round as any ball. I looked therein with the eye of my understanding, and thought: “What may this be?” And it was answered generally thus: “It is all that is made.” I marveled how it might last, for it seemed to me it might suddenly have fallen into nought for its littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: “It lasteth and ever shall, because God loveth it. And so hath all things being by the love of God.’’
One of the most striking things in Julian’s writing is the way she describes the motherhood of God, revealed in Jesus. There are Biblical references to support this, not least the idea of Jesus as the mother hen in Luke 13.34, but Julian develops this idea very profoundly. For instance, she describes the blessed Sacrament, Christ’s body and blood, as like breast milk on which the Christian is nurtured. There is a strong connection for Julian between motherhood and love, and so it is the depth of God’s love that lies behind this maternal imagery.
650 years after her visions, Julian’s writings still have much to teach us about love and hope and trust.
Most holy God, the ground of our beseeching,
who through your servant Julian
revealed the wonders of your love:
grant that as we are created in your nature
and restored by your grace,
our wills may be made one with yours,
that we may come to see you face to face
and gaze on you for ever;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
You can find a short introduction to Julian of Norwich on BBC Sounds (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p03mbhsh) and you can read her book online (https://archive.org/details/showings0000juli).