Ejaculatory Prayer
Prayer: A Journey of Desire
Vocal Prayer However, as I have already noted, in reference to devotional prayer it is noticeable that when Julian turns to her main teaching on prayer in the Long Text, chapter 41, she omits the references in the equivalent part of the Short Text, chapter xix, to conventional vocal prayer such as reciting the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Creed "with such devotion as God will give us."10 In both the Short Text, chapter xxiii and the Long Text, chapters 69 and 70 there seem to be further references to such vocal prayer. Here, Julian mentions her sense of being visited by the devil on her sick bed. "I fixed my eyes on the same cross in which I had seen comfort before, and I occupied my tongue in speaking of Christ's Passion and in repeating the faith of Holy Church" (Short Text, chapter xxiii).
Also "And our good Lord God gave me grace to trust greatly in him, and to comfort my soul by speaking words aloud" (Long Text, chapter 69) and "I set my eyes on the same cross in which I had seen comfort before, my tongue to speaking of Christ's Passion and repeating the faith of Holy
Church" (Long Text, chapter 70). Here vocal prayer seems to mean reciting the Creed and also possibly intercessory prayer.
Ejaculatory Prayer Although Julian does not actively teach the practice of ejaculatory prayer there are numerous examples in the Long Text of her own use of such ejaculations. These are spontaneous short phrases which express strong sentiments such as wonder, gratitude, thanksgiving, or praise of God. As in the case of Julian, these may be spoken out loud. Her usual form of words was to bless God. As already noted, according to manuscript evidence, Julian's ejaculations in chapters 4 and 8 were spoken in Latin.
"And I said: Blessed be the Lord! This I said with a reverent intention and in a loud voice…" (chapter 4). Such phrases may be repeated and become a form of continuous prayer as Julian suggests when she had the initial vision of the bleeding head of Jesus. "I could not stop saying these words:
Blessed be the Lord!" (chapter 8). As we have seen, one of the three main elements of prayer‐as‐relationship in Julian is thanksgiving. "And sometimes the soul is so full of this that it breaks out in words and says: Good
Lord, great thanks, blessed may you be" (chapter 41). In some cases, Julian's ejaculations were spoken in the context of a wider conversation with God or with her vision of Jesus on the cross. "Then our good Lord put a question to me: Are you well satisfied that I suffered for you? I said:
Yes, good Lord, all my thanks to you; yes, good Lord, blessed may you be"
(chapter 22). Finally, Julian suggests that such ejaculations will be the