From The Sixteenth Revelation
FROM THE SIXTEENTH REVELATION
'The place which Jesus takes in our soul he will nevermore vacate, for in us is his horrie of homes and '' his everlasting dwelling, A nd then our good Lord opened my spiritual eye,
JjL and showed me my soul in the midst of my heart.
I saw the soul as wide as if it were an endless citadel, and also as if it were a blessed kingdom, and from the • state which I saw in it, I understood that it is a fine city. In the midst of that city sits our Lord Jesus, true
God and true man, a handsome person and tall, highest bishop, most awesome king, most honourable lord.
And I saw him splendidly clad in honours. He sits erect there in the soul, in peace and rest, and he rules and guards heaven and earth and everything that is. The .humanity and the divinity sit at rest, the divinity rules and guards, without instrument or effort. And the soul is wholly occupied by the blessed divinity, sovereign power, sovereign wisdom and sovereign goodness.
The place which Jesus takes in our soul he will nevermore vacate, for in us is his home of homes and his everlasting dwelling. An in this he revealed the delight
that he has in the creation of man's soul; for as well as the Father could create a creature and as well as the Son could create a creature, so well did the Holy Spirit want man's spirit to be created, and so it was done.
And therefore the blessed Trinity rejoices without end in the creation of man's soul, for it saw without beginning what would delight it without end.
Everything which God has made shows his dominion, as understanding was given at the same time by the example of a creature who is led to see the great nobility and the rulership which is fitting to a lord, and when it had seen all the nobility beneath, then in wonder it was moved to seek up above for that high place where the lord dwells, knowing by reason that his dwelling is in the most honourable place. And thus
I understood truly that our soul may never have rest in anything which is beneath itself. And when it comes above all creatures into itself, still it cannot remain contemplating itself; but all its contemplation is blessedly set in God, who is the Creator, dwelling there, for in man's soul is his true dwelling.
And the greatest light and the brightest shining in the city is the glorious love of our Lord God, as I see it.
And what can make us to rejoice more in God than to
see in him that in us, of all his greatest works, he has joy? For I saw in the same revelation that if the blessed
Trinity could have created man's soul any better, any fairer, any nobler than it was created, the Trinity would not have been fully pleased with the creation of man's soul. But because it made man's soul as beautiful, as good, as precious a creature as it could make, therefore the blessed Trinity is fully pleased without end in the creation of man's soul. And it wants our hearts to be powerfully lifted above the depths of the earth and all empty sorrows, and to rejoice in it.
''So I saw how sin is for a short time deadly to the blessed creatures of endless life, and always, the more clearly that the soul sees the blessed face by the grace of loving, the more it longs to see it in fulness, that is to say in God's own likeness/'
But now I must tell how I saw that sin is deadly in creatures who will not die for sin but live in the joy of God without end.
I saw that two opposites ought not to be together in one place. The two greatest oppositions which exist are the highest bliss and the deepest
pain. The highest bliss there is, is to possess God in the clarity of endless light, truly seeing him, sweetly feeling him, peacefully possessing him in the fulness of joy; and a part of this blessed aspect of our Lord God was revealed. In this revelation I saw that sin was the greatest opposition to this, so much so that as long as we have anything to do with any kind of sin, we shall never clearly see the blessed face of God. And the more horrible and grievous our sins may be, the deeper are we for that time fallen from this blessed sight.
And therefore it often seems to us as if we were in danger of death and in some part of hell, because of the sorrow and the pain which sin is to us, and so for that time we are dead to the true sight of our blessed life. But in all this I saw truly that we are not dead in the sight of God, nor does he ever depart from us; but he will never have his full joy in us until we have our full joy in him, truly seeing his fair, blessed face. For we are ordained to this by nature, and brought to it by grace.
So I saw how sin is for a short time deadly to the blessed creatures of endless life, and always, the more clearly that the soul sees the blessed face by the grace of loving, the more it longs to see it in fulness, that is
to say in God's own likeness. For even though our Lord God dwells now in us, and is here with us, and embraces us and encloses us for his tender love, so that he can never leave us, and is nearer to us than tongue can tell or heart can think, still we can never cease from mourning and weeping, seeking and longing, until we see him clearly, face to his blessed face, for in that precious sight no woe can remain, no well-being can be lacking.
And in this I saw matter for mirth and matter for mourning—matter for mirth, that our Lord, our maker is so near to us and in us, and we in him, because of his great goodness he keeps us faithfully; matter for mourning, because our spiritual eye is so blind, and we are so burdened with the weight of our mortal flesh and the darkness of sin that we cannot see clearly the blessed face of our Lord God. No, and because of this darkness, we can scarcely believe or have faith in this great love and his faithfulness, with which he protects us. And so it is that I say that we can never cease mourning and weeping.
This weeping does not only mean the outpouring of tears from our mortal eyes, but it has a more spiritual understanding; for the natural desire of our soul
is so great and so immeasurable that if all the nobility which God ever created in heaven and on earth were given to us for our joy and our comfort, if we did not see his own fair blessed face, still we should never cease to mourn and to weep in the spirit, because, that is, of our painful longing, until we might see our
Creator's fair blessed face. And if we were in all the pain that heart can think or tongue can tell, if we could at that time see his blessed face, all this pain would not grieve us.
So is that blessed vision the end of every kind of pain to loving souls, and the fulfillment of every kind of joy and bliss; and that he revealed in the great, marvelous words when he says:
I am he who is highest, I am he whom you love, I am he who is all.
We ought to have three kinds of knowledge. The first is that we know our Lord God. The second is that we know ourselves, what we are through him in nature and in grace. The third is that we know humbly that our self is opposed to our sin and to our weakness. And all this revelation was made, as I understand it, for these three.
''But I know well that our Lord revealed to me no souls but those who fear him, for I know well that the soul which truly accepts the teaching of the Holy Spirit hates sin more, for its vileness and horribleness, than it does all the pain which is in hell/'
I saw that God can do everything which is necessary for us; and these three necessities which I shall describe compel us to long in love. Pity and love protect us in the time of our need; and the longing in the same love draws us into heaven, for God's thirst is to have man, generally, drawn into him, and in that thirst he has drawn his holy souls who are now in bliss. And so, getting his living members, always he draws and drinks, and still he thirsts and he longs.
I saw three kinds of longing in God, and all to the same end, and we have the same in us, and from the same power, and for the same end. The first is because he longs to teach us to know him and to love him always more and more, as is suitable and profitable to us. The second is that he longs to bring us up into bliss, as souls are when they are taken out of pain into heaven. The third is to fill us with bliss, and that will be fulfilled on the last day, to last forever. For I saw what is known in our faith, that pain and sorrow will
be ended then for those who will be saved. And not only shall we receive the same bliss which souls have had already in heaven, but also we shall receive a new bliss, which will be plenteously flowing out of God into us, and will fill us full.
And those are the good things which he has ordained from without beginning to give us. These good things are treasured and hidden in himself, for until that time, the creature has not the power or merit to receive them. In this we should truly see the cause of all the deeds which God has done; and furthermore, we should see the cause of all the things which he has permitted; and the bliss and the fulfillment will be so deep and so high that, out of wonder and marvelling, all creatures ought to have for God so much reverent fear, surpassing what has been seen and felt before, that the pillars of heaven will tremble and quake.
But this kind of trembling and fear will have no kind of pain, but it is proper to God's honourable majesty so to be contemplated by his creatures, trembling and quaking in fear, because of their much greater joy endlessly marvelling at the greatness of God, the Creator, and at the smallest part of all that is created.
For the contemplation of this makes the creature marvelously meek and mild; and therefore God wants us, and it is also proper to us, both by nature and by grace, to want to have knowledge of this, desiring the vision and the action. For it leads us in the right way, and keeps us in true life, and unites us to God.
. And as good as God is, so great is he; and as much as it is proper to. his divinity to be loved, so much is it proper to his great exaltedness to be feared. For this reverent fear is the fairer courtesy which is in heaven before God's face; and by as much as he will be known and loved, surpassing how he now is, by so much will he be feared, surpassing how he now is. Therefore it must necessarily be that all heaven, all earth will tremble and quake when the pillars will tremble and quake.
I say very little about this reverent fear, for I hope that it may be seen in what has been said before. But I know well that our Lord revealed to me no souls but those who fear him, for I know well that the soul which truly accepts the teaching of the Holy Spirit hates sin more, for its vileness and horribleness, than it does all the pain which is in hell. For the soul which contemplates the gentleness of Jesus does not hate any hell, but the sin of hell, as I see it. And therefore it is
God's will that we recognize sin, and pray busily and labour willingly and seek meekly for teaching, so that we do not fall blindly into it, and if we fall, so that we quickly rise. For the greatest pain that the soul can have is at any time to turn from God through sin.
The soul which wants to be in rest should, when other men's sins come to mind, flee that as the pain of hell, seeking from God help against it. For the contemplation of other men's sins makes as it were a thick mist before the soul's eye, and during that time we cannot see the beauty of God, unless we can contemplate them [that is, a man's sins] with contrition with him [that is, the sinner], with compassion on him, and with holy desires to God for him. For without this it harasses and troubles and hinders the soul which contemplates them....
'\..for it is a most lovely humility in a sinful soul, made by the mercy and grace of the Holy Spirit, when we are willing and glad to accept the scourging and chastising which our Lord himselfwishes to give us. And it will be very tender and very easy, if
we will only keep ourselves content with him and with all his works.
Our good Lord showed the fiend's enmity, by which I understood that everything which is opposed to love and to peace is from the fiend and from his side. We are liable through our feebleness and our folly to fall, and we are able through the mercy and the grace of the Holy Spirit to rise to greater joy. And if our enemy gains anything from us by our falling, which is his delight, he loses many times more in our rising by our charity and our meekness; and this glorious rising is to him such great sorrow and pain, because of the hatred which he has for our souls, that he burns constantly in envy. And all this sorrow which he would make us have will come back to him, and this was why our Lord scorned him, and revealed that he will be scorned; and this made me to laugh greatly.
So this is the remedy, that we acknowledge our wretchedness and flee to our Lord; for always, the more abased we are, the more profitable it is for us to touch him. And let us then in intention say this:
I know well that I have deserved pain; but our Lord is almighty, and may punish me greatly, and he is all wisdom, and can punish me wisely, and he is all good-
nesS; and loves me tenderly. And it is profitable for us to remain in this contemplation; for it is a most lovely humility in a sinful soul, made by the mercy and grace of the Holy Spirit, when we are willing and glad to accept the scourging and the chastising which our
Lord himself wishes to give us. And it will be very tender and very easy, if we will only keep ourselves content with him and with all his works.
As to the penance which one takes upon oneself, that was not revealed to me; that is to say, it was not revealed to me specifically. But what was revealed, specially and greatly and in a most loving manner, is that we ought meekly and patiently to bear and suffer the penance which God himself gives us, with recollection of his blessed Passion. For when we recall his blessed Passion, with pity and love, then we suffer with him as his friends did who saw it....
For he says: Do not accuse yourself that your tribulation and your woe is all your fault; for I do not want you to be immoderately depressed or sorrowful. For I tell you that whatever you do, you will have woe. And therefore I want you wisely to understand the penance which you are continually in, and to accept that meekly for
your penance. And then you will tmly see that all your life is profitable penance.
This place is prison, this life is penance, and he wants us to rejoice in the remedy.
The remedy is that our Lord is with us, protecting us and leading us into the fulness of joy; for our Lord intends this to be an endless joy, that he who will be our bliss when we are there is our protector whilst we are here, our way and our heaven in true love and faithful tmst....
Let us flee to our Lord, and we shall be comforted.
Let us touch him, and we shall be made clean. Let us cleave to him, and we shall be sure and safe from every kind of peril. For our courteous Lord wants us to be as familiar with him as heart may think or soul may desire; but let us beware that we do not accept this familiarity so carelessly as to forsake courtesy. For our
Lord himself is supreme familiarity, and he is as courteous as he is familiar, for he is true courtesy. And he wants to have the blessed creatures who will be in heaven with him without end like himself in all things, and to be perfectly like our Lord is our true salvation and our greatest bliss. And if we do not know how we shall do all this, let us desire it from our Lord,
and he will teach us, for that is his own delight and his glory, blessed may he be.
Our Lord in his mercy reveals our sin and our feebleness to us by the sweet gracious light of his own self, for our sin is so foul and so horrible that he in his courtesy will not reveal it to us except by the light of his mercy.
It is his will that we have knowledge of four things.
The first is that he is the foundation from whom we have our life and our being. The second is that he protects us mightily and mercifully, during the time that we are in our sin, among all our enemies who are so fierce against us; and we are in so much more peril because we give them occasion for this, and we do not know our own need. The third is how courteously he protects us and makes us know that we are going astray. The fourth is how steadfastly he waits for us, and does not change his demeanour, for he wants us to be converted and united to him in love, as he is to us.
And so by knowledge and grace we may see our sin, profitably, without despair. For truly we need to see it, and by the sight we should be made ashamed of ourselves, and broken down from our pride and our presumption. For truly it behooves us to see that in
ourselves we are nothing at all but sin and wretchedness. And so by the sight of the less which our Lord reveals to us, the more which we do not see is dispelled. For he in his courtesy measures the sight for us; for it so foul and so horrible that we should not endure to see it as it is.
And so by this meek knowledge, through contrition and grace we shall be broken down from everything which is not our Lord. And then will our blessed saviour cure us perfectly and unite us to him. This breaking and this curing our Lord intends for men in general, for he who is highest and closest to God may see himself sinful and needy along with me. And I who am the least and the lowest of those who will be saved may be comforted along with him who is highest. So has our Lord united us in charity.
When he revealed to me that I should sin, what for the joy that I had in contemplating him, I did not attend promptly to that revelation, and so our courteous Lord paused there, and did not wish to teach me any more until he had given me the grace and will to attend. And by this I was taught that though we may be lifted up high into contemplation by the special gift of our Lord, still, together with this, we must necessarily
have knowledge and sight of our sin and of our feebleness; for without this knowledge we may not have true meekness, and without this we cannot be safe. And I also saw that we cannot have this knowledge through ourselves or through any of our spiritual enemies, for they do not wish so much good to us. For if it were according to their will, we should never see it until our last day. Then are we much indebted to God, who is willing himself for love to show it to us, in the time of mercy and of grace.
...And also in the same revelation, where I saw that I should sin, I was taught to be fearful because of my own uncertainty, because I do not know how I may fall, nor do I know the measure or the greatness of my sin. For in my fearfulness I wanted to know that, and I had no answer to it.
Also at that same time our courteous Lord revealed, most sweetly and most powerfully, the endlessness and the unchangeability of his love, and also his great goodness and his gracious protection of our spirit, so that the love between him and our souls will never be parted into eternity. And so in the fear I have matter for meekness, which saves me from presumption, and
in the blessed revelation of love I have matter for true comfort and for joy, which saves me from despair.
All this familiar revelation of our courteous Lord is a lesson of love and a sweet, gracious teaching from himself, in comforting of our soul. For he wants us to know by the sweetness of his familiar love that all which we see or feel, within or without, which is in opposition to this is from the enemy and not from God, and in this way. If we are moved to be more careless about our way of life or about the custody of our heart, because we have knowledge of this plentiful love, then we have great need to beware of this impulse, should it come. It is false, and we ought to hate it greatly, for it has no resemblance to God's will.
And when we have fallen through weakness or blindness, then our courteous Lord, touching us, moves us and protects us. And then he wants us to see our wretchedness and meekly to acknowledge it; but he does not want us to remain there, or to be much occupied in self-accusation, nor does he want us to be too full of our own misery. But he wants us quickly to attend to him, for he stands all alone, and he waits for us continually, moaning and mourning until we
come. And he hastens to bring us to him for we are his joy and his delight, and he is the remedy of our life....
''...and when we fall into sin, and neglect recollection of him and the protection of our own soul, then Christ bears all alone the burden of us.''
Man endures in this life by three things, by which three God is honoured and we are furthered, protected and saved. The first is the use of man's natural reason.
The second is the common teaching of Holy Church.
The third is the inward grace-giving operation of the Holy spirit; and these three are all from one God. God is the foundation of our natural reason; and God is the teaching of Holy Church, and God is the Holy Spirit, and they are all different gifts, and he wants us to have great regard for them, and to accord ourselves to them. For they work continually in us, all together, and those are great things; and of this greatness he wants us to have knowledge here, as it were in an ABC. That is to say that we can have a little knowledge of that of which we shall have the fulness in heaven, and that is to further us.
We know in our faith that God alone took our
nature, and no one but he, and, furthermore, that Christ alone performed all the great works which belong to our salvation, and no one but he; and just so, he alone acts now in the last end, that is to say he dwells here in us, and rules us, and cares for us in this life, and brings us to his bliss. And so he will do as long as any soul is on earth who will come to heaven; and so much so that if there were no such soul on earth except one, he would be with it, all alone, until he had brought it up into his bliss.
I believe and understand the ministration of holy angels, as scholars tell, but it was not revealed to me; for God himself is nearest and meekest, highest and lowest, and he does everything, and not only all that we need, but also he does everything which is honourable for our joy in heaven; and when
I say that he waits for us, moaning and mourning, that means all the true feelings which we have in ourselves, in contrition and in compassion, and all the moaning and mourning because we are not united with our Lord.
And as such is profitable, it is Christ in us; and though some of us feel it seldom, it never leaves Christ until the time when he has brought us out of all our woe.
For love never allows him to be without pity; and
when we fall into sin, and neglect recollection of him and the protection of our own soul, then Christ bears all alone the burden of us. And so he remains, moaning and mourning. Then it is for us in reverence and kindness to turn quickly to our Lord, and not to leave him alone. He is here alone with us all; that is to say, he is here only for us. Arxl when I am distant towards him through sin, despair or sloth, then I leave my Lord to remain alone, inasmuch as he is in me. And this is the case with us all who are sinners; but though it may be that we act like this often, his goodness never allows us to be alone, but constantly he is with us, and tenderly he excuses us, and always protects us from blame in his sight.
Our good Lord revealed himself to his creature in various ways, both in heaven and on earth; but I saw him take no place except in man's soul. He revealed himself on earth in the sweet Incarnation and his blessed Passion, and he showed himself in other ways on earth, where I said that I saw God in an instant of time; and he showed himself in another way on earth, as if it were on pilgrimage, that is to say that he is here with us, leading us, and will be until he has brought us all to his bliss in heaven.
He revealed himself several times reigning,. ..but principally in man's soul; he has taken there his resting place and his honourable city. Out of this honourable throne he will never rise or depart without end.
Marvelous and splendid is the place where the Lord dwells; and therefore he wants us promptly to attend to the touching of his grace, rejoicing more in his unbroken love than sorrowing over our frequent fallings.
For it is the greatest glory to him of anything which we can do that we live gladly and happily for love of him in our penance. For he regards us so tenderly that he sees all our life here to be penance; for the substantial and natural longing in us for him is a lasting penance in us, and he makes this penance in us, and mercifully he helps us to bear it. For his love makes him long, his wisdom and his truth with his justice make him to suffer us here, and he wants to see this in us in this way. For this is our loving penance, and the greatest, as I see it, for this penance never leaves us until the time when we are fulfilled, when we shall have him for our reward.
And therefore he wants us to set our hearts on our passing over, that is to say from the pain which we feel to the bliss which we trust.
But here our courteous Lord revealed the moaning and the mourning of our soul, with this meaning:
I know well that you wish to live for my love, joyfully and gladly suffering all the penance which may come to you; but since you do not live without sin, you are depressed and sorrowful, and if you could live without sin, you would suffer for my love all the woe which might come to you, and it is true. But do not be too much aggrieved by the sin which comes to you against your will.
And here I understood that the lord looked on the servant with pity and not with blame; for this passing life does not require us to live wholly without sin. He loves us endlessly, and we sin customarily, and he reveals it to us most gently. And then we sorrow and moan discreetly, turning to contemplate his mercy, cleaving to his love and to his goodness, seeing that his is our medicine, knowing that we only sin.
And so by the meekness which we obtain in seeing our sin, faithfully recognizing his everlasting love, thanking him and praising him, we please him.
I love you and you love me, and our love will never be divided in two; and it is for your profit that I suffer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
1. Julian of Norwich: Showings, translated from the critical text with an introduction by Edmund Colledge, O.S.A., and James Walsh, S.J. (Classics of Western Spirituality Series. New York/Ramsey, N.J.:
Paulist Press, 1978).
2. Julian ofNorwich: Reflections on Selected Texts by Austin Cooper (Mystic, Conn.:
Twenty Third Publications, 1988).
3. Julian ofNorwich's Showings: From Vision to Book by Denise B.
Baker (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1994).
OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES
TRUE JOY:
THE WISDOM OF FRANCIS AND CLARE
EVERYTHING AS DIVINE:
THE WISDOM OF MEISTER ECKHART
CREATION AND CHRIST:
THE WISDOM OF HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
Spintual Samplers G/he human soul is a dwelling place of God for those who keep it unlocked and swept. This belief in an intimate bond between God and humankind was beautifully expressed by the mysterious woman named Julian who lived in a hermitage attached to Norwich cathedral.
Julian's Showings, which continue to be read and cherished five hundred years after her death, recount mystical revelations that came to her as she recovered from illness. These affirm the fundamental goodness of creation. While our souls are weak and prone to sin, they also reflect God's own being; even our sensuality and earthly existence are charged with divine life. The sections of Showings that make up this volume are taken from the best-selling translation of Edmund CoUedge and James Walsh.
ISBN 0-8091-3673-2 . Paulist Press 501 95> $1.95
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