Earle:Julian

Earle: Julian

“Then, with a glad face, our Lord looked into his side, and gazed rejoicing; and with his dear gaze he led his creatures’ understanding through the same wound into his side. And then he revealed a beautiful and delightful place which was large enough for all humankind who shall be saved to rest there in peace and love.” Mary Earle, “Long Text 24,”, Julian of Norwich, Selections from Revelations of Divine Love, annotated and explained, p. 69, 2013 SkyLight Paths.

Episcopal priest and well-known writer, Mary Earle, was the keynote speaker this year at the Community of Hope International meeting at Camp Allen. Her topic was “Julian of Norwich and the Oneing Love of God.” Julian was a 14th century English mystic who is perhaps best known for her sayings, “All shall be well. All shall be well” as well as her Revelations of Divine Love, her reflections on a series of visions or showings she received when she was near death. The writings are in two parts, Short Text written soon after the visions and Long Text written much later and are thought to be the earliest book written by of a woman in Middle English.

We know so little of her life and even her name except that in later life she became an anchoress to St. Julian Church in Norwich, living in a walled off cell connected to the church. Julian lived in a difficult time before the Reformation during the 100 Years’ War between England and France as well as three outbreaks of the deadly Black Plague caused by bacteria living in the fleas of rats, decreasing the population of Europe by probably one half. There also was a lack of leadership in the church with the Great Western Schism when there were two and sometimes three popes.

All this is to say that most people must have felt like the world was coming to an end! But in the midst of this comes Julian’s message from her mystical experience not with an angry God who must have retribution, but with the God of love. This God of love comes to her through her relationship and visions with the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Earle believes wherever Julian mentions Jesus she means the Trinity, God in three parts. Through God’s suffering Julian saw and felt God’s love for all mankind.

Julian believed that we can enter into a mystical relationship with God through suffering, where like the disciple Thomas we enter into the wound in Jesus’ side and find a place large enough for all mankind to rest in peace and love, or like Nicodemus we are born again through pain and suffering.

Earle suggests that instead of our arguing over how Jesus was born of Mary, our energy should be concerned about whether Jesus and God’s deep love is being born in us.

This is our ministry as spiritual friends to help others see not a vengeful, hall monitor God but the God of love calling and caring for us even in the darkest times as we and the loving God of Julian’s understanding stand beside our friends in their pain and suffering.

This pain was and is also so well-known by our God.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Holy Listening

Holy listening

“Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone, the Unseen singing softly to itself and you.”

-Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom from InwardOuward.org, Church of the Saviour Daily Quote, November 29, 2018

One of my partners at work gave me this book by Rachel Remen, another physician who writes about the spiritual life in the ordinary. I remember the book, but I also remember the kindness of the giver and offer thanks for him and the times, often very holy, that we had together. I have learned that books are meaningful to me not only for what is in them but for the person who gave the book to me.

We have talked previously a great deal about holy listening, especially from Margaret Guenther and her book Holy Listening, the Art of Spiritual Direction. The message I keep hearing this Advent is to make holy listening to those I do not agree with as a part of my Advent discipline. My husband and I for brief periods of time listen to a news program that we know will tell a different story than what we are normally hearing. How do we each who hear so differently share what we have learned and then search for the truth? I don’t know that answer, but at least hearing a different story and a different interpretation as to what is happening can help us understand why others believe what they do.

There is also another setting where I am trying to be a holy listener. I frequently find myself with people who speak up too often and sometimes have what I interpret as boring words to offer. In the past I would cut them off and try to escape from the conversation. During this season I have been trying just to listen and listen for the Christ within them. One observation is that I have difficulty seeing and hearing Christ in them when I have lost my connection to the Christ within meyself It is the Christ, the God, the holy, the Spirit within us that can make that holy contact. I think that is our job. If we stay connected to the God within, we will discern the answers that we may hear in holy listening and enter into relationship with those with whom we have difficulty.

I am holding on to this hope.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Hearing God

Hearing God

“As we live in this season of Advent, awaiting the coming of the Lord, we might examine our hearts to see if they are truly open. Are we open to God speaking to us in the language of everyday events? Are we willing to hear God’s admonitions and to accept God’s guidance, or are we happier to justify our selfish behaviors and chart our own way in life? May the Lord find in us hearts that are open and ready to receive him, whenever and however he chooses to come to us.”

-Br. David Vryhof, “Brother, Gve us a Word,” Society of Saint John the Evangelist, December 10th, 2018. SSJE.org

This is our daily question. Are we following our will or God’s will? Are we listening to God or are we listening to ourselves and what promotes ourselves and our own self-interest? My experience is it is so hard to know, and I have learned to listen cautiously to those who tell us they know exactly what we are to do. I usually do not know if what I am doing is God’s will until much later.

So, what do we do? We try to put ourselves in position to hear God’s will. This means being silent, practicing spiritual exercises, being in thin places where the spiritual and physical world seem to have only a thin membrane between them, being in community with other spiritual seekers who share experiences, studying scripture and stories of those before us in our own religious traditions, worshipping in community.

My experience also is that when I feel or know the fruit of the spirit after discernment, this is a sign that I am being guiding by the Christ within, the Holy Spirit, the God of our understanding. (Galatians 5:22 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.)

This is not a walk we do alone. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses who have been before us and who are now with us to guide us.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com