43 pages • 1 hour read
Julian of NorwichRevelations of Divine Love
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1393A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Longing for God
Julian speaks about our longing or desire for God, and God's longing for us. Because we lack the immediate vision of God here on earth, our longing to see him “face to face” is great. The idea of God as the supreme object of our desire is epitomized in Chapter 26, where Jesus tells her:
It is I who am highest; it is I you love; it is I who delight you; it is I you serve; it is I you long for; it is I you desire; it is I who am your purpose; it is I who am all; it is I that Holy Church preaches and teaches you; it is I who showed myself here (78).
God in turn longs for our love and allegiance, descending to our level in the Incarnation of his Son in order to reclaim our souls and bring us to heaven with him. There, in heaven, we will know and experience God fully and our longing will be satisfied.
The Problems with Prayer
Julian devotes a lengthy section towards the middle of the book to prayer and the problems associated with it. She defines prayer as union of the soul with God: “A new, gracious, lasting will of the soul united and fast-bound to the will of God by the previous and mysterious working of the Holy Ghost” (100). It is the means by which love between God and the soul is fostered and strengthened. God is delighted by our prayers and wishes us to persevere in them even when we feel they are of no use. The reward of prayer is no less than God himself, the ultimate desire of the human soul.
Julian acknowledges that we may pray through intermediaries such as the saints (especially the Virgin Mary) and attributes of the Lord's Humanity, but she says that God is most fully “honored” if we “[pray] to [him] directly” (183), as God.
Julian describes the showings as an answer from God to her prayer to share in Christ's Passion. Throughout the book she calls upon God in prayer, expressing supplication, thanksgiving, doubt, and many other emotions. For example, in Chapter 3, as she seems to lie dying, she prays to God: “Good Lord, may my ceasing to live be to your glory!” (44). Much later, during the second visit of the devil described in Chapter 69, Julian sets her eyes on the cross and recites prayers about Christ's Passion and the creed. She implies that it is her prayers that finally vanquish the devil.
The Meaning of Joy and Sorrow
The theme of joy and sorrow is discussed in the seventh showing, in Chapter 15, and recurs throughout the remainder of the book. Julian is puzzled at why we experience successions of joy and sorrow in this life. God reveals to her that is for the good of our soul because God wants us to know that “he safely protects us in both sorrow and joy equally” (64). However, we must live with the awareness that sorrow is transitory while joy is eternal in heaven: “And therefore it is not God's will that we should be guided by feelings of pain, grieving and mourning over them, but should quickly pass beyond them and remain in eternal joy” (64).
The theme of joy or rejoicing occurs frequently throughout the book. Julian speaks of the joy that Jesus takes in suffering for us, of God “rejoic[ing]” in his roles as our “father, mother, and spouse” (125), and of the joys of heaven and joy on earth in anticipating heaven. Joy can exist amid suffering and in spite of it.
