(Response to 2.C.3 Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (or Showings), presented by Philip Sheldrake)
Reading this collection of quotes of Julian, I found myself both resonating with them and at some remove. I resonated with the following quote:”God teaches us to pray and to trust firmly that we shall obtain what we pray for; because he regards us with love and wishes to make us sharers in his good deed, and therefore he moves us to pray for what it pleases him to do”. This is such a beautiful and inspiring description of prayer, of faith and perseverance in it. It can inspire someone from another tradition, regardless of the specifics of its faith content. Inspiring is the adjective that best describes this text for me. At the same time, the frequent reference to sin, in the other quotations, raises for me the question of how much experience is conditioned by one’s theology. In my own tradition sin does not figure so largely. Does Julian’s awareness of her sinfulness owe to her tradition or to something fundamental, hence universal, in the approach to the spiritual life? While I can identify similar elements in my own tradition, it seems to be much more central in this text. Is it then appropriate to engage parts of her experience and not others?
