Emily Rose Meditations: Recent Episodes
Emily Hylden
The Rev. Emily R. Hylden hosts a moment of peace. A short meditation, followed by a thought-provoking question or two, can reset your day and recalibrate your spirit. Find her on instagram @fatheremily, or dig into her thoughts at emilyhylden.com.
Mtr. Emily is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and 500-hr Registered Yoga Teacher, residing in Lafayette, Louisiana, with her husband and three little boys.
Just as a literal night is bounded by light, is measured in time which seems different than day, and which plumbs depths of a particular flavor unaccessible other ways, the Dark Night of the Soul experiences a unique journey.
This chapter is the end of the writing, though it doesn't seem to be a finished treatise. You'll have to ask St John of the Cross about it when you see him in glory.
St John of the Cross explains how a soul must be stripped of its old hangings, assumptions, habits, and ways in order to receive the new, spiritual, godly communication and intimacy of the Divine.
Expounding "in darkness and in concealment," St John of the Cross reasons through the relationship and interaction of good and evil in the soul, alluding often to Job's troubles as evidence for his theory.
St John of the Cross introduces the next stanza, expressing the joy of a soul being so blessed and chosen to experience this dark night, to have the opportunity to meet God more fully.
In this dark night, St John of the Cross says, the soul goes forth on the journey clothed in faith, hope, and charity, which serve to protect the soul from assailants well-recounted in this chapter.
St John of the Cross moves on to the higher steps of this spiritual ladder: Touching God, Boldly vehement, Seizing Fast to God, Burning Sweetness, Complete Unification. Many Biblical references (in host-butchered Latin as well as English) continue apace.
Continuing to call liberally upon the Psalms, Prophets, Historical books, and Gospels, St John of the Cross lays out the first five stages of this ladder which the soul climbs in the dark night. (Which are:) Languishing, Ceaseless seeking, Fervor, Suffering, Desire and Longing.
Pulling on prophets, Psalms, Proverbs, and the Gospel of Luke, St John of the Cross begins to illumine a sketch of this secret ladder of the soul as may have been experienced by our brothers and sisters in Scripture (and how it may manifest in our own spiritual lives).
This chapter expresses the way in which contemplation and living through this dark night of the soul can be indescribable. It is something beyond our senses or natural faculties, and therefore, is difficult to (and perhaps not meant to be) describe.
How can darkness feel secure? How can an obscured pathway provide safety? This long chapter examines these questions from many angles, untangling the seemingly contrary convictions.
This short chapter introduces the meat of the chapters to follow, reminding the reader of the lines to be examined: In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised -- oh, happy chance! In darkness and concealment, My house being now at rest.
Our soul is freed to experience God more fully and purely when the "members of our house" -- our external senses and desires and internal voices -- are quieted by being "at rest." In the dark night, not only is our soul deprived of usual road signs, but the noise of our spirits and lives are quieted by the experience of the dark night itself.
This night enkindles a burning love in the soul, the contours of which are illumined by biblical examples, especially Mary Magdalene's love of Jesus Christ.
St John of the Cross explains that various moments of the dark night might feel more or less blessed, more or less desperate, more or less loving, more or less dark. Our perception of the experience changes, though God's constance is sure.
St John of the Cross admits that the soul can come to believe or fear that it is beyond help or recompense in this dark night, that all goodness is over forever, but that this surrender can free the soul,
Using the analogy of fire consuming a log (to transform the log into fire itself), St John of the Cross illustrates the painful change which a soul undergoes in this dark night.
St John of the Cross shows through Scripture how it is that the darkness of this night of the soul brings the light which will illumine the path of any who survive it. We come to a deeper, truer sense of peace, of what's important, and of ourselves in God.
St John of the Cross details other afflictions common to the Dark Night -- especially feeling hopeless and lost in a dark spiritual cloud out of which nothing can escape (even prayers!). He also expresses the interplay of light and dark, and how God's light might seem to be dark in our souls.
Using passages from Scripture, St John of the Cross shows the commonality of a Dark Night of the soul, and how our forebears withstood the afflictions (Job 16:12-16, Lamentations 3:1-20, Job 12:22, Psalm 139:12, Psalm 143:3-4, Psalm 30:6).
Though the work of the dark night is God's own presence, the experience may be a lot of pain and suffering, as the "imperfections" and "habituations" are burned away to reveal the parts of us that are willing to face the fullness of God.
This chapter describes how God, who is Light, can be the essence of the Dark Night of the soul. Using everyday experiences -- "blinding" sunshine, for example -- St John of the Cross shows how a Dark Night is also the brightness of God.
In this short chapter we hear more directly about how Divine Love and Divine Wisdom interact with the soul in this Dark Night.
In this and following chapters, St John of the Cross refers often to "the old man," an allusion to 1 Corinthians, where Paul describes a person before they're submitted to God in Jesus Christ. These Dark Nights are how such an "old man" is sloughed off.
St. John of the Cross begins to describe what "imperfections" or struggles those who come into a spiritual dryness ("aridity") may suffer.
Here begins book 2; having covered what "beginners" may experience as a sustained starving of sense, now begins a description and exploration of the Dark Night of the Soul, or spirit -- which St. John of the Cross calls the "second" Dark Night, and it is here that the deep darkness begins.
Through the Dark Night, we begin to rely less on our feelings or experiences, and more on the deep peace which only God can provide.
The Dark Night, far from depriving our vision, sharpens its spiritual acuity. We can see ourselves, others, and God much more truly than when all our senses are flooded, loud, and demanding our attention.
This whole work is, of course, an explication of the poem composed by St John of the Cross, and in this chapter he illumines three lines:
Kindled in love with yearnings.
Oh, happy chance!
I went forth without being observed.
What do we do when we find ourselves in this Dark Night? St John of the Cross advises that this travail isn't the moment to advance or to learn spiritual backflips, but to "remain in peace and quietness." What might it look like for us to seek rest and ease in trials instead of redoubling our efforts?
You'll find that "aridities" is one of St John of the Cross's favorite words in describing the Dark Night (or perhaps a favorite of his translator!). But "drynesses" does seem pretty fitting when we come down to understanding the ways to notice and identify this Dark Night into which many pilgrims enter.
Here St John of the Cross begins in earnest, describing the different aspects of a dark night -- of the senses and of the spirit -- especially considering the purging and asphyxiating qualities of darkness on the senses.
Aligning God's will to our own, or our own will to God's? This is the quandary of spiritual sloth. Envy is easy to spot: desiring for oneself the praise (in spirituality) of another, or begrudging someone else their good fortune in God's communion.
Is it really so honorable to kill yourself with penances? (St. John of the Cross says: NO) Sometimes we think trying harder is the answer, but here St John suggests that trying softer is what God desires.
St John of the Cross spends this chapter and the next few explaining how he sees beginners in the spiritual journey falling to vices, organized as the 7 deadly sins. Especially of note is the distinction between the "sensual" and the "spiritual" selves, somewhat mapping on to the "flesh" and the "spirit," though he pointedly does not flagellate our earthly, physical bodies as inherently evil.
More ways in which "beginners" often stumble, especially getting fixated on spiritual/religious things rather than our inward hearts.
St John of the Cross describes more deeply the vices into which "beginners" (let's be real: ALL of us) often fall.
St John of the Cross begins to explain levels of spiritual maturity; we learn that he's got some sass.
St John of the Cross expresses in poetry the experience of walking through the valley of the shadow of death, what might befall us, and how we might grow well with God.
As we trod this road, let us always remember that it may or may not be the right road for us at a time; a way to tell us noticing our joy and our sorrow. Let us be evermore aware of our condition, our responses, our longings for God.
Maybe this isn't the perfect volume, but being offered in a sincere and humble (and holy!) spirit, hopefully it can be an aide to those who seek God in the quietude of contemplation.
Contemplation is, at root, a vehicle for grace, for God to bestow upon us his goodness and to reveal himself as we wait upon him and direct those darts of love. We receive grace in different ways at different times, Scripture can reveal these to us.
Using the Ark of the Covenant, and Moses, Aaron, and Bezalel as a template, our author expounds on the ways we might experience God differently within the practice of contemplation. Contains 2 chapters.
The way to sense God is so different from our bodily senses, and yet, especially in this modern world (of technology) our bodily senses can sometimes best help us to hone our spiritual sense.
This mental/spiritual state of nothingness can seem like a desert, but it can also provide the sparkle of God's grace.
Continuing to plumb the depths of our mind-state in contemplation, we're urged to seek "nowhere" and "nothingness." This allows our spiritual home to be where ever we are, and it is assuredly where God is!
Our author outlines levels of attention, material, spiritual, and God alone. We learn how our attention might look in contemplating God alone.
In addition to the warping that sin can cause in our reason and will, in a post-fall world, we struggle to manage our imaginations and our senses. Flights of fancy quickly pull us from our stated direction and desire.
Sin has its effect on our bodies and our minds. We struggle to keep our focus and even to choose the good we want.
Our spirits and our bodies are both important, but while our bodies fade and decay (albeit in a slower way if we care for them well!), our spirits have an eternal facet to them. May we honor this aspect by attending the greatest care upon our spirits and those of others.
"Good prayer results in good posture." While physical and spiritual meanings are indeed different, in our bodies and spirits, one always affects the other, and it behooves us to attend to both, appropriately.
It helps to think of the spiritual world as surrounding us, rather than to literally imagine "up" as "where" heaven is. How might that affect the way we move in our world, not only when we're contmplating?
Our minds spend so much time straining! It can seem so counterintuitive, so antithetical, so against our nature to rest our minds, or to seek its calming. So let us not consider that contemplation is a continuation of that strain, but it is a true rest, which may seem more difficult, especially at first!
We're given an example, today, of how we might interpret a story in Scripture in a spiritual sense, though the actions in the story itself are physical.
How do we experience contemplation? How do we interpret the difference between spiritual and physical experience?
The author pulls no punches here! He admits that some people, finding the way of Christian contemplation too difficult, flip into animosity toward the Church. I wonder what it means for us to continue faithfully, even if we fail.
We can be tempted both to fastidiousness and to inattention. Neither are desired! As with so many things in this work and in life, the best is a middle way.
The author asserts that as we pursue inner growth through contemplation, we will grow in outward beauty. I've found this to be true in my experience -- those souls who are most at peace with themselves and their God invariably show such bliss on their faces.
Stick with us, this one may seem harsh, but I think it has something to offer. The author describes ways that deranged, or people who are led astray, may act; we can recognize and extrapolate people who aren't comfortable with themselves, and indeed, may belie disquiet in their spirits for some reason or another. We might take from it the truth that our inner peace is to be cultivated, examined, and guarded.
Various ways that the author has observed evil enter contemplative life; I wonder what we might call these, or classify evil in contemplation as today. At first, these sound like hallucinations, and I hope he's not discounting those who have had true visions from God. On the other hand, the terrain is rocky, and a guide is useful! If you're interested in spiritual direction, do reach out. I'd love to have a conversation. emily.hylden@gmail.com
When we first begin our relationship with God, and as we seek to deepen our path, we continually need guidance and care to keep from falling astray (sometimes we do so without even realizing it!).
When we'll be encouraged by darts of love, or hints of presence, from God, we do not know. May we welcome them when they come, but not count on them for our spiritual (or tangible) satisfaction.
As we direct our love toward God, thereby God's love flows through us, out into the world.
Whether and how we receive comfort from God is beyond our power to predict; it behooves us, however, to be cautious.
A two-for-one deal today; as the author suggests "playing childishly" with God, we learn through this combination of chapters 46 and 47 that he means "We speak one way with people, and another way with God."
This chapter speaks of the sorrow of existing. The author does not mean that it would have been better never to be born, so what must they be thinking of? Have you ever been in a situation where you realized you were defeating yourself by your own mind, its prejudices and assumptions? I wonder whether that is close to what is meant here.
Though God has created each person individually and uniquely with infinite preciousness to him, in contemplation, this sort of thought amounts to navel gazing, which will make us astute in our observation of... belly lint. So: in contemplation, relentlessly turn your thoughts toward God, be consumed with and interested in him only.
How do we rightly weigh and prioritize our lives? By putting contemplation first. So says the author today, urging us to find the balance of everything else when contemplation is placed first.
Discretion, as the author here puts it, or moderation, as we might call it, has no place in the practice of contemplation. While other activities or practices may have beginnings and ends, ebbs and flows, contemplation is for all times, all places, all moments.
Whether "sin" or "virtue," contemplation succeeds best when we are not too particular or too focused -- this invites thought, and thought leads us down all sorts of pathways, when the purpose of contemplation is to remain still.
Exploring the depth of what a mantra can offer, we find that we can focus our attention by it, as well as allowing God to reveal the breadth of his love through it.
What we can expect, how it might happen or feel, when God gets our attention in contemplation.
Ways to sharpen our skills, steps to take in our pursuit of contemplation -- and keeping it on track.
Contemplation is one of those practices where less is more. The more active effort we try to squeeze out of ourselves, the further we are from the target. When we become putty, when we allow ourselves to relax in the Father's grasp, then we are moved and remade.
There is no magic wand or band-aid; nothing can substitute the good, consistent hard work of showing up to your meditation spot every day and seeking God anew. It is simple, but can be plodding. And after a long effort, such great rewards can result.
So much of spiritual discipline and prayer is trying something out to see what works for your mind. Just as God has a personal relationship with each person, each of us respond to temptation differently and find different struggles. Therefore, different methods of combat are appropriate as well!
When past memories or sins threaten to derail us in contemplation, let us firmly crush them! Let us not be distracted from the work we've been given to do -- focusing on God alone.
May we hold our countenance and our judgments close, perhaps so close that they suffocate and disappear! The Holy Spirit is our loving judge in all things.
Our judgements and our perception, no matter how clear we believe it to be, does not align with God's own vision and truth. May we be urged to humility by this fact, and keep our own consciences clear.
Just like any close relationship, we continue along better when we start out in honesty -- we're reminded today to first confess any lingering sins and darkness within us and then once everything's on the table, proceed in our contemplative efforts.
All may, some should, none must! Anybody can gain from contemplation, but it may not be the most fulfilling or gainful for every type of person, and that's okay!
We can listen and read and prepare as much as we want, but just like so many things in life, the real expertise comes from doing. So just try it! Sit down, re-listen to episode 9 (season 2), and try it out. See how it goes!
Julian of Norwich (season 1, episode 16) encounters similar advice from her prayers and contemplation -- how our particular affinities (and aversions!) can trip us up in our efforts to grow.
"The essence of contemplation is a simple and direct reaching out to God." Whatever it is that we're mired in while we reach out to God is transformed into useful fuel for his communication with us.
May we not worry or become agitated when others who do not understand our work take up condemning or criticizing or grumbling about us. God will answer them -- let God deal with their attitudes! -- while our work is to continue in the path set before us.
The author leads us to reflect upon the love which is reflected between Mary and Jesus, and beyond that relationship, the love and witness of any Bible story we may choose to read deeply.
In pursuing contemplation/meditation, there can be tension with the activity of the world, and those who are comfortable in it. May we seek to have grace for one another and to respect our brothers and sisters in their pursuits of God.
I wonder what it would look like to depend on Jesus to defend the spiritual practices that we may take up which elicit jeers or suspicion (or downright hostility!) from others.
What a spiritual discipline it is to acknowledge that none of us has the whole picture or a full understanding of all the ways in which God reaches out to each of his people.
Contemplation and meditation have aroused suspicion among religious folks for millennia! And truly, like every other single practice or style of life and prayer, there are dangers. Nothing is safe from perversion in this life.
Exploring the story of Mary and Martha, we consider the myriad ways we're called to serve God and to grow in relationship with him.
Using the story of Jesus' anointing by the woman who washed his feet with her hair, we reflect on how love can motivate us more and better than any other power.
Our motivations, even for holy habits, varies. But whatever our reasons, God can use any tiny movement toward him for our growth and transformation.
It seems that our medieval monk (or whoever the anonymous author may be!) saw some value in what we modern people might explore in therapy -- becoming aware of our own foibles and blindspots, so that we might better communicate with others (and especially, with God). Of course, our director in these pages suggests contemplation as the path -- why not both?!
One thing's for sure: contemplation needs humility. We have self-knowledge which is mortal, or usual, and a divine level of humility. May we always remember that one is pure gift from God.
Rather than focusing on avoiding sin, we can focus on something positive - directing that dart of love to the blindness that surrounds our vision of God.
Our quickly our innocent thoughts can shift and become sin! Today's reflection leads us through the train of thought that so swiftly moves from a fleeting memory crossing our minds to a wrathful response in our hearts (and other deadly sins).
This short chapter today tells us exactly how to engage and practice meditation. It's as simple as it gets! (but not easy, necessarily, and demanding practice)
Today we explore the active and contemplative lives of Christians; both are good and necessary. For our purposes, studying, and longing for God in Christian meditation, we pay especial attention to Mary, to what Jesus says to her, and how we might engage this practice, Put simply, "It is an impulse of love, a dark gazing into the pure being of God."
Today, we get into some nuts and bolts of meditation; our anonymous author explains "mantra" in a beautiful way!
All our knowledge, even about theology, cannot bring the intimacy which transforms the soul. We must seek God's self only as we contemplate.
Our practice is to focus and refocus and focus yet again on God's essence; our spirit becomes ever more accustomed to his presence when we practice noticing (contemplating) his being.
"You only need a tiny scrap of time to move toward God." Contemplation can sharpen our God-awareness muscles, in order to be ready when God speaks.
There are things we will never know or understand, may we accept this, and may we accept our creatureliness, as surely as we hope to accept God's goodness.
Our "job is to keep the windows and doors of our souls open, but screened against insects and vermin." Ask "How do I continue?" Ask, "What shall I do next?"
The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous text from the 1300s, addressing issues around spiritual contemplation, and the practical struggles in growing a relationship with God.
In the tradition of Augustine’s Confessions, and later works including St. John of the Cross, The Cloud of Unknowing urges us toward a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, founded not on our knowledge or intellect, but on a heart intimacy, and companionship of our souls. Psalm 134 tells us, "I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its mother's breast; my soul is quieted within me."
Let us join this anonymous Christian mystic from the 1300s, seeking exactly that kind of rest and growth with God -- a quieted soul, resting closely and transformatively in the presence of the almighty God.
Here ends Julian’s Revelations of Divine Love. This window into perfect, true love allows us a glimpse of the love we long for and the love that surrounds us always. It gives us a vision of how we too might join in the dance of God’s love here and now in our time-bound lives, and also what is promised in the eternal bliss of heaven.
If you’d like to continue the conversation, find me on my patreon website, or reach out on social media. I’ll be taking a hiatus for the summer as my family welcomes a third son, but I look forward to continuing to meditate with you on the classical mystical texts of Christianity later in the fall. Join the mailing list to keep up on new offerings to support your spiritual journey. Thank you for walking this bit of the track with me, and with Julian of Norwich.
This is inspired by the eighty-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
We’re time-bound as creatures, but we have this strange bit of eternity dwelling inside us too; so what might it mean and how might be we more free if we considered ourselves – or even just imagined for a moment! – free from time, outside of time, unfettered by time?
This is inspired by the eighty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Somehow faith is also charity, and charity is also a manifestation of God; today Mtr. Emily shares a meditation tool she uses to solidify charity and the peace of God in her mind and heart.
This is inspired by the eighty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
If faith is our light, coming naturally from day, it seems that faith is not something we can create or control very well, just like we can’t drag up the sun at 1am or wish it to stay suspended in the sky for longer than its time. We cannot create or manipulate the faith in us, the trust that grows like a seedling into a strong tree. We can only ask and hope for it, we can only accept faith and trust as a gift from God, with open hands.
This is inspired by the eighty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
God longs for us to look at and know all of himself, and for us to look at and know all of ourselves, too. One of the sticky parts of ourselves is our tendency to sin, but one of the beautiful parts of God is his devotion to forgiveness.
This is inspired by the eighty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What a wonder that as God reveals himself, he does not do so by images of high and mighty places, or in visages of himself in impressive power, but of himself situated and contented in his most-loved dwelling which is our own very souls. What a thing to contemplate: that within each person you meet is one of God’s favorite and most-cherished spots to dwell.
This is inspired by the eighty-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
A few chapters back (#77, episode 102), Julian urges us to ask God if we’re not sure how to continue in our journey with him. Here, she provides a bit of direction on that score. We’re given three things to pay attention to. The brains in our skulls balanced and tempered with the gathered wisdom, discernment, and teaching of God’s community, and the mystical work of the Holy Spirit.
This is inspired by the eightieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Some of us may be given to wallow and stew, and I wonder if it’s something like is addressed in Matthew 6, where the hypocrite walks around with a dour face, lamenting himself. Julian – and God! – urge us instead not to be bogged down by memory of our sin or to get stuck in the mire of misery, but to assure ourselves, as God the truth assures us, that we are forgiven and whole, and to redirect our thoughts and dwelling to that truth, that gazing on God’s glorious visage as often as we need.
This is inspired by the seventy-ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
God is truth. God cannot avoid or deny or cover up what is reality. We humans, Julian sees in herself, can tend toward denial, avoidance, even delusion from what is true. We use these as coping mechanisms when there’s something big and scary in front of us – just as Julian describes sin in the beginning of this chapter. But the good news is that we’re never left alone to reckon with reality, we’re never abandoned to truth under judgment. God is always present with you.
This is inspired by the seventy-eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
As we grow in our life of faith, journeying with God as our companion and guide, I wonder if we sometimes forget to ask our guide for directions. I tend to assume I’m supposed to figure things out, or perhaps its just the sin of self-reliance growing in me! But today Julian urges us to ask God to tell and show us how to become ever more united with himself, to come ever more into alignment with the divine. Who better to instruct us than the one with whom we want to be united, who is also the one who created us, and thus knows us best? What could be more sensical?
This is inspired by the seventy-seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian echoes the story of Mary & Martha in today’s reading, affirming that “sloth and time-wasting” are vices, but that busyness is not necessarily the thing to be sought. “Inward contemplation” is even better, as far as growth in God is concerned.
This is inspired by the seventy-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian describes witnessing the fruition of the promise of joy, and how she sees the whole world trembling in fear as this ultimate bliss comes to pass. Can you think of a time when you were able to watch something wonderful as it happened? How did you feel? Did you tremble?
This is inspired by the seventy-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Fear often comes from a lack of control, or power. In this case, speaking of our lives and of God, our fear comes from a lack of trust. If we look behind the fear of attack, the fear of punishment, the fear of doubt, we find that they’re all rooted in the question of whether we can trust God’s goodness, God’s love. We’ve been bandied about by life, we live in a world that is broken and the voices of the broken people and places and situations tell us over and over that God cannot be trusted – just like the snake in the garden told us at the beginning of time.
This is inspired by the seventy-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
I wonder if we are given to assume that our suffering and trials are meaningless. Jesus, out of his great love gladly suffered for us, so I wonder if we struggle to remember and believe the truth that love is what animates us, what gives us life, what sustains us.
This is inspired by the seventy-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What does it mean that we most desire to gaze brightly and fully on God’s face? How might we do that now, in practice for our eternal occupation?
This is inspired by the seventy-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
We could see the greatest, most blessed and beatific sights, but if we gaze not upon God, we continue to be lost in lament, darkness, weeping. On what do your eyes dwell?
This is inspired by the seventy-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
For Julian, faith is a trust, a rope and anchor to cling to when the storms and trials rage around us. She gave us the example earlier of combating the Fiend with truth, and faith in action seems to be a continually repetition of what we have come to believe is truth, according to God and the communion of the saints. So when our faith wavers because our eyes and senses tell us a falsehood, or our senses are led away by fiends, we’re called again and again to exercise our faith, to reach out for the rope, and use the time of trial not for blasting apart our whole existence or digging even deeper into wounds that are already aching, but to breathe into the anchor of our soul, which is God in Christ Jesus, as Julian’s visions have shown us.
This is inspired by the seventieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
The fiend is overcome by truth. Way back in the Garden of Eden, the fiend twists truth to entrap the first humans, it is the mantra of the truth of Christ’s passion that Julian uses to defeat the fiend who torments her at night.
This is inspired by the sixty-ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What might it mean to not be overcome, if we know we will still face torment, trouble, grief, evil, illness, and death? How might our perspective change on what it means to be defeated or overcome? What are the conditions for failure, or for victory?
This is inspired by the sixty-eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Our worth and goodness, the root of our selves, comes from the fact that God made us. Julian tells us today that in her vision God has said that we have been made as gloriously, as wonderfully, as any creature could be. There is no surpassing the craftsmanship and the care, the intricacy and excellence of our selves, of our souls, in front of God and in front of each other. There is no effort we can expend to improve on what God has already made and done and accomplished in us. Our work is to recognize what God has made, to celebrate what has already been stamped as wonderful and worthwhile.
This is inspired by the sixty-seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
How often do we eagerly accept others’ testimony as true, in opposition to our own, and do it joyfully? What a trust and comfort the communion of saints can be to us, if we have the courage to believe our worthy companions.
This is inspired by the sixty-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
The only place and time we have to encounter God is this moment, the present moment, right now. Each one is fleeting, and as we grasp it, it is gone.
This is inspired by the sixty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Rather than imagining suffering and trial as a scab or tumor to be excised from our bodies, Julian conceives of suffering as a sort of slop in which we swim and struggle, from which we will be rescued.
This is inspired by the sixty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
How does it feel to imagine that our whole life-long, we are as children? How does that thought experiment feel? I wonder what kind of characteristics we might incorporate from our childhood to live into this identity. What kind of wonder might we employ? What kind of humility and guilelessness might we enjoy? Perhaps there are gifts to be mined in a child-like faith.
This is inspired by the sixty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
There is, of course, much dross, much frailty in our institutions, much to be repented of, but we also see in this image Julian gives the way that the church is like Noah’s ark, somehow adrift in the sea of destruction and sin, imperfect but sustained by God, protected as a beacon of God’s presence and a symbol of God’s great love.
This is inspired by the sixty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What an act of faith and confidence in the Holy Spirit to say that the Holy Church is never broken. Though this is before the Reformation, there’s never been a shortage of division among Christians; there’s that bit even in 1st Corinthians about saying “I belong to Apollos, I belong to Peter, I belong to Paul!” It seems that Julian is saying that no matter what things look like from our perspective – as she’s reminded us many times! – it doesn’t mean that the whole thing is as fractured as our eyes tell us. The Holy Church, which Julian understands as the presence of God in the world and in our hearts, is always strong enough to carry our doubt, always tough enough to withstand our uncertainty, always ready to hold us as we seek rest.
This is inspired by the sixty-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What if the deepest and trust loves inside us are not corrupt? What if they’re not to be fought against, but welcomed, and encouraged? What might it look like to cherish the love you have in your heart, whether you’ve got somewhere to put or pour or offer it right now? How might you enjoy the love you’ve been given to tend?
This is inspired by the sixtieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian famously pushes the boundaries of what “mother” means by asserting that Jesus is our mother, but if we are curious about this concept, what might we find Julian, and Jesus, to be showing us? Is it really something to revolutionary or strange? Or is Jesus as mother actually a very reasonable identifier?
This is inspired by the fifty-ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
There’s an analogy based on a zoological mistake from the ancient world, that offers a window on how Jesus is our mother. In antiquity, it was believed that the pelican mother would pierce her own body to feed her young on her blood. It’s why pelicans are depicted in churches and medieval manuscripts. They were seen as an analogy for Jesus’s sacrifice, how he gave himself up to be pierced for the life of his own beloved offspring.
This is inspired by the fifty-eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
When we reverse the direction of the comparison – letting go of perfect parenting or ideal families, finding our understanding of relationships and love from God first, and letting that grace and mercy trickle down, we find divine love filling in any gaps that our beloved broken human families suffer.
This is inspired by the fifty-seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
If God dwells in each person, then I wonder if looking to others, if continual, insistent conversation and prayer and worship in a community might guide us toward that essential piece of our being. If we might learn best who each of us individually are when we are more concerned with being part of a group, say, part of the Body of Christ.
This is inspired by the fifty-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
We’re spending a lot of time this month wondering around what it means to be human – this creature that’s a funny mash up of animal and divine. We are dreamed up and created by God, exactly how and comprised of what, we do not know. But it is clear that God has our echoes of the divine in us in depths and levels that we can’t quite put our fingers on, we cannot grasp the make-up of ourselves. I wonder if we can enjoy ourselves and other human beings anyway, if we can rest in the joy of being made in the image of God.
This is inspired by the fifty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
We undoubtedly have power in ourselves, we are the dwelling place of the divine! But Julian also reminds us that it’s not on or in or out of our own power, our own resources, or our own strength, that our deliverance and peace and transformation comes.
This is inspired by the fifty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
I wonder what it might mean for us to lean into that sense that time is somehow foreign to us. How might our lives and interactions look or feel different if they were not subject to the constraints of time? How could we choose to live and make decisions with a more eternal set of convictions?
This is inspired by the fifty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Continuing to interpret the parable of the lord and the servant, Julian highlights the ways in which we ourselves as humans, containing aspects of both Adam and Jesus, might feel overwhelmed and undone by the emotions, events, and the very existence we experience. How might we reckon with this reality?
This is inspired by the fifty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian received this parable in her showings, but it took another few decades (in her testament) to understand what she was seeing. She delves into sin and the Godhead, the relationship between Adam and Jesus (the "second Adam"), and how this parable might provide fodder for our own minds and hearts.
It's a long one, and I don't offer commentary, but go take a walk and let Julian herself -- and God himself! -- minister to you through these words.
The next chapter reveals in practice what Julian has often preached in her words: that some mysteries take much longer to unravel than others, and that some mysteries are never cracked open this side of heaven. She shows in her decades of wondering about these visions that the daily hard work is to carry these mysteries and wonderings with us, to continue contemplating them patiently, never knowing whether they’ll be the sort that can be opened to us or not. What a thing to be patient about!
This is inspired by the fiftieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
It is the character of this God to never waste anything, whether it is bits of creation or the fuel of emotions or even our anger and suffering. This God recycles and reuses and transforms everything into something new and beautiful.
This is inspired by the forty-ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian speaks at length here about the anger we experience as humans, and how she sees no anger at all in her visions of the Godhead. She sees only mercy, grace, and love. Given this quandary, she wonders how mercy and forgiveness might overcome or overpower or have an affect on anger. And I wonder how we might apply this wisdom to our own practice.
This is inspired by the forty-eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Early in her visions, Julian records that she was sure she’d be overcome by fiends if she shifted her focus from Jesus on the cross in front of us to look up to God the Father in Heaven. She recounts how glad she was that she chose Jesus as her salvation and refused to look away from him. Today she seems to say the same is true of us, in a figural sense; when we lose our attention from Jesus, when our weakness of attention overcomes us, that is where we fall to the fiends, where and when sin is crouching at the door. There’s no strong-arming our way through this, no perfect, fail-safe method to avoid our weakness of attention, it’s just a fact of our mortality. So in this way, our attention and our falling into sin is like mindfulness meditation.
This is inspired by the forty-seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What a mysterious thing we are – we are created and we are mortal, and yet we possess a soul, a dwelling place and home for the divine, within us, somehow. With that dedicated real estate inside us, Julian wonders at the relationship between God and evil that might be played out among our bones. She emphasizes the truth we know which is that all created things are good. And she affirms – what a comfort this is – that our souls are never separated from God but always, always united with him inseparably, in love.
This is inspired by the forty-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Julian wonders about the worth of human judgment in comparison with God’s judgment. She doesn’t dismiss human judgment out of hand, but does explore its limitations.
This is inspired by the forty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian tells us today that truth lets us see God, that wisdom allows us to contemplate God, and that through those two things we are gifted God’s love, to fill us and to share with one another. May it be so!
This is inspired by the forty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
These visions are sparked in the first place by Julian focusing her literal eyes on a literal cross with an image of Jesus carved on it. She begins by fixing her eyes on the Lord, and here, as she continues through this spiritual journey of visions with God, she comes to a more figural understanding of what her body had already been doing. Julian finds that the purpose of prayer, indeed, the purpose of life, existence, and of relationship with God and each other, is to come always in more alignment and more focus and a more clear view of God.
This is inspired by the forty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
“The Lord is the foundation from which our prayers arise.” Julian insists that the relationship between the divine and our own spirits is woven together in such an intimate way that our very prayers are directed by God himself. What might it mean for our lives if that is true?
This is inspired by the forty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Feelings are unreliable, changeable, not good for judging much of anything in our lives as far as decisions might go. Julian tells us to pray even when we don’t feel like it, when we feel great or when we feel dry, as if prayer is drinking water or eating food or getting sleep. Have you thought of prayer that way?
This is inspired by the forty-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
If you’d like to talk more about what prayer and meditation might mean in your life, how to incorporate them, and what they might look like on a regular basis, I’d love to talk more with you. You can always contact me through social media or my website, and as a spiritual director, it’s absolutely my jam to have these kinds of conversations with people who are curious. Let me know, I’m here to wonder with you.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
God looks clearly and directly both at love and sin, it is the greatness of God’s love that overcomes and engulfs and defeats the power of evil, and so to eschew or seek to ignore darkness does not defeat it, but allows it to thrive, unmonitored and unchecked by the love which flows through each of us from God.
We need not be afraid to look at our sin, our darkness, our failings, our shortcomings; we always stand against them with the most powerful and loving companion who, in the end, vanquishes the darkness for us.
This is inspired by the fortieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian revisits the wounds she asked for before she experienced these showings, tying them to her understanding of sin and suffering. May we all have the courage to ask for contrition, compassion, and an earnest longing for God!
This is inspired by the thirty-ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian was so amazed to have a local saint of her country brought to mind along with Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene. It made me wonder, who in your life, or story, or community might be a person whose life and witness give you courage? If they’ve died, how might you imagine them spending time with God in heaven? How does that image make you feel?
This is inspired by the thirty-eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian tells us today that all our suffering comes from a failure to love. I wonder what that failure might show up as in your life or relationships, and how you might counteract it.
This is inspired by the thirty-seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
It is so hard to trust in the midst of trials and so hard to focus on God in the middle of suffering, and so here’s a question to help us think through how to fight against the darkness and depression that might pick and pull at the corners of our minds: How have you found, in your life, that you tend to get distracted? And having identified that, what could help you to keep your attention, or bring it back, to God, in those moments?
This is inspired by the thirty-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Today we hear that the mercy of God is what rescues us and draws us up, and will keep doing so again and again as many times as we are attacked and knocked down. Our progress is not linear, and our story is not a predictable line stretching to the horizon, but our companion, that is God, is constant and continual, and unabated, and always, always present.
This is inspired by the thirty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Our vision can be so murky. It’s one of the reasons that Julian urges us again and again to trust in God, she quotes us Proverbs 3:5, using different words – “Trust in the Lord with all your might… lean not on your own understanding.” In our blindness and ignorance, we can so easily believe and commit to lies instead of truth. All we have the power to do is admit that we might be deceived even by our best intentions, pray that we might learn to discern the difference, and then, trust God to answer these prayers, to make our paths straight.
This is inspired by the thirty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Trigger Warning: Julian speaks of hell, purgatory, and the “curse of the Jews” in this passage. It seems to me that she does it to engage God in the most sticky questions she can muster about limits in God’s mercy. She always seeks to square the “teaching of Holy Church” with the visions she has been receiving, and today she plumbs the depths of whether God’s mercy has limits and what the implications might be if God’s mercy is limitless.
This is inspired by the thirty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
We see evil, we see the train wreck, we cannot see any way out, we cannot imagine how all this mess could possibly be made right. And we cannot find it in ourselves to trust. We’re asked to remember and to admit that we have less power than we imagine we possess. We’re goaded by circumstances to recall that we do not have as much control as we so often think. What’s left for us is always the question of whether we trust the one who does hold all the power, who is in control.
This is inspired by the thirty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
There’s a quotation from St. Augustine of Hippo in his spiritual memoir which states, “Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” I hear the same echo of longing and restlessness in the vision shared in today’s chapter; what might it mean that Jesus feels restless too?
This is inspired by the thirty-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Julian’s passage today, speaking of God’s perspective and what he chooses to reveal to us his beloved children, reminded me of a meditation practice which you might find helpful; listen to find out!
This is inspired by the thirtieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Is Julian naive to declare that Adam’s sin is the worst harm ever done? What if we take her word for it; what does that mean for Jesus’s sacrifice in his Passion?
This is inspired by the twenty-ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
The balance of power being with me, at my disposal, sounds good to this control freak, but I haven’t really found in life that my efforting is the cause of success or of inner peace. I do find echoes of truth and resonances of reality with the vision given to us through Julian that the key is surrender and acceptance that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. The power of peace and transformation is in us, but it is not just our own reflection or our own sense of self or our own effort. I take that to be good news.
This is inspired by the twenty-eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Our suffering is always caused by sin, whether it is our own, or someone else’s, or our community’s cooperative sin, or an echo of evil from the past. Julian wants us to focus not on the person or community who perpetrates the evil, but on what we ourselves can do about the suffering we’re undergoing – it’s really very well-boundaried of her! – So what can we do? How doe she urge us to respond?
This is inspired by the twenty-seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian reveals what she hears Jesus saying to her; what do we imagine that Jesus might say to each of us today? What do you need to hear from God?
This is inspired by the twenty-sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Whatever we might believe about the devotion she continues to enjoy, surely we can agree that she was a devoted follower of Jesus, and a faithful woman of God. She was also just a regular person, not divine in any special way, nor a demi-god of some kind, but a human, just like you and me.
This is inspired by the twenty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
“Look how much I loved you,” Jesus says. Jesus lives in his flesh on the cross the covenant that God made with humanity that we would never be left alone. You are never overlooked, you are never abandoned, you are never companionless.
This is inspired by the twenty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
What might it look like for us to be pleased with, comforted by, grateful for, Christ’s gift of salvation? What might it change in your daily rhythms to keep this gift and the pleasure he hopes it brings us in the front of our minds and our actions?
This is inspired by the twenty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Easter Sunday, God tells us (of Jesus), “We are his joy, we are his reward, we are his glory, we are his crown.” Sit with these words today, let them wash over you, let them sink in to your heart and melt into your bones. What might God reveal to you in chewing on this vision?
This is inspired by the twenty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
On Holy Saturday, the world holds its breath. But the only way to keep plodding along is to keep breathing. We cannot hold the heaviness we each carry, and so we must surrender our weights to God, breath by breath, every step of the way. We can only hope and trust that God will carry it for us.
This is inspired by the twenty-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, remembered on this day, struck at the very heart of the existence of Jesus Christ; Jesus lived in his flesh the question of whether God and man could be together always. God promised never to leave or abandon humanity, his beloved creation, and this event at the fulcrum of history tested the truth and the power of that covenant.
This is inspired by the twentieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian reflects on the inward and outward battles we fight, for her, “outward” is of-the-flesh – desires that might tempt or taunt us – “inward” is the conscious decisions and dwelling of our spirits and souls. She asserts that our outward battles are just the fiends heckling us, while our inward battle, what we choose to believe and then to follow with our actions and course of life – that is the one that matters.
This is inspired by the nineteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Turning her attention to those who witnessed Jesus’ suffering on the cross in his Passion, Julian reminds us that all creation is thrown off-kilter by the death which is the fulcrum of history, remembered this week across the globe.
This is inspired by the eighteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Warning: There are graphic descriptions of blood and dying flesh in this passage. Julian continues to describe Jesus’ death on the cross, and we are called to consider our participation in it.
This is inspired by the seventeenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Warning: There are graphic descriptions of blood and dying flesh in this passage. Julian has a vision of Jesus’ body dying on the cross, and reflects on the agony of Christ’s suffering.
This is inspired by the sixteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian taken on a roller coaster in today’s revelation, shunted from joy to sorrow and back again – and again and again. She understands from this that her feelings are not something to stake her faith on, and they don’t even determine whether God is pleased with her, or whether she’s in a state of grace. Feelings just are feelings, and they pass away. But, she argues, joy remains.
This is inspired by the fifteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
I wonder what it’d be like to hand around little scraps of heaven, passing moments of glory from one to another. How might that change our communities and the world?
This is inspired by the fourteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Consider how the Passion (the time from when Jesus was praying in the garden, through when he’s brought before the courts, condemned to die, carries his cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha, is then nailed to that cross outside the city wall, and finally dies) is somehow the truest revelation of this ancient God that has ever been seen by humanity.
This is inspired by the thirteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Warning: there’s a lot of description of Jesus’ blood in the passage today, listener beware!
Is our world a place of scarcity or of abundance? Which is the truth, and how do we live into that truth?
This is inspired by the twelfth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Our vision is much more myopic than we can ever realize, so what do we do with our faulty eyes and funhouse vision? How do we trust that God’s vision is better?
This is inspired by the eleventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
This one’s a whole sermon! Julian pulls back the curtain (wink wink) on her vision, how she came to understand its meaning, and how she suggests we might apply it to our own lives. She refers to a “holy vernicle at Rome” which we know today as Veronica’s Veil, a sacred object held at the Vatican in Julian’s time.
This is inspired by the tenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian addresses why she thinks she was given these visions, and how we might take the honor she’s been given (Hint: if we’re concerned about why she got visions, we’re asking the wrong question).
This is inspired by the ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
It’s not only Julian, of course, who reflects a special facet of God’s image, but each one of us. What does God have to reveal in each of us, what do we have to share with one another? What might we help others polish and uncover and turn even more toward the Light of love?
This is inspired by the eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
The Long Text provides even more detail and depth than Julian had when she had just experienced the visions; time provided more fodder rather than making details fuzzy or fade away. I wonder if our interactions with God might have the same quality.
This is inspired by the seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
When the doubt-fiends circle, Julian gives us an example of how we might respond. Her own words echo litanies that are threaded through books of prayer over the centuries. Perhaps we might take on this practice for ourselves, with our very own witnesses to God’s action.
This is inspired by the sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Julian very openly speaks of the temptations she faces in the midst of these revelations, even as God is showing her the most intimate things about himself that she could imagine. Today she offers a phrase that might also give us power, a prayer: “God, of your goodness, give me yourself.”
This is inspired by the fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
This God’s math has always been different than usual human understanding. How might this consistent mystery ethic inform the way we approach our everyday lives?
This is inspired by the fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
As Julian lies dying, she longs to receive all the rites of “Holy Church,” to become as close as possible to being one with God, according to her understanding of faith and theology. Is there an analogous experience, ritual, or event for each of us? What might it be? Would we want to undergo it?
This is inspired by the third chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Can you imagine peeling back the layers of your longing, like an onion? It takes attention, perseverance, courage, for sure. Then, what do you get to, at bottom? I wonder if it might be something similar to Julian’s longing. I wonder if they might be the same longings echoed through many human hearts.
This is inspired by the second chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Often, in practicing meditation, there’s a moment when we wake up to ourselves – when we realize our mind has been wandering, and we’re invited to come back to the breath, or to our intention, or whatever it is that we’re using to help our minds settle. The outline here of the revelations that Julian shares might serve as that mindful bell, that invitation to come back to our intention in this practice of listening and journeying.
This is inspired by the first chapter of Julian of Norwich's long text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Join the conversation at patreon.com/emilyhylden
Now we dig deep -- we really move slowly, examining each rock and bit of moss on the trail of God's visions given to Julian. She revisits her revelations years later after chewing on them herself in prayer and contemplation for (perhaps) decades, and invites us to come with her again.
I'm opening up a space on my patreon website for comments, reflections, and sharing by this community on each chapter we read together; swing on by if you'd like. It's also a space to support my work, and to help me continue producing content for this community and for our wider world. Join me, let’s keep walking.
In this last chapter of Julian’s short text, she frames her revelations through the lens of fear. Throughout God’s showings to her and in his voice he is always calling her out of counterfeit fear, out of shadow and darkness and despair, till all that is left for her and for us is reverent fear, which Julian identifies as rest, comfort, and love.
This is inspired by the twenty-fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
When we are hemmed in on every side, tempted by fiends, what is our recourse? What does our sister in faith Julian recommend? She insists that suffering, when viewed in the context of God almighty, is very small and quick, and therefore, can be borne “gladly and lightly.” How do we start on that path of perception in our everyday lives?
This is inspired by the twenty-fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
It can be easier to discount extraordinary experiences or uncomfortable truths revealed to us, but we’re meant to be transformed by them, we’re meant to grow more fully into the stature of Christ. This happens both slowly and incrementally, and also sometimes in a flash. How do we square all these sharp and disquieting bits of our pilgrimage?
This is inspired by the twenty-third chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
This vision places God himself inside our souls, “sitting,” Julian says, in rest, as if our hearts are Jesus’s favorite place to chill out. It is this power that we call upon to be certain that we shall not be overcome by anxiety or fear or despair or any kind of evil.
This is inspired by the twenty-second chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Just like Moses struggled to integrate the revelation he’d had when he came down the mountain from meeting God, Julian does, too. What might we learn about patience with the process of transformation?
This is inspired by the twenty-first chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
The themes that God’s visions given to Julian cover swirl around one another with such interdependence and consistency; this chapter alludes again to the transience of suffering, to the limits of human knowledge and understanding, to the vehicles of God’s glory, and to yearning for eternal bliss. They’re woven together here in a mystical blanket, encapsulating so much of what has been revealed to Julian in the foregoing visions. This is inspired by the twentieth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
What if prayer is more about God than it is about us? What if we’re even more oblivious than we first thought? Julian suggests that the effort is really all on God’s part. It’s not a matter of us running to God’s castle in the clouds and pounding on the door and begging on scraped knees to be admitted inside, but that God is always there, always already ready to receive us, just like the Prodigal Son parable.
This is inspired by the nineteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
How do we detach shame and guilt from sin? Is that even the right thing to do? Martin Luther tells us (perhaps out of context) to “sin boldly.” Julian, give us your wisdom! Jesus, reveal to us the truth!
This is inspired by the eighteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Apologies for the title; I have no idea what our blessed sister would think about plastic surgery, only that God tells her (and us!) in today’s reading not to fear or be ashamed over the imperfections of her past.
This is inspired by the seventeenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
When Julian, in her vision, asks God about how things turn out for one particular loved one, God suggests she have more concern for everyone in general rather than such acute concern for one person. Is this a shot to the heart? A divine gift? Both?
This is inspired by the sixteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
The ending of the story – of time – for Julian and many Christians, is written and revealed in Scripture. The sticky bit is that when, exactly, the end will come isn’t clear. And it’s the waiting that’s interminable, isn’t it? Julian offers us a salve in this itchy wound of wondering and waiting.
This is inspired by the fifteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Did you know that Julian of Norwich isn’t just a mystic, but a theologian? It’s true. She gives her take on the problem of evil – sin – in today’s selection, and offers her readers an antidote to spinning our intellectual wheels.
This is inspired by the fourteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
How do we develop compassion for strangers, perhaps even the ones who live in our homes? Julian joins a lineage of thought going back all the way to Abraham as she explores and provides her own answer to this question today.
This is inspired by the thirteenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
What God says to Julian in these visions (she tells us over and over), God says to each of us, too. Today, she has a conversation with Jesus about his crucifixion and death (often called “The Passion” as a blanket name for the events from his arrest in the Garden through to his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning).
This is inspired by the eleventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Julian reminds us of this important truth for those of us who struggle with our mental health: our pain is fleeting, our sorrow is not forever. I offer to you what I often use as a mantra in moments of darkness: it won’t always feel this way. It won’t always be this way. Things will change.
This is inspired by the eleventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
This passage reminds me of that line from the hymn, Abide with Me, “Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes.” Julian rests in such security and certainty with the cross in her sight. So I wonder what might happen for us. Check out the Issenheim Altarpiece, or another piece of devotional art.
This is inspired by the tenth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
What might it be like to choose to ignore the voices in our heads that speak of disgust with ourselves, and weariness with our existence? What if, just for a day, or a week, we chose to not give any attention to these voices?
This is inspired by the ninth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Some people think that Julian was delusional, and laughing at things that aren’t funny can be a sign of this problem. However, if God is as big and mighty as advertised, isn’t everything else humorously miniscule in comparison? That’s Julian’s take in today’s selection.
This is inspired by the eighth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
As she faces her assumed-imminent demise, she is overcome by the truth of the immensity of God compared to the very smallness of our lives. Smallness makes something no less precious, but it does rather take up less airspace – Julian suggests the same might be wise of our mental and spiritual rooms.
This is inspired by the seventh chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
In this season of Lent, we’re especially invited to welcome God more deeply into our lives, what might that look like for you, today? I wonder how we might practice decentering ourselves from our own lives; what could we do or shift in our habits to put God in that place of priority, instead?
This is inspired by the sixth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Throughout Julian’s records of these visions she received from God, she says many times, “God gave me time and space to contemplate it.” Do you give yourself time and space to contemplate and reflect? What might that look like for you?
This is inspired by the fifth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Julian beautifully describes God’s presence in our lives and in the world; postulating, God is “our clothing, wrapping and enveloping us… embracing and guiding us… hanging about us… so that he can never leave us.” If our sight, and mind, and soul are filled to overflowing with the presence of God, perhaps we can then both love God and God’s creation well.
This is inspired by the fourth chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Julian seems convinced that a bodily feeling or experience will have a spiritual effect for her. So I wonder if we can apply her assumption and ask whether our bodily experiences, the aches and pains we suffer, or the desires and needs we feel, also have a spiritual significance.
This is inspired by the third chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Julian communicates her desire to be more available to God not only with her thoughts and her voice, but with her corporate, or bodily, self, too. It made me wonder: how might I move my body to more readily to communicate to God my longing to yield to him?
This is inspired by the second chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
I wonder what gift you might ask God for, if you mustered up the courage to ask God for something big.
This is inspired by the first chapter of Julian of Norwich's short text, Revelations of Divine Love.
Welcome to Emily Rose Meditations; I’m your host, Emily, and this season we’ll be engaging Julian of Norwich to guide us on our journey through Lent and Easter. I hope the time and space on this podcast can be one of renewal, unification, and peace. The peace of Christ be with you.