God, of your goodness give me yourself,
For you are enough for me,
And I can ask for nothing which is less
Which can pay you full worship.
And if I ask anything which is less,
Always I am in want;
But only in you do I have everything.
- Julian of Norwich

Dame Julian

Monday was the day of remembrance for Julian of Norwich. Julian of Norwich was born in 1342. By the time she was 28, she had seen three outbreaks of Bubonic Plague in England, in which 1/3 the English population died. Half of the clergy in England (still Catholic at that time) died, having faithfully performed the sacrament of last rights for as many of the dying as they could get to. Whether it was because of the Black Plague, or for other reasons, many in England were drawn to a contemplative life during this century. Some, mostly women, became anchorites, attached to one cell, usually within the close of a church. Others, mostly men, became hermits living as an itinerate, like St. Francis.

Early in life, Julian prayed to experience three gifts from God: First, to understand his passion, second to suffer while young to the point of death, and third, to experience three spiritual wounds: contrition, compassion, and a sincere longing for God. When she was thirty, she became deathly ill and received last rights. In her last moments, she fixed her gaze on a crucifix, and had her first vision. She was miraculously healed and experienced sixteen revelations of the love of the Crucified Christ.

She was eventually anchored to the church of St. Julian, in Norwich, from whence she took her name. We do not know what her given name was, nor much about her life before she became an anchoress.

As anchoress, she was under the authority of the Bishop, and followed a rule of life drawn up for those who were anchorites. Her small cell was attached to the wall of the church, and there she remained for the rest of her life. The only other being allowed in her cell was a cat - it was there for very practical reasons, to keep the rat population down. But Julian apparently had a very warm relationship with her cat, and it is said that they often sat together in the garden.

Julian's writing flowed from her sixteen visions of the love of Christ. Indeed, she believed that she had received the visions so that all might know how intensely passionate God is toward God's people.

What, do you wish to know you Lord's meaning in this thing? Know it well, Love was his meaning. Who reveals it to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal it to you? For Love. Remain in this and you will know more of the same.

For our natural will is to have God,
and God's good will is to have us,
And we can never stop willing or loving
until we possess him in the
Fullness of joy.
- Julian of Norwich, Showings

Debra’s Midweek Meditation
"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep."
- John 10:14-15

This Sunday we remember the metaphor of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

The followers of Christ have invested a lot of energy in taming this image--replacing the harshness of the Judean wilderness with scenes of gentle rolling hills. filled with green grass, and leaping beautiful white lambs.

Whenever I think of the Good Shepherd, I remember the Sunday school paintings of Jesus-clean and spotless surrounded by clean and spotless lambs--
A romantic idyll to symbolize the purity of Christ.

But, sheep tending can be messy business and salvation is definitely
earthy, gritty and strenuous business.

It is important to hear the whole message of this passage.
Several times Jesus tells the disciples(us) that the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
As we know, he may be speaking in metaphor but his death on the cross was real and bloody and horrible.
Can we recognize the white-robed Jesus who holds the lamb like a mother, is the same Saviour who agonizes on the cross for our redemption?

I think that it is in the remembrance of both the deep nurture of the shepherd and the deep anguish of the crucified Lord that we may begin to get a glimpse of the reality of salvation--
the reality of Christ.

When we are willing to bring our messy lives into the embrace of both Shepherd and Saviour we experience salvation.

Love is the outpouring energy of God.
If we have seen Jesus we have seen the Father-
If we allow ourselves to be washed in illumination of divine love we will begin to be nurtured by the shepherd and guided by the crucified Lord.
Blessings,
Debra

Daily Morning Prayer
http://www.episcopalchurchingarrettcounty.org/morning_prayer.htm

Pray inwardly, even if you do not enjoy it. It does good, though you feel nothing. Yes, even though you think you are doing nothing.

Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness. This is our Lord's will, ... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large. For if we do not trust as much as we pray, we fail in full worship to our Lord in our prayer; and also we hinder and hurt ourselves. The reason is that we do not know truly that our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springeth; nor do we know that it is given us by his grace and his love. If we knew this, it would make us trust to have of our Lord's gifts all that we desire. For I am sure that no man asketh mercy and grace with sincerity, without mercy and grace being given to him first. - Julian of Norwich

This week at St. James
Thursday: SJA 7th Grade Parent Meeting
Friday: Diocesan Convention, Hunt Valley
Saturday: Diocesan Convention, Hunt Valley; SJA Horse and Pony Show
Sunday: The Rev. Richard Kunz, director of El Hogar orphanage in Honduras, will be our guest preacher.; 2:00 Honduras Mission meeting, St. David's
Monday: 10:00 Narnia Study
Tuesday: 7:30 Vestry
Wednesday 8:30 Healing Eucharist; 9:30 Bible Study

Our Lord is the Ground of our Prayer. Herein were seen two properties: the one is rightful prayer, the other is steadfast trust; which He willeth should both be alike large; and thus our prayer pleaseth Him and He of His Goodness fulfilleth it. - Julian of Norwich

Prayers Etc.
For our seminarian Laura as she prepares for finals and completes her first year.
For those who are deployed and their families

Anna; Nancy; Tony; Joel; Arabella Brian E.
Tamara; Owen Kent; Jeffrey; Brittany Jason
David; Lovisah; Leib & Carlyn; Jewell; Keith
Cathy; Jack; Alice; Bart; Justin; Bernie
Jan; Nancy; Betsy; Hannah; Gavin; Brian
Lilly ; Sally; Ron; Sue; Bill; Debbie
Paul R. Lee; Philip; Mary Jane; Rev. Pat Underwood
Margaret S.; Matt K. & Family; Lori J. and Family
Dottie; Brooke; Donovan

In Closing:

And therefore the blessed Trinity is always wholly pleased with all its works; and God revealed all this most blessedly, as though to say, See, I am God. See, I am in all things. See, I do all things. See, I never remove my hands from my works, nor ever shall without end. See, I guide all things to the end that I ordain them for, before time began, with the same power and wisdom and love with which I made them; how should anything be amiss? So was the soul examined, powerfully, wsely and lovingly, in this vision. Then I saw truly that I must agree, with great reverence and joy in God.
- Julian of Norwich

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

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