Julian of Norwich

Single Occupancy (3 nights)

JULIAN OF NORWICH an anchoress of the fourteenth century, about whom we very little for certain, has captured the imagination of our time in a remarkable way, in her writings A Revelation of Divine Love.

At the age of thirty, suffering a severe illness and believing she was on her deathbed, she had a series of visions of the crucifixion of Christ. Some time after having received these visions she chose to live as an anchorite – in a cell next to a Church in Norwich – where she spent the rest of her life pondering the meaning of these intense experiences – expanding on what she had written as she wrestled with the big questions of life. Fourteenth century England was a time of great upheaval – political, social and religious – and surprisingly many of the questions arising today are in the centre of Julian’s concerns. Her response is amazingly positive as she ends her writing with the words she was given

“Would you like to know Our Lord’s meaning of all this? Know it well: love was his meaning. Who revealed this to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why did he reveal it to you? For love. Stay with this and you will know more of the same. You will never know anything but love, without end.”

An excellent preparation for this RETREAT would be to read I Julian by Claire Gilbert – an imaginary life of Julian and “ a brilliantly illuminating companion to one of the greatest works of spiritual writing in the English language. [Rowan Williams] I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down !