Yesterday, May 13, in addition to being the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima (first apparition to the three young children in the Cova da Iria on outskirts of Fatima, Portugal), the date is also the Feast of the mystic and anchoress, St. Julian of Norwich. In fact, the date of Julian's grave illness and beginning of the visions (she refers to them as "showings") occurred on May 13, 1373.
Julian is not her given name; no one knows many facts of her early life other than approximate dates of her life and that her mother and parish priest were at her bedside, fearing she would die from the grave illness she experienced when age thirty-and-one-half years of age. She recovered rather miraculously from the illness, to which she attributed to God be the glory of her healing as well as the "showings" which were revealed during the course of the illness.
She then became an anchorite; she lived in a room constructed beside the parish church, St. Julian in Norwich, England. One window faced into the church for her to receive communion and participate in Mass; another window faced outward to the street at which people would come to ask her prayers and spiritual advice, as her reputation spread regarding wise counsel. It was the practice for anchorites to take the name for themselves, of the name of the church to which their anchorholds were attached.
Julian was educated, could write with ample vocabulary and also was familiar with writings available at the times. She referred to the Trinity as Father, Mother and Nurse--representing the loving, nurturing nature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The use of feminine to refer to God had previously been used in the writings of St. William of Thierry; so Julian was considered to be familiar with his use of that imagery, but it is noted that he did not receive the criticism for doing so that Julian received.
It also is surmised that Julian at some point had been in a convent, as the probably means of her education and familiarity with theological thought and writing up to her time period. She may have received her education in convent or as a young girl being taught with other young girls in convent school in some fashion. Also, there is no knowledge of her having married.
One aspect of St. Julian's life overview and introduction commentary (The Classics of Western Spirituality, St. Julian of Norwich: Showings) that stands out personally, is that of Julian's maturation in the understanding of the visions over the course of her writing them initially (short form), and then over the years writing a long form with greater detail and insight of interpretation.
It is true of mystical experiences, that to the mystic, they are more clear, more actual and real, the vivid details not leaving the memory as they remain as more real and valid than are events in of temporal life. Also, with time, the mystic becomes less hesitant in sharing what is experienced and "seen," not feeling insecure or as concerned in how others might criticize. Julian in her longer form of writing the showings through the years, no longer felt a need to be practically apologetic or demean herself in order to seem overly humble and unworthy in wording such as referring to herself as a lowly worm and other deprecating self-descriptions.
Over the years, a mystic needs grow more confident and secure in the interior gifts given. The mystic learns to discern and also seeks assistance from trusted others who help discern when concern and questions arise within, but must then rely on God most of all. A mystic must cease being apologetic and as if shamed about the mystic's way of being; the mystic as everyone, is created by God. A mystic must learn to be comfortable in his own skin, to be accepting of being "different" from the others, and learn to be deft in managing that they do not belong to "that world"--that beautiful and enticing but "other" world: the temporal.
Yet the mystic interacts with the temporal world for that is part of the purpose and mission of mystics--to do God's will which involves intersecting with the temporal, often through mystical means and to help others to gain glimpses of the reality of the world to which all will come to have their lives and sole beings to exist, in time. God has varied purposes and missions for mystics just as He has for those called to non-mystic, needful lives. Padre Pio, once He was through his phase of harsh scrutinies and trials from others and the devil, also, was very interactive as a confessor and spiritual guide, yet despite being no longer isolated in the monastery, he always had to contend with the usual envies and backbiting of those in the temporal who resented his mission as a mystic. And mystics have the usual sins and temperaments of all types; Padre Pio had a sharpness and gruffness, but with the physical pain he suffered from the stigmata, who could claim to do better in managing it all?
The mystic's purpose and mission in this world of temporal and mystical realms, temporal and mystical church, the mystic's message and experience, and what these mean and the help the mystic's message and purpose can provide others, becomes dominant in function more than should the messenger be concerned with how or if the message will be received. Thus, Julian of Norwich over many years and as she matured in the temporal and spiritual life, wrote the in depth, longer version of her mystical visions with greater confidence and with more details of which in the shorter, early form she was less secure in sharing.
For mystics, there is always that element of being in a world not that of most persons, the world that for purpose of delineating here can be called the mystical Catholic world or the mystical Catholic church as opposed to the temporal Catholic world or temporal Catholic church. As I've written elsewhere and emphasized, the temporal is of course very needed and marvelous, and is God's realm as valued and crucial as the mystical; but there are distinctions. One major factor is that after this temporal life on this earth, all will be then the mystical, not the temporal any longer, and this mystical world will be for all eternity.
For some, such as mystics, the temporal world can seem even uncomfortable in a certain way, and as the mystic grows and comes to greater understanding that what the mystic perceives and experiences is not quite what most people of the temporal perceive and how they experience, the mystic comes to levels and points of acceptance of their reality and "place", if you will, in life. For awhile which can last years, the mystic lives as if with a foot in both worlds or as if I've expressed, having to try to live a "double life" so as to mask the mystic self from the temporal family and friends who do not grasp or fathom or can be frightened, even, by what the mystic experiences and senses and sometimes is brought to share. Others also can be fearful of what they, too, witness when a mystic's purpose intersects tangibly, sensibly such as aurally or visibly in the temporal world.
But at a certain points in life the mystic must transition to increasing fullness of the mystical world. That is why such persons as Julian of Norwich transitioned around the age of 30, and the conclusion of one phase into that of greater awareness of her mystic purpose given by God, was manifested through the grave illness which had her between life and death and in which the visions were given to her over the course of the illness.
That is why a mystic seeks a "place" for existing that creates security and provides the environment for the mystic to grow and bloom, in effect, in order to live and do and be the purposes for which God chose the soul to be born a mystic. God allows the mystic a foundation through childhood, usually of a loving, protected home life and the security of growing up without recognizing for the most part, that others do not perceive or are not experiencing this other realm, the spiritual, the mystical world. The childhood years for those called or created mystic by God, flow with wonderment and protected acceptance even if often can be marked with illnesses or injuries that are in actuality archetypes of transitions from one phase into the next, with trials being introduced, and experiences of good versus evil. These early transitions prepare the mystic for more intense and often painful transitions to come in adulthood. The Lord is kind and merciful!
But as the mystic grows through temporal life, there are points of reckoning, and eventually the mystic's transitions graduate the mystic more fully into phases of assignments and increasing, purposeful fruitfulness. Julian's life included the later transition of maturation and of writing with greater understanding of the meaning of the earlier showings; she wrote in fullness the long form of the showings which grew or branched out the splendor of God's metaphoric messages from the previous, more tentative and less-grasped, short form.
For a mystic, the Lord provides such vocations and "places" in the temporal world that will keep the mystic safe, in essence, from the distractions of the outer, so that what the Lord wishes of the mystic's purpose and mission is able to grow and bloom and produce fruit for the world either then or for a later era. Thus, hermit life has always been a haven for mystics; being able to remove and go out into the deserts and forests and mountains or for some, removed to a cell in a monastery or room set apart, has always been ideal. God protects His mystics; He provides for them in the hiddenness they require in order to fulfill their missions and be as God created them.
Being an anchorite, living walled off from the world for the most part, was ideal for God's mystics. The evolution of hermit life in the Church of East and West provided for God's mystics through the centuries and up to current times, now, into the 21st century. However, the hermit vocation now has shifted some with the regularization in the Catholic Church through the "official" recognition by canon law (603). This has altered to a certain extent, by setting forth a type of legal guidelines of public profession of evangelical counsels and the formation of what is known as the "diocese hermit", an opening up of the hermit life to be expanded upon with additional interpretations and broadening of what was previously a natural haven or "place" in the Church for mystics.
That was the message of the dream and waking vision I had several days ago, and which caused me all the more to know that the Lord did not will me to continue in a canonical approval process. I then could understand all the more the lack of inner peace that had pervaded for going on three months. Of course, the Lord provided for me as He always provides for all of us who seek His will and have given ourselves fully to Him, who lay down our lives for Christ in various ways. [I might share the dream and waking vision later on, but it really seems not of importance for others as it is one of those messages meant for me as a mystic to know why the way of the diocese hermit and canon law official recognition is not necessary nor desired by God for me.]
Over time, perhaps, if God wants me to know or understand further, I might learn if this would be the case for other mystics for whom hermit life and vocation are best for them given the silence of solitude and relative security and withdrawal and separation from the temporal world, and yes, the temporal church world. But for now, God has provided for this mystic, just as in Julian's time he provided for her with the anchorhold built into the side of St. Julian Parish Church in Norwich, in the 14th century where she lived after recovering from illness in which she received the visions God desired for her to fathom and share through her writing of them. (Julian's book of Showings is the first book written in English by a woman author.)
As to mystics being isolationists or separated from the church or from themselves, as some can mistakenly think or project from a temporal perspective or viewpoint, this is not the case. Yes, mystics are essentially in God's mystical world, in His mystical church world, and most often live as authentic and fulfilled in God and have been as hermits for centuries, and as anchorites, and even known as religious recluses or religious solitaries. But they are by no means without friends but usually have to limit the contacts as contrary to what some may think, people tend to be very drawn to mystics.
For the mystic to grow and bloom and produce the fruit that the Lord desires, there can be limitations placed, illnesses, accidents and injuries, circumstances that enforce removal and provide socially acceptable and temporally understandable reasons or even provide "cover" or excuses for the mystic to have the silence of solitude, the withdrawal from the world, the hiddenness from the temporal others who do not understand the natural and God-given spiritual understanding and inner senses of His mystics.
Perhaps at some point I ought write of the ways and means the Lord has utilized to keep His mystic to Himself, as well as the painful aspect of the mystic to have to agree to and accept the transitions phases of separating out from the temporal world to which the mystic does not belong and which hinders the mystic from the purposes and missions the Lord wills over the course of a mystic's life time. And the transition point includes accepting that of a mystic not truly "belonging" to the temporal Catholic world of the parish or diocese, just as Julian of Norwich and other anchorites were literally walled off from the parish church other than for the Host to be given them.
And the same is true of those mystics in religious orders who were set off in a more secluded cell, kept as if incarcerated and in many cases unkindly so, were told not to communicate with the other religious. This is why the desert fathers and mothers kept going further out into the desert or into the forests or up the mountains seeking huts and caves less and less accessible from the many persons who are attracted to these souls and want to befriend them, in today's times wanting to call, to email, to become friends, to go and do--these persons called mystics, misunderstood and often maligned by those the devil tends to use as tools or who are simply ignorant of the mystics and who do not grasp or or even oddly envy God's mystics chosen to be His own for spiritual purposes and missions interfacing the temporal world.
The mystic's life is always unique for a mystic is chosen and formed by God for His specific needs--just as are all souls created by God for His purposes, of which most are necessarily chosen to live and be and function in the temporal world, in the lay single or married vocations, or as religious brothers or sisters, virgins, widows, deacons, priests--and that only of the Catholic temporal world, not to mention the entire world of Christendom and the other major religions and sects with human beings being born and reared and seeking and doing, living, and being.
God bless His Real Presence in us! St. Julian, please pray for me--pray for us all! Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us! Sts. Jacinta, Francesco, and Lucia--pray for us! God's will be done!
