Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Significant Saints

Q: Which saint hold special significance for you, Father Ken and why?

I had to think about this one for a while. I would like to think that all “saints” have a special significance for me because they show us how they kept the faith through the trials and tribulations of their own life. I heard one of my mentors one time say that the reason that they depict saints on the stained glass windows is because they let the light shine through. I’ve also heard saints referred to as keyholes through which we may view the Christian life. I guess those statements and images have always resonated with me.

If I had to pick one, it would be extremely difficult. Because I am drawn to the English mystics overall, I guess I would choose Julian of Norwich. Dame Julian had a very simple way of expressing the majesty and power of God, making it relational and very accessible. Her writings, composed in a work called “Showings” or “Revelations of Divine Love” tell of a time when she was very sick, near death. In the midst of this sickness, she says that she had an encounter with Jesus who revealed to her that she would be ok, that her sickness experienced through the lens of Jesus suffering and the evils of this world were all relative to human understanding.

Julian had a way of expressing God that was different and non-traditional. She took the relational aspects of God to another extreme. God was both father and mother and Jesus was nurturer (often a descriptive reserved for women). Julian often used feminine language to describe the divine. In her time, late 14th century, this was just not done.

I think that I am attracted to Julian for other reasons, too. One is the fact that she could be such an influential figure and introduce us to ways of thinking about God and yet, we’re not even sure that Julian is her real name. Not uncommon for a woman in that age to be “unknown” or not given credit. It was considered unimportant.

All we know (and assume) is that the anchoress at the cathedral of St. Julian in Norwich wrote a work that included sixteen mystical visions and contemplation on universal love and hope. This was all done in a time when England faced the plague, religious reforms, and war. Her work was published in 1395, and it is the first published book in the English language to be written by a woman.

2 of my favorite quotes from Julian of Norwich:

“God, of your goodness, give me yourself; you are enough for me, and anything less that I could ask for would not do you full honor. And if I ask anything that is less, I shall always lack something, but in you alone I have everything'.” ― Julian of Norwich

“And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, ‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is made.’ I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it.” ― Julian of Norwich

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