Julian of Norwich: Long
Text: Edmund Colledge, O.S,A. and James Walsh, S.J.
After this our Lord revealed about prayer, in
which revelation I saw two conditions in our Lord's intention. One is rightful
prayer; the other is confident trust. But still our trust is often not
complete, because we are not sure that God hears us, as we think, because of
our unworthiness and because we are feeling nothing at all; for often we are as
barren and dry after our prayers as we were before. And thus, when we feel so,
it is our folly which is the cause of our weakness, for I have experienced this
in myself. And our Lord brought all this suddenly to my mind, and revealed
these words and said: I am the ground of your beseeching. First, it is my will
that you should have it, and then I make you to wish it, and then I make you to
beseech it. If you beseech it, how could it be that you would not have what you
beseech? And so, in the first reason and in the three that follow, our Lord
reveals a great strengthening, as can be seen in the same words.
Julian of Norwich: Long
Text: Edmund Colledge, O.S,A. and James Walsh, S.J.: 41st Chapter
Thanksgiving also belongs to prayer. Thanksgiving
is a true inward acknowledgment, we applying ourselves with great reverence and
loving fear and with all our powers to the work that our Lord moved us to,
rejoicing and giving thanks inwardly. And sometimes the soul is so full of this
that it breaks out in words and says: Good Lord, great thanks, blessed may you
be. And sometimes the heart is dry and feels nothing, or else, by the
temptation of our enemy, reason and grace drive the soul to implore our Lord with
words, recounting his blessed Passion and his great goodness. And so the power
of our Lord's word enters the soul and enlivens the heart and it begins by his
grace faithful exercise, and makes the soul to pray most blessedly, and truly
to rejoice in our Lord. This is a most loving thanksgiving in his sight.
Julian of Norwich: Long Text: Edmund Colledge,
O.S,A. and James Walsh, S.J.: 42nd Chapter
For this is our Lord's will, that our prayer and
our trust be both equally generous. For if we do not trust as much as we pray,
we do not pay full honor to our Lord in our prayer, and also we impede and hurt
ourselves; and the reason is, as I believe, because we do not truly know that
our Lord is the ground from which our prayer springs, and also because we do
not know that it is given to us by grace from his love. For if we knew this,
•it would make us trust to have all we desire from our Lord's gift.
Julian of Norwich: Long Text: Edmund Colledge,
O.S,A. and James Walsh, S.J.: 42nd Chapter
And contemplating this with thanksgiving, we ought
to pray for the deed which is now being done, that is that he may rule us and
guide us to his glory in this life, and bring us to his bliss; and therefore,
he has done everything. So he means us to see that he does it and to pray for
it. For the one is not enough, for if we pray and do not see that he does it,
it makes us depressed and doubting; and that is not to his glory. And if we see
that he does it and do not pray, we do not do our duty. And it cannot be so,
that is to say, it is not so in his sight. But to see that he does it, and at
the same time to pray, in this way is he worshipped and we are helped. It is
our Lord's will that we pray for everything which he has ordained to do, either
in particular or in general. And the joy and the bliss that this is to him, and
the thanks and the honor that we shall have for it, this is beyond the
understanding of all creatures in this life, as I see it.
Julian of Norwich: Long Text: Edmund Colledge,
O.S,A. and James Walsh, S.J.: 43rd Chapter
Prayer unites the soul to God, for though the soul
may be always like God in nature and in substance restored by grace, it is
often unlike him in condition, through sin on man's part. Then prayer is a
witness that the soul wills as God wills, and it eases the conscience and fits
man for grace. And so, he teaches us to pray and to have firm trust that we
shall have it; for he beholds us in love, and wants to make us partners in his
good will and work. And so he moves us to pray for what it pleases him to do,
and for this prayer and good desire which come to us by his gift he will repay
us, and give us eternal reward. And this was revealed to me when he said: If
you beseech it.
