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Julian of Norwich, Her Showings and Its Contexts, Website © Julia Bolton Holloway, 1997
The Carmina Gadelica, the Ortha nan Gaidheal, gives the Rune before Prayer, as it were, a prayer before prayer:
For further Celtic 'binding' prayers see the Carmina
Gadelica website:
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/corpus/Carmina
{The following prayers may be printed out, minus their initial capitals, an ornamental capital pasted on them, and next, photocopied onto sheets of thicker paper and illuminated, best done in reds and blues, the medieval colours, which came from Aaron's High Priestly robes, and then cut on a paper cutter, for use as bookmarks for prayer books and other books. Could someone send St Teresa's 'Book Mark Prayer'? [Stop Press: I've received it from Liz West in Australia!] And any other short prayer that is particularly compelling. Who knows, someone finding one in a book might by its means find God.}
{Nor should we forget the story amongst the Desert Fathers where one asked another, 'Father, how should I pray? How shall I know I have prayed well?' And the old hermit answered him saying, 'When you can do this'. And he raised his hands in prayer and the young man saw flames from his fingers reaching up into the heavens.}
{My Lord Jesus Christ, hear my prayer, even though it may be that I have by my deeds done nothing to deserve it, yet do it because you are true God and worthy. Make my heart burning with the fire of your love, so that everything that is in it which is against you becomes like ashes in the blowing wind.
Godfriends' Prayer
{Jesus said to the Scribe: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself'. Mark 12.29-31, repeating Deuteronomy 6.4 telling us to bind on the name of God, to hallow the name of God, and by its means ourselves and each other.
Julian of Norwich
{All shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.
Twelfth-century Nikolaos Mesarites describes
the Pantocrator in the Apostles' Church, Constantinople:
{This
dome shows in pictured form the God-Man Christ, leaning and gazing out
as though from the rim of heaven . . . like an earnest and vehement lover
. . . His look is gentle and wholly mild, turning neither to the left nor
the right, but wholly directed all at once and at the same time toward
each individually. Such are those eyes to those who have a clean understanding;
to those, however, who are condemned by their own judgement they are scornful
and hostile and boding of ill; the face is wrathful, terrifying, stern
and filled with hardness, for the face of the Lord is of this fashion for
evildoers.
Trans. Annamarie Wehl Carr, in A Byzantine Masterpiece Recoveed, the
Thirteenth-Century Murals of Lysi, Cyprus (Austin: University Press,
1991), pp. 65-66. William Blake in his engravings to Job does the same,
having Job and God in each other's image, at first, in an image of bitter
anger, then of loving compassion.
Anima Christi
{Soul
of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesu, hear me
Within thy wounds, hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from thee
From the malignant enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to thee
That with thy saints I may praise thee
For ever and ever.
Amen
A medieval prayer, with echoes of Julian's Showings, that later became associated with St Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits.
The Runes of the 'Dream
of the Rood' on the Ruthwell Cross
{Then
the young warrior, God almighty,
mounted the cross in sight of
many men
I held the king,
heaven's lord, I dared not bow.
They mocked us together. I was
wet with blood.
Christ was on the Cross.
Then came many quickly from afar
to the prince. I beheld it all.
I was sorely smitten with sorrow,
wounded with spears.
Limb-weary, they laid him down.
They stood at his head.
They looked on him there.
St. Francis' Blessing Written for Brother Leo,
{The
Lord bless thee and keep thee,
May he show thee his face and be merciful to thee;
May he turn his face to thee and give thee peace,
The Lord bless thee, Brother Leo.
[A tau cross emerging from a skull is drawn through the midst of the
blessing, echoing Calvary upon Golgotha.]
St. Andrew's Prayer to the Cross
{Hail,
O Cross that has been sanctified by the body of Christ, and adorned with
his limbs as with precious stones! Before the Lord was nailed to you, you
inspired fear on earth, but now you inspire heavenly love, and are desired
as a blessing. Thus I come to you assured and joyfilled, so that you may
graciously receive me, the disciple of Him who hung upon you; for I have
always loved you, and yearned for your embrace. O good Cross, ennobled
and beautified by the limbs of the Lord, long desired, constantly loved,
ceaselessly sought, take me away from men, and return me to my Teacher,
in order that He, having redeemed me through you, may receive me from you.
St Birgitta, Revelationes
{God is like a great master who owns a vineyard and keeps wine for sale. First he gives this wine to his friends and kinsfolk to taste. Next, when he wants to sell the wine, he sends his servants out into the street to cry, 'We have tasted the wine and it is good, come and drink, everyone who cares!' But the wine is that sweetness which is above every sweetness, and I have given it to my friends, to them who will hear the words I have to say.
Used by Augustine Baker, O.S.B. in Holy Wisdom
{I
am nought,
I have nought,
I seek nought
but sweet Jesus in Jerusalem.
{When
I pray for ought, my prayer counts for nought;
when I pray for nought, I pray as I ought.
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me.
Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger.
Christ in hearts of
all that love me.
Christ in mouth of
friend and stranger.
For further Celtic 'binding' prayers see the Carmina
Gadelica website:
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/corpus/Carmina
{Christ
to God: Not my will be done, but yours.
{Virgin
to Angel: Be it done unto me according to your will.
Agnes More, The Building of Divine Love
{For God is a greater pardoner than we are, or can be, sinners.
Collect for Julian of Norwich, May 13
{Most Holy Lord, the ground of our beseeching, who through your servant Julian revealed the wonder of your love, grant that as we are created in your nature and restored by your grace our will may be so made one with yours that we may come to see you face to face and gaze on you for ever.
King George VI's Christmas Broadcast, 1939.
{I said to the Man who stood at the gate of the year, 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown'. And he replied, 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!' So I went forth and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
Shaker Covenant 1795
We believe
we were debtors to God in
relation to Each other, and all men, to improve
our time and Talents in this Life, in that
manner in which we might be most useful.
St John of the Cross, Maxims 1.14
{This is how we can recognise the person who truly loves God; if he or she is content with nothing less than God. Satisfaction of heart is not found in the possession of things, but in being stripped of them all and in poverty of spirit.
St. Francis' Prayer
{Lord,
make me an
instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred
let me sow love;
Where there is injury
let me sow pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Francis Nuttall, The Prayer of the
Chalice
{Father,
to you I raise my whole being
- a vessel emptied of self. Accept, O Lord,
this my emptiness, and so fill me with
yourself, your light, your love, your
life - that these your precious gifts
may radiate through me and over-
flow the chalice of my heart into
the hearts of all with whom I
come in contact this day
revealing unto them
the beauty of
your joy
and
wholeness
and the
serenity
of your peace
which nothing can destroy.
The Prayer of the Paten
wheat
and grapes
bread and wine,
flesh and blood,
death and
life
John Woolman, Quaker Peace Testimony
May we
look upon
our treasures,
the furniture
of our houses
and our
garments, and
try whether
the seeds of
war have
nourishment
in these
our
possessions.
{Now
can you see that whosoever would love wisely should love lasting things
lastingly and passing things passingly, so that his heart be settled and
fastened on nothing but God.
Julian of Norwich
{And so in this sight I saw that he is all that is good as to my understanding. And in this he showed me a little thing the size of a hazel nut lying in the palm of my hand it seemed. And it was round as any ball. I looked on it with my understanding and I thought what may this be. And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.'
{A hazel nut in the hand looks much like a hand-forged nail-head. There is a tale that gypsies tell to exonerate themselves of their stealing, that they even stole the nails from the Cross, and relieved His pain. Take that nail into your hand. Free His hands from our nails, so that he can Create us again, and unravel our 'noughting' of His Creation, ourselves. We can be oned to his creating, his healing, hands.}
{I
marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly
have fallen to nought for littleness. And I was
answered in my understanding, 'It lasts and ever shall. For God loves it,
and so has everything its beginning by the love of God.'
{Leopards
break into the temple and drink the
sacrifical chalices dry; this occurs repeatedly,
again and again: finally it can be reckoned upon
beforehand and becomes a part of the ceremony.
Aruboth Hashamaim
Windows of Heaven
Isaiah 6.3
{Holy, Holy, Holy is Jehovah of Hosts, Is Full All the Earth of His Glory
St. Richard of Chichester's Prayer
{Thanks
be to you, my Lord, Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits you have given me,
For all the pains and insults which you bore for me.
O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
May I know you more clearly, Love you more dearly
And follow you more nearly.
Meister Eckhart
{God
is the infinite intellectual sphere with as many circumferences as centres
and whose centre is everywhere and circumference nowhere. He is entire
in his least part.
William Blake, 'Jerusalem'
{I
give you the end of a golden string:
Only wind it into a ball
It will lead you in at Heaven's gate
Built in Jerusalem's wall.
{The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son: and he utters Him for ever in everlasting silence, and in silence the soul has to hear it.
Instructions for Novices
{It is a time in which we come to realise that our bridal wreath must be his crown of thorns; and the portrait he sends to comfort us in our longing for the direct sight of his beautiful face, is a Crucifix.
{Rabbis say, If you have learnt much Torah, ascribe no merit to yourself. You were created for this.
{Humility treads upon asps and cockatrices and tramples underfoot lions and dragons, that is sin, despair, the devil and the flesh.
Instructions for Novices
{Two great gifts which our Lord left to his Church are the Psalter and the Lord's Prayer. The only gift which is greater than these is the gift of himself.
{The
divine Word in the pregnant Virgin
comes your way if you give her lodging.
{Therefore do not fret about trivialities; you were not made for trivial things, and the glory of the world is only a travesty of truth, only a heresy of happiness.
{There is a Jewish saying, that God worked for six days making the world, and he was able to rest on the seventh because on the sixth day he had made something to forgive: he couldn't rest till he had made something that needed his forgiveness.
Moses' Song, Deuteronomy 32.2-3
{May
my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distil as the dew,
As the gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and as the showers upon the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Ascribe greatness to our God.
Eckhart quoting
Augustine
{What
a man loves, a man is. If he loves a stone, he is a stone. If he loves
a man, he is a man. If he loves God - now I dare say no more: if I were
to say that then he is God, you might stone me.
Hans Memling, 'St John Writing Revelation',
St John's Hospital, Bruges.
Reproduced by permission, Memlingmuseum, Stedelijke Musea, Brugge, Belgium
Meister Eckhart
{Unless
the whole world and all of time becomes small in you, you will not see
God
Ephraim the Syrian, Hymn to the Nativity XII
{'The
babe that I carry carries me,' said Mary, 'and he has lowered his wings,
and taken and placed me between his pinions, and mounted into the air;
and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my sons'
{In the house of the Lord God of Israel, may Michael, the protector of God, be at my right hand; and Gabriel, the power of God, at my left; before me Uriel, the light of God; behind me Raphael, the healing of God; and above my head, Shechinah El, the presence of God.
{I shall not die, but live . and declare the works of the Lord
{Poverty is good and contains within itself all the good things of the world. It is a great domain - I mean that he who cares nothing for the good things of the world has dominion over them all.
Latin American Grace
{O
God, to those who have hunger, give bread
and to us who have bread, give the hunger for justice.
Jewish Women's Sabbath Prayer
{Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who sanctifies us by your Commandments and command us to light the Sabbath candles.
St Sergius of Radonez
Outside Settignano, amongst olive groves is a small monastery, that of the Comunità dei figli di Dio, the Community of the Children of God. Its young monks and nuns walk to Mass, like grey sculpted columns. On the chapel's outer wall, so that passers-by may read, are these words:
{Tutta
l'immensità
l'unità che tutto trascende
lo spirito santo è:
il dono che dall'abisso s'effonde
e penetra tutto
e di sè indivisible e uno
tutte le cose riempie
e tutte in una luce trasforma.
{Nessun
uomo, nessuna creatura,
nulla nel cielo e sopra la terra
ti adora più:
nessuno ti conosca o ti ammiri,
nessuno ti serva, ti ami,
illuminato dallo spirito,
battezato nel fuoco,
chiunque tu sia:
laico, vergine, sacerdote,
tu sei trono di Dio,
sei la dimora, sei lo strumento,
sei la luce della divinita . . . .
+++ Dal Cantico di San Sergio di Radonez, Patrono della Russia, 1314-1392.
All the immensity, the unity which transcends all, is the Holy Spirit.
The gift which comes from the abyss and penetrates all and of itself is
one and indivisible, fills all things, and transforms all into one light.
No one, no creature, nothing of the sky or above the earth could adore
you more, no one could know or admire you more, no one could serve you
or love you more, illuminated by the Spirit, baptised in flame, whoever
you are.
Lay person, nun or priest, you are the throne of
God, you are his dwelling, you are the instrument, you are the light of
God . . . .
Sergius of Radonez is Julian of Norwich's Russian contemporary. Nothing has survived of Saint Sergius' writings. This poem came in a dream to don Divo Barsotti, C.F.D. - and is influenced by Blessed Julian.
{Let
nothing disturb you,
Nothing afright you,
God never changes.
Patience gains all things,
Who has God wants for nothing,
God alone is enough.
With profound thanks to Sister Elizabeth A. West, L.C.M, Australia, who has a particular love for Fiesole - and who prefers being called 'Liz'.
Another version has just come:
{Let nothing trouble you, Let nothing affright you, All things are passing, God alone is unchanging, Who possesses God, Wants for nothing, God alone suffices.
Julian of Norwich
{Pray
entirely inwardly, though you feel nothing, though you see nothing;
yes, even though you think you cannot for dryness and barreness, in sickness
and feebleness. Then is your prayer fully pleasing to me, though you think
it only saves you a little. And so is all your living prayer in my sight.
Julian of Norwich
{For
this is our Lord's will, that our prayer and our trust be both alike large.
For if we trust not as much as we pray, we do not fully honour our Lord
in our prayer, and also we tarry and pain ourselves. And the cause, as
I believe, is that we know not truly that our Lord is ground himself from
whom our prayer springs. And also that we know not that it is given us
by his grace, of his great and tender love.
Julian of Norwich
{And after this I saw God in a point. That is to say in my understanding. By which sight I saw that he is all things.
St Birgitta of Sweden
{Amor
meus crucifixus est
{Thou true and living Son of God, and Son of the Virgin, who of Thy own free will didst allow Thy hands and feet to be pierced, and didst suffer so great bitterness for the health of my soul, grant, O most sweet Jesus Christ, to enter into my heart, and there to be consumed with burning love. I beseech Thee, O most adorable Redeemer, for the sake of the nails and the spear which were withdrawn from Thy dead body, and from Thy so sorely wounded heart, to withdraw from my heart the desire of all that things that offend Thee. Amen.
St Ignatius Loyola
{Receive
Lord, my entire liberty, my understanding, my memory, my will.
From Thee I have received all things, to Thee I return all things.
Give me but Thy grace and Thy love. I ask nothing else of Thee.
{God, of your goodness, give me yourself. For you are enough for me. And I may ask nothing that is less, that may be of honour to you. And if I ask anything that is less, I am always in want. For only in you I have all.
David's Prayer When Dying, 1 Chronicles 29.10-17
Blessed are you, O Lord, . . . forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. . . . And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name. . . . For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.
St Birgitta's Prayer
{Pray
for me, apostles and evangelists, and all those who were enclosed in the
house at Pentecost when you received the Holy Spirit, for what you felt
then, when you received courage to speak, and to serve Him did not spare
your bodies from all pain and trouble. Help me, that by your prayer the
same Spirit is worthy to visit my heart and come alight in it and never
cease and be quenched. Then I would receive words and deeds to do and speak
according to His blessed will.
St Birgitta's Prayer Written for a Friend
{O Lord, my God, my Creator, my Redeemer! I, an unworthy sinner, beseech Thee, by Thy great and merciful miracle, whereby Thou dost change the Bread into Thy true Body and the Wine with the water into Thy Blood, and to everlasting health-giving refreshment; bend my will entirely according to Thy will, so that in thought, word and deed I may always do what is pleasing to Thee.
Wisdom 11.22-24
{For
the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
and you overlook people's sins, so that they may repent.
For you love all things that exist,
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have made anything if you hated it.
Luke 15.24
{And he said unto him, 'Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.'
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The Julian Library Portfolio, 1996.
© Copyright Julia Bolton Holloway (juliana@tin.it),
Fiesole
Website Design: Timothy E. Thompson (tethomps@syr.fi.it),
Florence
Webmaster: Otfried Lieberknecht (lieberk@berlin.netsurf.de),
Berlin
Nota Bene Consultant: Tony St Quintin (tsq@nb-uk.win-uk.net),
Leeds
This site last updated 2 November 1998.
