A Mystic For Our Times

by Charles Reed  -
(reprint of an editorial in magazine Reflections, Feb. 2002)

• Wisdom reneweth all things and through nations conveyeth herself into holy souls. She maketh the friends of God and prophets. -- Wis. 7, 27

JULIAN lived as a recluse in the anchoress-house attached to the old church of St. Julian, in Norwich, England, and had even in her lifetime a reputation for great sanctity. She survived to an advanced age, having two maids to wait upon her when she was old, but the actual date of her death is unknown, as is also her parentage.

The book that she eventually produced, Revelations of Divine Love, remains perhaps the most beautiful and certainly the tenderest exposition of divine love that has ever been written in the English language. At the beginning of her book she states that she had desired three gifts from God-that He would grant her a greater realization of Christ's sufferings, that He would send her a severe illness which would bring her to death's door and detach her from earthly things, and that He would give her the three wounds of "very contrition," of "kind compassion," and of "wilful longing towards God."

When she was 30 years old she actually did contract a malady so serious that her life was despaired of. On the fourth day she received the last sacraments, and on the seventh she seemed to be sinking. All she had strength to do was to keep her eyes fixed on the crucifix. Then, quite suddenly, all her pains left her, and between four and nine o'clock in the morning of May 8, 1373, she had a succession of 15 distinct visions or shewings, concluded by a 16th, during the night after the following day. These visions for the most part presented different aspects of our Lord's passion, which, while producing in her the compunction she had desired, brought her wonderful peace and joy. Their full significance did not unfold itself until long afterwards. Elsewhere she speaks of being inwardly instructed for the space of 20 years. At the time when the visions came she was, according to her own account, "a simple creature that could no letters," in other words, illiterate, but in the years that elapsed before she wrote her book she must have acquired a considerable knowledge of the Christian mystics, for she sometimes uses their terminology.

Perhaps the most famous of her visions is the thirteenth revelation or shewing: "After this the Lord brought to my mind the longing that I had to him before. And I saw that nothing prevented me but sin. And so I beheld, generally, in us all, and methought: If sin had not been, we should all have been clean and like to our Lord, as he made us.

"But Jesus, who in this Vision informed me of all that me neeedeth, answered by this word and said: 'It behooved that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

"In this naked word sin, our Lord brought to my mind, generally, all that is not good, and the shameful despite and the utter naughtng that he bore for us in this life, and his dying; and all the pains and passions of all his creatures, ghostly and bodily; (for we be all partly naughted, and we shall be naughted following our Master, Jesus, till we be full purged, that is to say, till we be fully naughted of our deadly flesh and of all our inward affections which be not very good;) and the beholding of this, with all pains that ever were or ever shall be,-and with all these I understand the Passion of Christ for most pain, and overpassing. And this pain, it is something, as to my sight, for a time; for it purgeth, and maketh us to know ourselves and to ask mercy. For the Passion of our Lord is comfort to us against all this, and so is his blessed will. And for the tender love that our good Lord hath to all that shall be saved, he comforteth readily and sweetly, meaning thus: "It is sooth (truth) that sin is cause of all this pain; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

"And in these words I saw a marvellous high privity hid in God, which privity he shall openly make known to us in heaven: in which knowing we shall verily see the cause why he suffered sin to come. In which sight we shall endlessly joy in our Lord God."

Several years after she received the 16 revelations, Our Lord gave her additional understanding about the thirteenth shewing: "One time our good Lord said: 'All thing shall be well,' and another time he said: 'Thou shalt see thyself that all manner of thing shall be well,' and in these two sayings the soul took sundry understandings.

"One was that he willeth we know that not only he taketh heed to noble things and to great, but also to little and to small, to low and to simple, to one and to other. And so meaneth he in that he saith: 'All manner of thing shall be well.' For he willeth we know that the least thing shall not be forgotten.

"Another understanding is this, that there be deeds evil done in our sight and so great harms taken, that it seemeth to us that it were impossible that ever it should come to good end. And upon this we look, sorrowing and mourning therefor, so that we cannot resign us unto the blissful beholding of God as we should do. And the cause of this is that the use of our reason is now so blind, so low, and so simple, that we cannot know that high marvelous Wisdom, the Might and the Goodness of the blissful Trinity. And thus meaneth he when he saith: 'Thou shalt see thyself that all manner of thing shall be well.' As if he said: 'Take now heed faithfully and trustingly, and at the last end thou shalt verily see it in fulness of joy.'

If people repent of their sins, there will be happiness. If they do not repent, and continue in grave sin, there will be misery and unhappiness, in time and in eternity. There may be a few conversions here and there, but in general, people are not repenting and are continuing in their sins. This obstinacy is the reason why so many sinister prophecies will be fulfilled, including the prophecy made by Mary at Fatima in 1917, that various nations will be annihilated, and the grave prophecies she made at La Salette, France, in 1846. That is why we are living in times in which we may see "deeds evil done in our sight and so great harms taken, that it seems it were impossible that ever it should come to good end." The events of September 11 have made many people reflect, and come to the conclusion that we are indeed living in grave times.

It should be made clear that God does not want to punish: he would rather show his mercy and kindness. But there are certain basic conditions for him to do so: people have to be willing to repent of their sins and observe his commandments. The punishments of the flood and Sodom and Gomorra happened, not because God wanted to punish men, but because the people of those times provoked the punishments by their horrible obstinacy and sins. We are living in similar times: if people are so obstinate, stubborn, and unwilling to keep even the basic commandments, what else can they expect but the inevitable effect of Divine Justice? "God is not mocked." (Gal. 6, 7).

When the grave events begin to happen, and the sinister prophecies begin to be fulfilled, it will be our consolation to know that, even if the situation seems hopeless from a human point of view, "to them that love God, all things work together unto good." (Rom. 8, 28) "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and thou shalt see thyself, that all manner of thing shall be well." That is why Julian of Norwich and her revelations are such a consolation and encouragement for these times. If the reprobate see the fulfillment of the horrible prophecies, the elect will also see the fulfillment of the beautiful prophecies: "Take now heed faithfully and trustingly, and at the last end thou shalt verily see it in fulness of joy."

May it be for the glory of God

The Vergel (Garden) of the Immaculate Virgin of Guadalupe -- Mexico City

February 2002 • Quinquagesima Sunday

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Writings of Charles Reed -

Essays in Reflections
Essays not in Reflections
Novel. Mount Zion Revisited.
Anthologies
Translations

Note about Mount Zion Revisited

The character named Little Bear in ch. 13, is based on three persons, in order to condense much informtion into a small space. The face of one of them bore no resemblance to the face of a bear. (He is now deceased, probably in Paradise with his mother). The other two, still living, have the face of a teddy bear. This is not an exaggeration.

Mt. Zion is a narration of a shipwreck that was not total. Just as Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday came of their shipwreck alive and kicking, so these precious little souls came out of the crucible of sorrow, shining like gold (Job 19), and at least two of them are now praising God forever, in the heavenly Zion.

And the redeemed of the Lord will come into Zion with praise.
Sorrow and mourning will flee away,
And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.

Isaiah 35

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Similarity with other novels.

Brideshead Revisited, by E. Waugh.  The effects of grace, on a group of characters.

Robinson Crusoe, by Defoe.  What to do when a shipwreck happens, and everything disintegrates, falls apart, and you are faced with a chaotic situation.

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• Is Victimhood Necessary For Salvation?  • The World Ends Every Day. 80,000 persons die every day. They need your help!

Revelations of Divine Love, by Julian of Norwich, is available in e-book format (free) at: http://www.ccel.org/j/julian  ----

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• Reflections. A magazine for the latter times. 2001--2005. Charles Reed wrote the editorials. -- Works of Charles Reed -

Notice: Charles Reed is the pseudonym of John Henderson Stansberry, a former religious brother in the congregation of the Franciscan Minims in Mexico City. In the year 1978, (one year before the death of Maria Concepcion), a tragic incident happened in the congregation. Many years later John still felt guilty about it, and determined to write a report. Eventually the document turned into a short book, named "Mount Zion Revisited." The pseudonym Charles was used to protect the good reputation of all the persons involved. It is available in PDF format on the web. Writings of Charles Reed also include translations and short antholigies that he made, and editorials of the magazine "Reflections from the Franciscan Minims" published in English in Mexico City from 1990 to 2005. The magazine had a circulation of about 300, in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa.

"Mount Zion Revisited" was written as a roman a clef (novel with a key), in order to make known controversial topics, and to report inside information about scandal and abuse of power, without harming the good reputation of those involved, living and deceased.

 

Laus Deo

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