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All Shall Be Well: A Journey Through Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love with Kris McGregor
Episode 7: The Ninth and Tenth Shewings — The Joy of the Redeemer and the Open Side of Christ
Summary:
In Episode 7 we journey with Julian of Norwich into the mystery of Christ’s joy in His Passion. Rather than sorrow alone, Julian sees the Redeemer rejoicing in His self-offering, delighting to give Himself for the salvation of souls. She is shown the threefold joy of the Trinity, where the Father is pleased, the Son is crowned, and the Holy Spirit is satisfied. Then Julian is led through the wound in Christ’s side into the depths of His Heart—a resting place “large enough for all mankind.” Drawing on Scripture, the Catechism, and the mystical tradition of the Church, this episode opens the mystery of divine charity that transforms suffering into eternal joy, and invites the soul into the inexhaustible mercy of the pierced Heart of Jesus.
For other episodes in this series visit: All Shall Be Well: A Journey Through Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love with Kris McGregor
Full Julian of Norwich Quotations Used in Episode 7:
From Revelations of Divine Love, Long Text, Chapters XXXII-XXIV, trans. Grace Warrack, Methuen & Co., 1901 (PDF edition).
The Joy of the Redeemer and the Gift of the Father
“THEN said our good Lord Jesus Christ: Art thou well pleased that I suffered for thee? I said: Yea, good Lord, I thank Thee; Yea, good Lord, blessed mayst Thou be. Then said Jesus, our kind Lord: If thou art pleased, I am pleased: it is a joy, a bliss, an endless satisfying to me that ever suffered I Passion for thee; and if I might suffer more, I would suffer more.” (Ch. 22)
“In this feeling my understanding was lifted up into Heaven, and there I saw three heavens: of which sight I marvelled greatly. And though I see three heavens—and all in the blessed manhood of Christ—none is more, none is less, none is higher, none is lower, but [they are] even-like in bliss.” (Ch. 22)
“For the First Heaven, Christ shewed me His Father; in no bodily likeness, but in His property and in His working. That is to say, I saw in Christ that the Father is.” (Ch. 22)
“The working of the Father is this, that He giveth meed to His Son Jesus Christ. This gift and this meed is so blissful to Jesus that His Father might have given Him no meed that might have pleased Him better.” (Ch. 22)
“Wherefore we be not only His by His buying, but also by the courteous gift of His Father we be His bliss, we be His meed, we be His worship, we be His crown.” (Ch. 22)
“And in these words: If that I might suffer more, I would suffer more,—I saw in truth that as often as He might die, so often He would, and love should never let Him have rest till He had done it.” (Ch. 22)“For though the sweet manhood of Christ might suffer but once, the goodness in Him may never cease of proffer: every day He is ready to the same, if it might be.” (Ch. 22)“This deed, and this work about our salvation, was ordained as well as God might ordain it. And here I saw a Full Bliss in Christ: for His bliss should not have been full, if it might any better have been done.” (Ch. 22)
The Harmony of Wills in the Son and the Father
“And in these three words: It is a Joy, and a Bliss, and an endless satisfying to Me,—were shewed three heavens, as thus: for the joy, I understood the pleasure of the Father; and for the bliss, the worship of the Son; and for the endless satisfying, the Holy Ghost.” (Ch. 23)
“And these three are one bliss: and one meed: and one endless fulfilling: and throughout all, I saw bliss in the end: in which bliss He is grounded, and rooted; and He is our very Meed.” (Ch. 23)“For I saw truly that our substance is in God, and also I saw that in our sensuality God is: for in the self-same point that our Soul is made sensual, in the self-same point is the City of God ordained to Him from without beginning; into which seat He cometh, and never shall remove it.” (Ch. 23)
“And all this bliss I saw in the bodily sight, in the showing of the Passion of Christ.” (Ch. 23)
“Lo, how I loved thee” — The Wounded Side and the Heart of Divine Mercy
“THEN with a glad cheer our Lord looked unto His Side and beheld, rejoicing. With His sweet looking He led forth the understanding of His creature by the same wound into His Side within. And then he shewed a fair, delectable place, and large enough for all mankind that shall be saved to rest in peace and in love.” (Ch. 24)
“And therewith He brought to mind His dearworthy blood and precious water which he let pour all out for love. And with the sweet beholding He shewed His blessed heart even cloven in two.” (Ch. 24)
“And with this sweet enjoying, He shewed unto mine understanding, in part, the blessed Godhead… the endless Love that was without beginning, and is, and shall be ever.” (Ch. 24)
“And with this our good Lord said full blissfully: Lo, how that I loved thee, as if He had said: My darling, behold and see thy Lord, thy God that is thy Maker and thine endless joy… and for my love rejoice [thou] with me.” (Ch. 24)
“Behold and see that I loved thee so much ere I died for thee that I would die for thee; and now I have died for thee and suffered willingly that which I may. And now is all my bitter pain and all my hard travail turned to endless joy and bliss to me and to thee.” (Ch. 24)“How should it now be that thou shouldst anything pray that pleaseth me but that I should full gladly grant it thee? For my pleasing is thy holiness and thine endless joy and bliss with me.” (Ch. 24)
Scripture Featured
(Translations used: Revised Standard Version [RSV] )
- (Ephesians 1:9-10, RSV)
For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth”
- (Matthew John 19:34, RSV)
“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day.”
- (Hebrews 12:2, RSV)
“…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”
- (John 19:34, RSV)
“But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water”
- (Isaiah 53:3–4, RSV)
“He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
- (Galatians 2:20, RSV)
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
- (John 15:11, RSV)
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church
“The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the ‘one mediator between God and men.’ But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, ‘the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery’ is offered to all men.” (CCC 618)
“Jesus revealed that God is ‘Father’ in an unheard-of sense: he is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son.” (CCC 240)
“By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant… He makes himself an offering for sin… and shall make many to be accounted righteous.” (CCC 615)
“The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice… “And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner… this sacrifice is truly propitiatory.” (CCC 1367)
“The Word became flesh to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature.’” (CCC 460)
“Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us.” (CCC 521)
“For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the ‘wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.'”172 As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam’s side, so the Church was born from the pierced heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross.” (CCC 766)
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life. (CCC 1)
Pope Benedict XVI:
“She understood the core message of God’s love at a time when, even in theology, some currents emphasized God’s justice and harsh judgment more than his mercy.”
(Benedict XVI, General Audience, Julian of Norwich, November 3, 2010, Vatican.va)
St. Catherine of Siena:
“Sweet Jesus, I contemplate your open side as a hidden cellar filled with wine. I enter into it and see the secret of your heart.” (Letter T328/G148, to Fr. Bartolomeo Dominici)
“Do you want to be safe? Then hide yourself within this side. His open side is full of delight and sweetness. It is an open storehouse that souls will never want to leave.” (Letter T127/G59, to a religious)
Reflection Questions for Prayer
- How does Christ’s joy in His Passion challenge my understanding of suffering and sacrifice?
- In what ways do I see myself as part of Christ’s joy, His crown, and His reward?
- Can I trust that God’s plan for my salvation is perfect—even when I cannot see or feel its fullness?
- How might Christ be inviting me to enter more deeply into the “delectable place” of His open side—into the refuge of His Sacred Heart?
Closing Prayer (inspired by the Ninth and Tenth Shewing)
Lord Jesus Christ,
In Your Passion You rejoiced,
For love made Your suffering an offering of endless bliss.
You looked upon us not as burdens, but as Your joy,
The gift given You by the Father, the crown upon Your head.
You opened Your side and revealed the resting place prepared for every soul.
In Your cloven Heart, we find refuge, peace, and perfect love.
Draw us into the depths of Your mercy.
Teach us to gaze upon Your Passion not with fear but with confidence.
May we become for You what You have desired:
Your joy, Your reward, Your eternal delight.
And may Your love, once poured out on the Cross,
Continue to draw all souls into Your wounded Heart,
Where joy never ends.
Amen.
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