St. Julian lived in Norwich, England, during the time of the Black Death (1348-50) and Peasant Revolt (1381). While her early life is not known, her writings and life story show that she had great religious devotion, and she seemed well versed in theology.

In her book, she recounts that she prayed for three graces: first, deep participation in Christ’s Passion; second, a bodily sickness coming close to death so she could experience Christ’s pain better; and third, to experience the three heart wounds of contrition, compassion, and longing for God.

On the first grace, in medieval times, it was common for Christ’s suffering and the Passion to be a focus of contemplative prayer. This is not surprising when we consider the great suffering that was endured during plagues such as the Black Death, which killed 25 million people in Europe after Turkish armies brought it from China, wiping out about half the population. Society experienced further upheaval with the Peasant Revolt of 1381. Surrounded by sickness and death, some contemplatives practiced identifying with and immersing themselves in the suffering of Christ, becoming one with his suffering, as it were. They developed the practice of offering up their own suffering to add to Christ’s for further expiating the sins of humanity. This is a practice we can learn from in modern times, for example if we are going through a particularly hard time in our lives. Rather than trying to block out our pain, we can acknowledge it and offer it to Christ, meditating on his sacred suffering merging with ours.

On the second grace, in Julian’s case, not only did she meditate on Christ’s suffering and her own becoming one, but she went further in praying for a great illness to befall her, so she could more thoroughly experience Christ’s suffering. Please note that this practice is not recommended for us modern practitioners; many medieval practices were a bit extreme and not appropriate for modern times. But it became a key step in her spiritual journey, as we will learn in this series on Julian of Norwich.

On the third grace, Julian also prayed for her heart to open to God through contrition for separation from God through sin; compassion for others who were suffering; and longing for God’s love. We can learn from and be inspired by each of these open-heart practices too.

In the posts that follow, we’ll learn what an extraordinary mystic, author, and teacher Julian of Norwich became.