VATICAN CITY, 1 DEC 2010 (VIS) - During today's general audience Benedict XVI spoke about Julian of Norwich, a great English mystic who lived approximately between 1342 and 1430, "difficult years", the Holy Father remarked, "both for the Church, lacerated by the schism that followed the Pope's return from Avignon to Rome, and for people's everyday lives which were suffering the consequences of a long war between the kingdoms of England and France".
In 1373, during a period of serious illness, Julian received sixteen revelations on the love of God. "Inspired by divine love, Julian made a radical choice. Like an ancient anchoress, she chose to live in a cell located near the church of St. Julian in the city of Norwich".
"Anchoresses, or 'recluses', dedicated themselves to prayer, meditation and study within their cells. In this way they came to acquire a very delicate human and religious sensibility which led to their being venerated by the people; and men and women of all ages and conditions, in need of counsel and comfort, devotedly sought them out".
Benedict XVI went on: "Women and men who chose to withdraw and live in the company of God acquire, precisely because of this choice, a great sense of compassion for the suffering and weakness of others. Friends of God, they enjoy a wisdom which the world they have left does not possess, and they willingly share this with those who knock at their door. Thus I think with admiration and gratitude of the monasteries of cloistered women and men which, today more than ever, are oases of peace and hope, a precious treasure for the entire Church, especially inasmuch as they recall the primacy of God and the importance that intense and constant prayer has for the journey of faith".
Julian's book "Revelations of Divine Love", contains "an optimistic message based on the certainty that we are loved by God and protected by His Providence". She "compares divine love with maternal love. This is one of the most characteristic messages of her mystical theology. The tenderness, solicitude and sweetness of God's goodness towards us are so great that to us, pilgrims on the earth, they seem as the love of a mother for her children".
"Julian of Norwich understood the central message of spiritual life: that God is love. Only when we open ourselves totally to this love, only when we allow it to become the one guide to our existence, does everything become transfigured and do we find true peace and joy which we can pass on to others".
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church", the Holy Father explained, "contains words of Julian of Norwich, expounding the point of view of the Catholic faith on a subject that never ceases to arouse the concern of believers. If God is supremely good and wise, why does evil exist, why do the innocent suffer? ... Yet in the mysterious designs of Providence, even from evil God can draw a greater good. As Julian of Norwich wrote: 'I was taught by the grace of God that I should steadfastly keep me in the faith, and that at the same time I should ... earnestly believe that all manner of thing shall be well'".
"God's promises are always greater that our expectations. If we commend the purest and deepest desires of our heart to God and to His immense love, we will never be disappointed, and 'all manner of thing shall be well'. This is the final message", the Pope concluded, "which Julian of Norwich transmits to us and which I too propose to you today".
AG/ VIS 20101201 (610)
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