Author: The Julian Meetings

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Quality Time is Key in Spiritual Practices

the source of the key quotation, 'the Cure d'Ars'.

I looks at him, and he looks at me 

It is one of the signs of increasing age that one finds modern phrases or sayings annoying – ways of talking that were not around when one was young, but are now in common usage.  Of course, it is when one starts talking to the television and telling characters in dramas and news commentators how to speak that one knows that old fogy-ism has really set in with a vengeance. 

‘We are going to spend some quality time together.’  There is one that sets my teeth on edge.  Time itself has neither good nor bad quality.  It is a neutral space, which can be filled with anything.  It is the way that it is used which gives it its quality.  If someone is burgling a house, the time is not bad, the burglar is.  If someone is helping to raise money for a charity, it is the action which is good, not the time spent in the activity.  Time is neutral – we make it good or bad. 

In the New Testament account (Matthew 14.22-33), Jesus goes up into the mountains to pray.  He has just fed the crowds, he has been in the thick of it, and he is tired out and needs some respite.  It is such a great comfort to know that Jesus needed space in his life, space to pray, space to be alone, space to re-affirm his contact with his Father.  He needed time – he needed time away for the crowds, time to be with God.  It leads us to understand our own needs to give time to prayer.  It makes us realise that getting frazzled by life, getting up-tight, getting exhausted or fed up or out of sorts is not some deep fault in ourselves.  It is simply what happens.  The fault is to neglect to find time, to give time, to that contact with God which is available to all.  The fault is to neglect to give time to prayer. 

St Paul wrote that none of us know how to pray as we ought (Romans 8:26)– also a very comforting passage in the Bible, because don’t we just know how true that is.  Some prayer time seems productive, some seems remarkably sterile.  We cannot guarantee to have quality time when we pray, because the time itself is neutral, and our experience of prayer varies.  What we can do is give time, sacrifice time, set time aside.  Going in to prayer time with the expectation that we will get a lot out of it – that we will have a quality experience – is a great mistake.  All we have to do in prayer is give the time.  Of course, there are different ways of praying; intercession, praise, thanksgiving, and the rest; but that is a different matter.  There is no type of praying that does not require the sacrifice of time, even if only for a moment in the middle of a busy day. 

The Curé d’Ars (Jean Vianney, 8 May 1786 – 4 August 1859) told a story about prayer.  He used to go into his church and find a peasant sitting there looking at the crucifix on the altar.  He used to think to himself that the man was sitting there because he did not know what to do, and did not know how to pray – what could such a poor, ignorant man know about prayer?  So he went to the man to speak to him, and to offer him help in his prayer life.  He went up to him and asked what he was doing.  “I’m sitting here,” he said, and he indicated towards the figure of Christ, “and I looks at him and he looks at me.”  That is a perfect description of contemplative prayer.  And the Curé d’Ars realised that he had nothing to teach the man.  The man, above all, was giving time to prayer, and giving his whole attention in the time that he sat there.  There was nothing for the Curé to add. 

Text © Jonathan Smith Shoreham-by-Sea Julian Meeting 

 Photo  St Jean Vianney (the Cure of Ares) by George Desvallieres  from Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons 

We invite readers to consider writing articles for inclusion in this blog. Have you discovered something that could help others in their prayer, alone or in a group?
I have been reminded recently about Joyce Huggett. She gave many talks and wrote books such as ‘Listening to God’ and ‘Formed by the Desert’. How did she contribute to your life? Her family are inviting those who knew her to contribute to a memorial service in June.

Philip – Blog editor.

The Julian Meetings support in-person and online groups around the country. We make teaching on Contemplative Prayer and Meditation as easily and widely accessible as we can. Articles and reviews express the views only of their respective authors.  

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Musing on Lent and Easter music. 

crown of thorns with title lent and easter © Blackburn Cathedral

During the installation of Abp. Sarah Mullally, lines were sung from the words of Julian of Norwich. The composer Joanna Marsh had compiled these words in her anthem All Shall Be Well in 2021. Lyrics and music © Joanna Marsh

Without love we may not live 

And in this love our life is everlasting.                                            

Love was without beginning, is and shall be without ending. 

All shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well. 

Ah! Good Lord, how might it all be well? 

For wickedness hath been suffered to rise  
contrary to the Goodness. 

 I it am, the Might and the Goodness of the Fatherhood; 

 I it am, the Wisdom of the Motherhood; 

 I it am, the Light and the Grace that is all blessed Love. 

The Blackburn Chamber Choir sang a programme of music for Lent and Easter. Various pieces gave different views of God and his work with us.  

One prayed that God “will not hide his face from us or cast us off in displeasure.” It pleaded with God to forgive all our sins. Another, by the same composer (Richard Farrant d. 1580), asked God to remember his tender mercy and loving kindness, instead of “the sins and offenses of our youth.”  

A twentieth century piece, “Solus ad Victinam”, by Kenneth Leighton (d.1988) used words by Peter Abelard who died in 1142. It reflected on Christ giving himself as a sacrifice for our sin. It asked that we will suffer Christ’s pain for the 3 days. By doing so, we aim to win his mercy. This allows us to share his glory and “the laughter of his Easter day”.

These concepts seem alien today. The idea of pleading for forgiveness seems foreign. The sense that God is displeased with us and would punish us is also unfamiliar. The yearning to suffer with Christ is even more so.  

Our Bishop said that Jesus had sought us. He saved us. Then, He sat down after completing His task (Hebrews 1:3). God is all loving kindness. We do not need to plead for what he has already given. 

Another more popular piece from the Romantic era (Mendlesson d. 1847), asked God to listen because the godless and wicked oppress the writer. It then yearned for ‘the wings of a dove: far away would I rove… In the wilderness build me a nest to remain there for ever at rest’. It felt like sheer escapism, more the self-indulgence of the composer than the spiritual resourcing of the listeners.  

Do we come to Julian meetings or meditate at home, to have time ‘at rest’? Or do we meditate because, as another piece (Ubi Caritas Ola Gujielo b. 1978) reminded us, “where love is, there is God,” who binds us together in unity? in Christ we are one with each other and with God. We come to experience that, not merely assert it .  

Richard Rohr and others expand that unity. In Christ, we are one with people of any ethnic background. We are one with those who speak any language. We are united with people of any religion. We are at one with both the poor and the rich. We are at one with God. Despite our current wars, we are at one with Ukrainian and Russian, American, Israeli, Palestinian and Iranian.  The is no duality between God and people, and no ‘us’ and ‘them’ between people groups.

The broad range of Christian prayers use many pictures of God and his action on us. In silence, we allow God simply to be himself. We open ourselves to a new, simple vision. We discover the tranquility underlying the discords and upsets of the world. We also drop the chaos of our minds. This is not to ‘remain forever at rest,’ but to face with confidence whatever comes next. 

Text © Philip Tyers.  

Image © Blackburn Cathedral, used with permission

 The Julian Meetings support in-person and online groups around the country. We make teaching on Contemplative Prayer and Meditation as easily and widely accessible as we can. Articles and reviews express the views only of their respective authors.

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Job – the Problem of Suffering and the Problem of God.

tree segments showing damage in the rings Copyright p tyers

Janet has written about how reflecting on the book of Job helped her come to terms with grief. We invite our readers to write reflections on topics that join prayer and life. We would also like to hear about your groups. We hope to publish the next blog at Easter. Philip Tyers, Editor

The photo shows suffering endured by a tree over many years,  invisible to outsiders.  

Janet writes:

Many years ago, as a family, we suffered a grievous loss. It was a body blow of the most radical kind, a happening which severely questions belief. I do not think that I asked, “Why did this happen to me?” Suffering happens to most if not all people at some time in their lives. It caused me to ask questions about the roots of suffering.  

Fortunately, I came across a book, which provided some answers. Harold Kushner was a rabbi. He had suffered the death of a son. His son was born with an incurable and rare disease. The son died when he was fourteen. Kushner, inevitably, had mused upon this death, had asked questions of God. It was his chapter on the book of Job that helped me most. Kushner made three statements: 

  1. God is all- powerful and causes everything that happens in this world. Nothing happens without him willing it. 
  1. God is just and fair, and stands for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper and the wicked perish. 
  1. Job is a good person. 

He postulated that we cannot make sense of all these statements. We must sacrifice one in order to believe in the other two. His answer, which has become mine, is that God is not all-powerful. There are things which God cannot control. When disasters of any kind occur, we should not regard them as “acts of God” but turn to God to help us to live through them. God does this in many profound ways. That is a simplistic and inadequate comment on this wise book, but it helped me, as it has helped others for many years.  

This returned me to the Book of Job itself. It has been called the “most wonderful poem of any age and language; our first, oldest statement of the never ending problem – man’s destiny and God’s way with him in this world” (Thomas Carlyle). The saga of Job’s suffering, the arguments of his friends and the magisterial arguments of God need to be read repeatedly.  

Recently, I came across Andy Roland’s ‘The Book of Job.’ The author has abbreviated the text and arranged it for private reading, for group study and for public performance. The concluding chapter discusses the meaning of Job as the author finds it. He suggests, as does Kushner, that it not only discusses the problem of suffering but also the problem of God.  

A reading of all three books requires deep and searching thought and helps us to  

  • “Forgive the world for not being perfect,  
  • Forgive God for not making a perfect world,  
  • Reach out to the people around us  
  • Go on living despite it all” (Kushner). 

REFERENCES: 

Harold Kushner: When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Pan Books; 1st published 1981, and again with new introduction 2002. ISBN 9780330490559 Also available on Kindle.

Author unknown: The Book of Job – The Bible. 

Andy Roland: The Book of Job. Filament publishing. 2019 ISBN 9781913192501  Also available on Kindle.

Photo © Philip Tyers 2026

 Text ©Janet Robinson 2026. 

Editor: Philip Tyers

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Silence Is

Often, silence is approached via activity –  

the seeking of something in tandem with the resistance of other thing(s).  

Yet, silence is not the pursuit of a state but indeed  

a cessation of activity that reveals the innate ground of being. 

 Later, our mind attempts to describe That with words such as  

stillness, peace, truth, love, beauty  

or indeed silence. 

Silence isn’t audio-centric here. 

 It is a word chosen to poetically articulate  

That within which all of It’s modulations arise.  

When the soul ceases the reification of itself  

and surrenders into That which it borrows its presence from; Silence Is. 

When we die to ourselves  

and let the weather patterns of creation come and go, 

 there is only Itself.  

When we are reborn as/in experience,  

we describe That whence we came from as Silence. 

 Yet, unlike experience, Silence never truly comes or goes –  

it is the ever-present canvas upon which all experiences arise.  

Thus, we needn’t turn away from experience  

but simply recognise its substance;  

revealing that there is only, 

has only,  

can only,  

will only (Be)  

Silence and its modulations. 

Surrender is to Silence as fire is to wood. 

©Jamie Robson https://jamierobson.com

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Fast for Peace Cultivating Inner Harmony and Love

For there to be peace in the world, there first has to be peace in our hearts and minds. With war, famine, disease, poverty, corruption and polarised political differences being rife, world peace could seem an impossible goal. Yet there is something that we all can do to make a significant contribution wherever we are. Whilst we may have little or no control over world events, we have influence over what happens in our own minds, lives, families and communities. Whatever change we wish to see in our world requires us to embody it. So, if we want more peace we need to be more peaceful; if we want more love, then more loving etc. 

Our thoughts give rise to our words and actions therefore we need to pay attention to what is going on in our minds. We also need to be aware of what we fill our minds with. In these days of endless news feeds, television and social media it is easy for us to lend a false authenticity to what we choose to listen to as being a true account of an event or the actions of world leaders, politicians, the rich and powerful. However, everything we read and hear is someone’s opinion. The problem is that if we accept such accounts at face value, we are likely to repeat them. It is so easy, particularly when we are in conversation, to agree with statements which are negative or of uncertain origin, and to repeat them. We may have no other frames of reference as to their ‘truth’. 

Jesus said, ‘The mouth speaks what the heart is full of’. We can thus discern from the conversation of others something of the content of their hearts. More importantly, we can become aware of our own hearts through self examination and attention to our thoughts which give rise to the words that we speak.                                             

True peace is not something that can be fought for or won. It is a state of being, an inner sense of wellbeing and benevolence towards others, including those with whom we may disagree. In order to pray authentically for peace, I believe it is necessary to adopt a position of neutrality. If we judge or condemn another (be it an individual, a group or a country) we risk losing our own inner peace. If we truly believe that the God in us serves the God in others we cannot take sides. The suffering of one is no less than that of the other, (no matter how it appears to us) and therefore we cannot wish one side to prevail over the other. We need the inner freedom to desire peace, love and healing for all, whether in local, national or international conflict or in our daily lives. Otherwise all that is achieved is a standoff. True peace is not simply a cessation of violence, rather it is the setting aside of grievances and the coming together of both sides with a mutual desire to live in harmony, to offer and receive forgiveness, e.g. the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post apartheid South Africa. The extent of our openness to being non judgemental, loving, peaceful and forgiving in our daily lives determines whether we are part of the solution or part of the problem. 

At this time of year as we come towards lent, instead of, (or perhaps, as well as), foregoing something that we enjoy, we could address the deeper transformation of our minds which the apostle Paul spoke of to the Roman church when he said, ‘Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds’. Through a process of self examination we might seek to abstain from judgement and criticism, and temper our political and ideological preferences. We could address our leanings toward negativity and seek to be positive and encouraging in our speech. We could be attentive to our thoughts and words, the ways in which we nourish our minds and be mindful of what comes in through our eyes and ears via the media, what we read; our political, religious, ideological and social affiliations. We could, in fact, begin to, fast for peace.      

© K Marsh 10 February 2026 

Image from: https://www.pexels.com/@the-daphne-lens-2151762624

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Christmas PRESENT

Last Advent the first passage I read was the start of John’s gospel. As I lay in bed next morning, I ‘heard’ it in my head, but in the present tense. It had a huge impact, making everything NOW rather than then. Perhaps it will for you too:  

“In the beginning is the Word, and the Word is with God, and the Word is God. He is with God in the beginning. Through him all things are being made; without him nothing is being created. In him is life, and that life is the light of men. The light is shining in the darkness and the darkness does not understand it.  

“Here is a man sent from God whose name is John. He comes as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men may believe. He himself is not the light; he comes only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man is coming into the world. He is in the world, and though the world is ever being made through him, the world does not recognise him. He comes to that which is his own, yet his own do not receive him. Yet to all who do receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God… 

The Word is becoming flesh and is making his dwelling among us. We see his Glory, the glory of the one and only, who comes from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 

By a JM member from the December 2010 magazine. Search our library for more articles, reflections and poems on the themes of Advent and Christmas.

Photo by Porapak Apichodilok: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-gift-box-360624/

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A Reflection for Advent

Lead-in at a Julian Meeting in Australia in December 2013 

An Advent message in the Book of Lamentations? Unlikely as it seems, some verses seem to hold a messianic significance.  

In Lamentations the first four chapters are written in acrostic form: each verse – or in chapter 3, each triplet of verses – starts in order with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The book, attributed to Jeremiah, comes just after his prophecies. The poetic form of lament is common in the Old Testament, and there are more laments than praises in the Psalms.  

Jeremiah and Lamentations is a tale of judgment on God’s chosen people because of their sin and rebellion. However there are promises that some will be saved, that God has not utterly abandoned them and they will be restored. Their very existence was testimony to God keeping his promises. While the people agreed that they deserved punishment, they were impatient for the good bits of the prophecy to take place.  

Chapter 3: 22-26: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. they are new every morning: great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.  

Jeremiah is expressing his hope in God. Prophecies can have multiple fulfilments and so the prophecy fulfilled in Jeremiah’s time has its ultimate fulfilment in the birth of Jesus Christ.  

Advent is a season of preparation and waiting. We wait for the One who brings salvation to the world. An angel tells Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, in a dream …you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)  

It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.  

Two things come together to make Christmas necessary. The first is our need to be saved – not a popular idea today. We are self-made men and women who can chart our own course and settle our own destiny. We believe the hollow promise that ‘anyone can change the world.’ But it just isn’t true. We don’t all have the opportunity, the ability, or the desire to do that. Our desire is the problem – not only do we desire the wrong things, but we do not desire the One who made us, do not desire to know Him or honour Him. We cannot escape our web of guilt, decay and death. We cannot change ourselves, let alone the world. And we need someone to save us.  

Yet that alone would not explain Christmas. We could have been left to take the consequences of our own decisions. But Christmas is necessary because God won’t give up on us. He is true to Himself, and won’t abandon us. His determination to rescue his people, to eventually gather them round His throne and shower them with his blessings, is the great explanation of why Mary fell pregnant and Christ was born.  

So let us focus on God’s gracious gift of love and salvation that came to us in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.  

I conclude with the beautiful words from Isaiah 9:6,7. Notice how often the word “will” appears in this passage. These are the Lord’s precious promises to us, to encourage us in a confused and turbulent world.  

For unto us a child is born,  

to us a son is given,  

and the government will be on his shoulders.  

And he will be called  

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,  

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  

Of the increase of his government and peace  

there will be no end.  

He will reign on David’s throne  

and over his kingdom,  

establishing and upholding it  

with justice and righteousness  

from that time on and forever.  

The zeal of the LORD Almighty  

will accomplish this.  

©John Ryall 

Photo https://www.pexels.com/@nubikini/

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Pondering the Julian Meetings

But when the Lord comes, will he find faith on earth? Luke 18:8

I was sitting in my allotment, pondering what I should be doing. I noticed that there was a slight slope and the earth at the top kept on wandering down to the bottom, where the shed is. The soil had enveloped the bottom of the shed and it was rotting. So I loaded the wheelbarrow up with the excess soil and took it to the beds higher up. It sounded like a command. Prevent soil erosion!. I made sides for the beds to keep the soil still.

I also heard it as a call to the next stage of my life. What acts as a barrier to prevent the continuing erosion of the soil of faith? Prayer. Maintaining the continual link with God. I could be like marram grass, anchoring the shifting sands of faith, giving my neighbours something to cling to. That is one reason I asked the Dean whether I could start a contemplative prayer group in Blackburn Cathedral. He put the Canon Missioner onto me, and we agreed a monthly time, and started up. 

Recently, the Archbishop, Stephen Cotterill, conducted a series called ‘faith in the North’, where he visits each diocese with instruction on the Lord’s Prayer. It is one of the few bits of the Bible many people have memorised. He said that it is a guide not only for prayer, but also for Christian living. The first word is ‘Our’. A Christian lives in the presence of other people, and FOR other people. And God if father of all people. His kingdom invites all to benefit, ‘on earth as in heaven’. 

Matthew precedes it with Jesus’ instructions on private prayer. There seems an implicit with those who make a show of prayer within a religious culture. Today in England we have a predominantly non religious culture. There are sizable pockets of Muslims and other where things are different, but the main flavour of our society excludes religion. That does not mean that we should therefore change Jesus’ teachings. The cathedral itself is a private space, where one can be hidden. The staff and congregation do all they can to ensure open public access and run events that encourage all sorts of people to come in. 

In the contemplative prayer group we come together and sit down. Each of us goes into our private space inside, and closes the door. We focus on God, knowing that around us others are doing the same. Instead of being closed off, we come together into the shared space, but each is in their own heart, where we always meet not only our Lord and ourselves, but The World. By going in, we reach out. And when we go out, we reach in. It is by paying serious attention to what is going on around us, seeing how it is all held in God, that we meet God as He is. We find he is in our individual hearts and in everyone else too.The Creator is always at work. By tuning in to the One, we find the All.

So what is the future of Julian meetings? Our founder pondered this in her Fiftieth Anniversary address, She recalled how in the early days, she had contacted the other groups exploring and teaching Contemplative Prayer. She found they were elderly and dwindling. She asked us whether we felt we should continue, and gave us silence to invite the Spirit to guide us.

The future will start where we are. My impression is that we are a group of individuals, continuing silent prayer, and some of us are lucky enough to belong to a group. The improving material on our web page is our gift to the Church, especially to those exploring silent prayer.

I’m not sure about the future concrete fulfilment of the coming of the Lord. I have always felt he is here and now, in a different mode to Judah AD 30, but as real. I expect this to continue. But to answer the hypothetical question, “if he came, would he find faith on earth?”, Julian meetings do their bit to ensure the answer ‘yes’. We do not impose faith. We open ourselves to the One in whom faith may be had. We discover, in the silence, what he has to offer. We give ourselves to the waiting, turning back again and again as our attention drifts, to the source of life itself. We are like Marram grass, anchoring the sand dune of faith against erosion.

Text and image ©Philip Tyers

Blackburn Cathedral Contemplative Prayer Meeting

November 2025

NB Philip Tyers is a JM member. The Blackburn Cathedral Contemplative Prayer Group is not a registered Julian Meeting but is organised on similar principles as appropriate for the Cathedral.

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All Saints and All Souls, Reflecting on Loss and Grief.

Nothing is Lost

When my friend was in the final stages of dementia and both speech and cognition were lost, I wondered what it must be like to lose control of one’s mind. Was it like a deep state of meditation where one is beyond thought? Where do all the memories go, all the relationships and experiences of a lifetime? I found these deeply comforting and appropriate words in a book by John O’ Donohue, where he wrote this blessing following a chapter on the subject of absence in all its forms:

May you know that absence is alive with hidden presence, that nothing is ever lost or forgotten.                                                          

May the absences in your life grow full of eternal echo.                  

May you sense around you the secret Elsewhere where the presences that have left you dwell.                                                      

May you be generous in your embrace of loss.                                  

May the sore well of grief turn into a seamless flow of presence.                                       

May you be embraced by God in whom dawn and twilight are one.

May your longing inhabit its dreams within the Great Belonging.

As I meditate on these words it reminds me that when I come to God in stillness and silence, all my experiences of life, love and loss are always present in the vast, eternal Presence which holds all of creation, beyond time and space, in peaceful and loving embrace. Nothing is ever lost, I am never alone, and there is nothing to fear.

From:         ‘Walking in wonder’ John O’Donohue

photo and text © K Marsh

All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, is observed by Christians from the eve 31st October and November 1st in honour of all the saints of the Church.

All Souls’ Day, also called The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, is a day of prayer and remembrance for all the faithful departed. Observed by Christians on 2 November.

Allhallowtide includes the three days from October 31st to November 3rd inclusive,

NB Dates can vary depending on the tradition of the particular Church. This is in accordance with the Western Christian tradition.

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New Magazine Index: Easily Find Articles & Topics

We have launched an index to our magazine library 2001-2024.  The magazines have been available to read for a while.  Recently we added 2001-2010.  But it was difficult to identify or find an author, contributor, topic or article.  Not everyone wants to read a random whole magazine .

Thanks to the valiant efforts of one of our members we now have an complete index to the entire content of our archive, plus selections highlighting various categories.

See our new Library page.  Here you will find links to the various selections plus the entire index comprising over 1,500 entries. It is easy to find, and access the original texts and articles online.

The selections are:

Contemplative Prayer, Julian of Norwich, The Spiritual Journey, Modern Contemplatives, JM Online and Outside the UK, Various Ways of Praying,  Arts and Crafts, The Human Condition, Poems, Devotional Resources, Quotations

 We are in the process of creating links to take you directly to the text or to the original magazine in our archive. This is a manual process so is taking time. But all the information is there for you to easily find and read any entry. You can find the original magazine in our magazine archive.

Image generated with AI