Articles – The Julian Meetings

Posted on 2 September 2026 by Blog Editor

The Jesus Prayer

The Jesus Prayer

We start with excerpts from various articles, before moving to a paper by Jonathan Smith.

While The Jesus Prayer has various forms, many other similar phrases or even words have a similar method and effect. Some communities use the prayer in public, either saying it together or having one member of the group say it aloud while the rest pray in the heart.

The prayer is often said looking at an icon and using a prayer rope – see the accompanying photo. ©Philip Tyers

Anne Stamper – The Jesus Prayer – December 2006

I have been aware of the Jesus Prayer for many years, but my interest in its use was further stimulated by reading ‘The way of a Pilgrim’ and then a short time afterwards being asked to review for the JM Magazine Jonathan Smith’s book ‘The power of the Jesus Prayer – a reflection and guide.’ I started to use the prayer (and attended) a guided retreat on the Jesus Prayer being led by Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward.

(where I noted) ‘the phrases that spoke to me. ‘

Prayer is stepping into a river that is already flowing

Praying with the mind in the heart

Practicing the presence of God in Christ we can only pray in the power of the spirit.

Prayer is not fulfilling a duty but coming up for air.

The Jesus Prayer keeps one suspended between time and timelessness.

Know you are welcome in the presence of God.’

Text ©Anne Stamper

Barrington-Ward is also quoted by Ann Moran in her review of his book on the Jesus Prayer: “It is a practice of the presence of God, and it is being in that presence, relaxed and alert”. © Ann Moran

“Find a quiet place to sit alone and in silence; bow your head and shut your eyes. Breathe softly, look with your mind into your heart; recollect your mind—that is, all its thoughts—and bring them down from your mind into your heart. As you breathe, repeat: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” either quietly with your lips, or only in your mind. Make an effort to banish all thoughts; be calm and patient, and repeat this exercise frequently”
― Gleb Pokrovsky, The Way of a Pilgrim: The Jesus Prayer Journey—Annotated & Explained

‘To use the Jesus prayer is to dive into a stream which is already flowing in the direction in which you wanted to go, and then being simply borne by the current’ Selected by Anne Stamper in her review of Barrington – Ward’s ‘The Great Exchange’.

Francis Ballinger: book review; Letters of Direction / Streams of Grace JM December 2006

“Letters of Direction”:

“Therefore leave your soul too, to pray as suits it best, in its own way, without strain. Allow it most of the time to remain quite still. Pray along the lines which show you the needs of the world and which interest you. Nothing could be better. In a word, follow your bent; your need of quiet or of doing nothing according to what seems most natural to you at the time.” © Francis Ballinger.

The Jesus Prayer – Jonathan Smith.

The Jesus Prayer is very old, and its use dates back to solitary monks in the Egyptian desert in the fifth century AD. Because of this, it has gained the reputation of being the preserve of people like monks or other ‘especially spiritual’ people, and not something for ordinary Christians. But the Jesus Prayer and its practice is very simple, and the only thing that is really needed is the desire to draw closer to God in prayer.

The Words of the Prayer

There are a number of versions of the prayer, and none is more right or wrong than any other.

The oldest form is: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Also common, is a longer form: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Shorter forms are also used: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,

or just: Jesus, have mercy.

Using the Prayer

Sit comfortably and let your breathing be natural. A good way of preparing to use the prayer is to focus on your inward and outward breath for a few minutes, which may get a little deeper.

If you are praying alone, say the prayer quietly out loud for a few minutes. If you are in a group were this would disturb others, you can simply say the words with your lips.

Let the prayer enter into your mind, and when you are ready, focus on that mental repetition. Don’t worry if the prayer goes away; just repeat it again out loud or with your lips. It will eventually lodge in your consciousness.

As you focus on the prayer, and with a little bit of practice, you may find that the prayer moves downwards to your chest or to your heart. Another name for the Jesus prayer is ‘The Prayer of the Heart’.

This may last a little time, or for the rest of the prayer period, and sometimes you may feel that the prayer fills your whole body. But whatever happens, it is only focusing on the prayer that is important

Worries and Distractions

There is no right way and no wrong way of saying the prayer. Everyone has to return to vocal or mental prayer when distractions occur, and trying to work out whether one is doing the prayer ‘right’ is one common distraction.

Other thoughts and concerns will lead the mind away from the prayer, and everyone experiences very well-trodden paths of thought which head off in their own directions.

The task when this happens is simply to recognize that one has been led away from the prayer, and without any self-criticism at all, to gently redirect the mind to its words.

Various experiences can occur during the time of prayer, from feelings of love, to feelings of regret about past actions. Some of these feelings may be quite intense. But such things are not the purpose of the prayer, and one should not hope for, or pursue, any particular experience. The only task is to say the prayer with as much attention as one can muster.

The real results of saying the Jesus Prayer faithfully are not found in any experience during prayer time, but at other times. We take whatever God’s grace grants us during our prayer into the rest of our lives, to share with those we meet, with a new awareness of Jesus’ presence with us and in the world.

An Everyday Prayer

The Jesus prayer can be used as a regular part of prayer life. It can be used for five or ten minutes at the start or end of prayers of intercession.

It can be used as an extended form of contemplative prayer for 15 or 30 minutes, once or twice a day. If our work and family life allow, a regular time can be set aside for it in the evening or morning. It can be used during the washing up, while we clean the house, while we walk down the street, while we sit on a train or a bus. All that is required is an honest turning towards God, and the prayer can be used at any time, in any situation.

Prayer time can be long or short, from a half hour set aside to focus on it, to less than a minute, as we take a moment between activities.

It is the prayer, praying in us, that does the work; that, and the grace of God, who always comes to meet us as we turn back to him. He will guide us in its use and show us how it fits into our lives.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

At the Point of Suffering

What is the point of suffering? The article is followed by a book review of a novel telling a story of people around a traumatised individual, which also uses the example of Julian of Norwich. This is followed by material to help prayer and the announcement of an on line meeting.

We probably all wish that we could ask God some questions and get the immediate clarity of response that Julian records during her Revelations of Divine Love. Many of us want to know the point of suffering. Why does it have to be this way?

When she had her chance to ask him, it was one of the things uppermost in Julian’s mind. Why sin? Why suffering? Why pain? What’s it for? To paraphrase, she thinks, if I can’t ask this now, when can I? She does it for us as much as herself.

God tells her that sin and pain are necessary, and that, as we have all read, “all shall be well.” He doesn’t explain explicitly why suffering is necessary, and maybe that is because it is beyond our comprehension. The sense I get is that he is asking Julian (and us) to trust, to wait, then see. But he does give her much reassurance.

All the terrible things in life seem to exist so that God can one day set them right. He won’t expand on some of his ‘privities’ or secrets, even though he seems to be bursting to tell his beloved daughter about them. Some things are being kept for us in heaven, like a wonderful surprise.

Julian speaks of God’s joy at picking us up after we fall, and of Christ’s affirmation to her that he would gladly have suffered more for our sakes if he could have.

In Chapter 29 she asks, how can it all be made well, and God answers that if he, through Christ, can remedy the Fall of Adam, then he can certainly take care of all the lesser evils.

Today I was praying for some people on the internet who had said they were broken. A single mother whose job had fallen through; a woman who’d lost hope and someone else who had just had two bereavements in the space of a fortnight. I was also praying for myself and my husband, who are in bits after the worst six months of our lives (and they have some competition).

“Lord,” I said, “we give all our broken pieces to you as prayer. The mess we have made of things, the mess others have made of us. Please mend us. Bless these shards of pottery and make us and our lives into new vessels. Please take these pigs’ ears and turn them into silk purses, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

As I prayed, it struck me that that is the point of suffering, or one of them. That we fail or are failed (usually both) and we turn over all the pieces to God. This so that he can make or remake us, make our lives here and in eternity even better, according to His plans (remembering that better doesn’t always look the way we think it should), and build a loving, trusting relationship with us at the same time.

I thought of Julian, her question and answer sessions with God. He takes our sinful, broken pieces; a fall, a broken beloved Son; those who hurt him; the worst that we can do; our violence, grief, sin, pain, innocent suffering; everything awful, and turns it into the most beautiful, loving reconciliation with him.

It becomes a new life, a reforging, a rebirthing, the commencement of Heaven on Earth. All this done with and through his love. Surely this is the pattern of all pain? Given up to God, endured with faith, it can become, it will become, it shall become “well”.

Text ©Keren Dibbens-Wyatt; a writer and artist with a passion for prayer, poetry, story, and colour. She is a Christian contemplative who writes to encourage and entertain readers of all ages. Keren is the author of All That Is Made (Herald Press, 2025) and Recital of Love (Paraclete Press, 2020). Her work also features regularly in literary journals and anthologies. She lives in southeast England with her husband and is housebound due to chronic illness.

BOOK REVIEW. A QUESTION OF PERSPECTIVE.

Gillian Poucher sent an advance reader copy of this deeply absorbing novel. It draws a parallel between the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich and a contemporary counsellor. Their stories are told in parallel. Poucher creates a credible, historically researched, living back story for Julian, related by those around her at that time. It starts with the loss of her husband and children during the Plague. Interspersed with this, today’s characters reflect on her writings. They key character is a counsellor, called Julia, who lives next door to the remaining arch of Walsingham Abbey. Recently arrived, she is developping new friendships by joining a book club. Together, the club discover for themselves an intuitive, even spiritual perspective on life as they read Julian of Norwich ‘Revelations of Divine Love’.

“She admitted she had skipped through some of the graphic portrayals of Christ’s suffering on the cross, but had appreciated some of what she described as the homely images, in particular the idea that the whole of creation was enclosed in a hazelnut, made, loved, and kept by God. Marie bent across the table eagerly, a carrot speared on her fork. ‘It’s amazing that we’re all enfolded in divine love like that, isn’t it? I think it means that whether we’re alive or dead, we’re all safe in God’s embrace. ”

They find love and acceptance. They support each other following a suicide. They help a traumatized person recover from an event that had increasingly damaged her life. They discover that the death and resurrection of Jesus is reflected in personal suffering and recovery. We are rapidly drawn into the story, carried along through painful swerves and finally relieved by the resolution. I expect to revisit this book periodically. It refreshes my awaress of the historical Julian, and of the interconnections between our past and our present. We are held by God and can accept those around. Fiction escorts information past the sceptical modern mindset, and a spring of water heals our heart. It is a thoroughly worthwhile exploration of Julian of Norwich and how her writings can affect us. I have not read the previous books in the trilogy. This one is an accessible introduction to Julian and to her relevance for us today.

All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. The book is due to be published on 4th. September and can be ordered on Amazon.

Text ©Blog Editor. Picture © Heald Poucher Publications

MATERIAL TO HELP US PRAY:

QUOTATION FROM ST CLARE OF ASSISI:

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory
And transform your entire being
into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation.
He, Christ, is the splendor of eternal glory,
the brightness of eternal light,
and the mirror without cloud.
Gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him,
as you desire to imitate Him.

(‘Franciscan Spirit’)

PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE IN PRAYER

To demonstrate our position before God, I could open my arms as wide as possible to illustrate God, then narrow them a little to portray the Kingdom of God. A little narrower: the universe. Much narrower: the world. A 10 cm gap: the Church, or the Country. 1 cm.: us. Our worries are small by comparison with the whole. But that gap is about the size of Julian of Norwich’s hazel nut. To her, this represented everything that exists. It is simultaneously fragile and precious to God, who sustains it, holds it in existence, and cherishes it. If he does that with everything, so too does he hold us and our interests, be they personal, ecclesial, or national.

Psalm 66: 12: “You tested us, we went through fire and water; but you brought us out into a place of liberty.”
Overall, Psalm 66 praises God for saving people. In this context, testing is part of saving! God does a thorough job in our lives. There are no half measures for God.

In our silence we patiently allow God to work. All things are in God’s hands. God knows our needs before we ask (Matt 6:8) and we participate as he heals/saves us and the world. We allow the Spirit to pray ‘in groans too deep for words’ Romans 8:26.

Text © Blog Editor

ONLINE MEETING – SAVE THE DATE – 10 OCTOBER

At present, there are about 120 active Julian Meetings across the country. The National Council are offering an opportunity for members of the groups to encourage one another. We propose to set up an open online meeting on Sat 10 Oct from 2-4pm.
How is your group running?
What encourages you?
We look forward to your replies, by responding to this email, and attending the on-line meeting – Zoom details will be given nearer the time.

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. https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-blog/

Posted on 22 July 2026 by Blog Editor — 1 Comment

The Work of Oneing, Together

knotted rope cross signifies our uniting in Christ.

We usually intersperse blogs with book reviews. In view of the death of the solitary, Maggie Ross, last month, we hear today from Ruth Mills, who uses terms based on ‘eremos’: the Desert, where Jesus went to be alone with God. Ruth is currently studying with the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, Yorkshire.

Solitude in Community

The first time I arrived at a Julian Meeting I was drawn to the paradox of following Mother Julian’s example of sitting in eremitic silence, whilst sitting with others to do so: coming together – to be alone with God.

Yet in the juxtaposition there is something that is, without doubt, the nature of the Oneing of the soul to God which Julian writes of in her Revelation of Divine Love.

“The soul is preciously knitted to Him in its making by a knot so subtle and so mighty that it is Oned into God” Julian writes. And it is because every individual is “oned” to God that. Julian reasons, all of humanity is inextricably linked to one another. True spiritual togetherness means recognising that human separation is an illusion, and that humanity is inherently fused to the Divine from the moment of creation, expressed through the vivid imagery of a tightly bound knot.

Those gifted in the craft of knotwork have a fine art-form of working a cord through, around and within itself in a work which bonds, and if done well, with exquisit beauty. The work of the oneing of one’s soul with God is labour and beauty also, possibly the most wonderful and transformative undertaking of a human life.

As a vowed celibate to the Single Consecrated Life, my life is, personally, set apart from the secular world for the Glory and the Kingdom of God, and yet the purpose of my consecration is to free me to enter more fully back into the world so that I may enter more fully into the love of Creation and humanity which follows closely in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus.

But contemplation isn’t a work only reserved for Religious or the Church, it’s a divine work for all humanity, together. If the Kingdom of God is encounter, communion, and coming together, then the real challenge is this: how do we come near when human constructs set us apart?

Julian writes “prayer ones the soul to God”.

In following Julian into silence, we are not merely withdrawing from the outside world in pursuit of stillness. Rather, we are entering into prayer that reaches beyond the confinements of the secular world towards the Creator God who is present in all places. Yes, we turn from distractions, but we do not reject the world. Instead, we turn forward, reaching more deeply into the ever-present Kingdom of God, which has already arrived and encompasses us in every place and time.

Julian’s eremitic life was situated within the movement of the church and the people around her, setting her apart in radical solitude for prayer for the world yet gifting connection with those who sought her counsel through her cell window. It was a position of hermitic ‘being’ pointing all souls towards the Glory of God: a work of sewing together the souls and Creator in the work of salvific oneing, not only through divine ecstatic intimacy, but in divine disruptive participation.

From Julian’s Anchorhold to our meeting room.

Like all skillful craft forms, we need a mentor and guide to sit alongside us, to work beside us, teaching and steadying our hands as we learn to fine-tune our spiritual practice. Here, Julian serves as our master weaver, guiding us in the art of being “oned.”

This paradox reveals itself for the Glory of God. In our sitting together eremitically, we are silent in the shared work of Oneing – of weaving that binding knot of union with the Divine.

A worthy work indeed.

Text and Photograph ©Ruth Mills

Photograph: knotted Celtic gate at the fishing village of Beadnell Bay, Northumbria. “This is my own photo- I’ve been walking the St Aidan’s way with Newcastle diocese and was in one of the villages we passed through in May- I was really stunned by it”.

Martha Reeves (born 1941) died peacefully on June 11, 2026 in Oxford. She was a vowed Anglican solitary (or anchorite) and author of books on spirituality, for example ‘Silence, a user’s guide’. Her pen name was Maggie Ross. She In an interview with Church Times she wrote “communities are only as healthy as the solitudes that make them up; and that a life that is prayer is about being, not doing”. Her gravestone reads: ‘Sr Martha Emilie Reeves. In Silence Beholding ‘, a part quotation from her book ‘Writing the icon of the heart‘. She had written her own blog since 2006. She opened her 2020 article on “Silent Knowing” by quoting Graham Ward: “all theology must emerge from silence and result in silence”.

“As far as my study of scripture goes, I have found that to love Christ above all things will involve three things: warmth and song and sweetness. And these three, as far as I know from personal experience cannot exist for long without there being great quiet.” Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love, C15, cited by Janet Rolinson.

“Many children seek not to just learn about and think about God, but to experience God as the ground of their being. Meditation is one way of experiencing the presence of Jesus within. Meditation provides children with an opportunity to undertake a journey of silence and stillness as one way of helping them cope with the pressures of life”.© Gail Ballinger – August 2005 JM magazine p. 5.

Please send your comments or contributions for publication on the blog to https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-blog/

Posted on 6 July 20267 July 2026 by Blog Editor

Stillness Is Deeper Than Silence

The Julian meetings practice Christian meditation/contemplative prayer, and this web site consists of a treasury of material supporting that practice. Here one of our members contributes from his rich experience of stillness even amid demanding, even life threatening, situations.

We often speak about silence as though it is something we must achieve. We sit down, close our eyes, and then discover that the mind has not received the instruction. Thoughts arrive. Sounds continue. Memories, worries, ideas, feelings, and distractions move around us.

That can lead people to think they are failing at silent prayer.

But perhaps stillness is deeper than silence.

The silence of a Julian Meeting is not, I think, a demand that we somehow empty the mind by force. Very few people can do that. Perhaps nobody can do it completely. The mind moves. It produces thoughts in the same way the body breathes and the ears hear. The problem is not that thoughts arise. The question is what we do with them.

Do we chase them? Do we argue with them? Do we try to push them away? Or can we simply allow them to be present, without making them the centre of our attention?

This is where contemplative prayer becomes both gentle and demanding. It asks very little from us in one sense: just sit, be present, and wait upon God. But in another sense it asks a great deal, because it asks us not to control the experience.

Meister Eckhart and other Christian contemplative writers often point us towards this kind of detachment: not coldness, not indifference, but freedom from the need to grasp everything that passes through the mind. In that spirit, stillness is not the absence of thought. It is the grace of not being ruled by every thought.

Another word for this may be equanimity: a balanced presence, neither grasping nor resisting. In Christian terms, I do not mean a self-made calm, achieved by effort alone. I mean something received and practised: a grace that helps us remain present before God amid whatever moves around us and within us.

This is why I find the image of the still person in the long-exposure photograph so helpful. Around them, the world rushes past. People move, lights blur, the street is full of activity. Yet the person remains still. The movement has not disappeared. The stillness is not created by removing the movement. The stillness is found within it.

That is often what our inner life is like.

We may come to silent prayer with a mind full of movement. We may be tired, distracted, anxious, or restless. We may be very aware of the sounds in the room, the noises outside, or the unfinished business of the day. Yet none of that prevents stillness. It only gives us the place where stillness may be practised.

I have found this to be true beyond the meeting room as well. There have been moments in my own life, in difficult and noisy circumstances, where I have discovered that stillness was possible even when quiet was not. I do not always manage it. Far from it. There are many times when I have followed the wrong thought, fed the wrong feeling, or made the noise louder by engaging with it. That, perhaps, is a reflection for another time.

For now, the point is simpler.

If thoughts arise in prayer, we need not punish ourselves. If we suddenly realise we have been carried away by them, we can gently return. No drama is needed. No failure has occurred. We return to stillness as often as necessary.

Perhaps this is one way of understanding grace. Not as a dramatic feeling, nor as a special experience we must seek, but as the quiet strength to remain present before God amid everything that moves around us and within us.

So the challenge may be this: not only to sit in silence during a Julian Meeting, but to carry something of that stillness into life.

Into the street. Into the workplace. Into family life. Into uncertainty. Into noise.

Stillness is not the absence of noise.

Stillness is deeper than silence.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

Text ©️ Ian Beers. Image created using Artificial Intelligence from prompts by Ian Beers

The following recent quotations might inspire and deepen our contemplative prayer both alone and together:

Quaker Peace Testimony

Quakers find our faith moves us to love rather than war, even when that is risky. In 1928, British Quakers described their experience of the spirit of Christ in worship:

“In silence, without rite or symbol, we have known the Spirit of Christ so convincingly present in our quiet meetings that his grace dispels our faithlessness, our unwillingness, our fears, and sets our hearts aflame with the joy of adoration. We have thus felt the power of the spirit renewing and recreating our love and friendship for all our fellows.”

Facebook entry 25th June 2026 ©️ Quakers in Britain.

Sue Derbyshire and Gail Ballinger of Winchester Julian Meeting recommended the following:

Meditation practice can turn me into a sponge. The true nature of a sponge is that it gathers water and it releases water. It does not hold onto, own, or create water. In meditation I am filled with the grace of God, the flowing waters of life.

Hence, the only goal I can truly name for my meditation practice is this : to let myself be filled over and over, so that I can act as a streaming, saturated sponge, leaking Love in a dry and dusty world.

From ‘Hands like Roots ‘ Notes on an Entangled Contemplative Life ‘ ©️ Therese Des Camp. Published by Santos March 2025.

Prayer always moves something Matthew 17:20 :

Prayer is where mustard‑seed faith begins to grow.

Sometimes God moves the mountain.

Sometimes He strengthens us to climb it.

Sometimes He reshapes the landscape entirely.

But prayer always moves something.

©️ Jess Soames, Mission Aviation Fellowship. Used with permission.

In contemplative prayer we seek consonance not only on our own behalf, but for our dissonant world.

The Cathedral organ was being tuned. Each pipe in turn was compared with another correctly tuned pipe, and adjusted. Most of the contemplative prayer group retired to a room out of earshot and listened to an article by Evelyn Underhill that introduced our meditation.

One stayed behind in the chapel beneath the pipes. He said afterwards, “ The whole point, as it struck me, of the tuning of the organ is to create consonance out of dissonance; and I hope that we embody that.”

©️Philip Tyers, Julian Meetings member.

Please send your contributions for publication on the blog to https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-blog/

We invite readers to suggest books for review, and are looking for further member reviewers. We also welcome key points you learned from books you read, whether published recently or years ago.

Posted on 1 June 20261 June 2026 by Blog Editor

The Paradox of Poverty : a Book Review

The Paradox of Poverty: Why are the poor in spirit “Blessed”:

Quote from the publisher: ““Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus said, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And we smile, nod, and think: “Lovely thought.” But if we’re paying attention, it’s a shocking, almost offensive thought. The grieving, the broken hearted, the marginalized, the stigmatized―all blessed, all happy? In The Paradox of Poverty, Susan Pitchford examines the ways in which followers of Christ have understood “poverty of spirit,” and the traditions that have formed around their attempts to follow Jesus on this radical path.

  Over the centuries, those who have heard Jesus have learned the truth of his promise that we will find the greatest happiness, our deepest fulfilment―the kingdom of heaven, in fact, our blessedness and our belovedness―in the things that seem to impoverish our souls. The Paradox of Poverty looks at some of the wisdom traditions that have formed this understanding: the Scriptures, the desert mothers and fathers, the Franciscans, liberation theologians, prosperity gospel preachers, the 12-Step movement, and more. At both individual and collective levels, these traditions help us understand that varied kinds of poverty can become a “blessing” by bringing us to know our belovedness in God.”

My interest mounted as I discovered the breadth and depth to which the writer had researched the “Paradox of Poverty of Spirit”. Susan Pritchard has produced a wealth of information and thought-provoking pages. This is a book which I would want to read again and keep for future reference. The writer shows how we become distracted from the meaning Christ set out for us in the Beatitudes. I commend this book for its insight and richness.

Text © Michael Butler. A Julian Meetings member.

Image © Liturgical Press.

THE PARADOX OF POVERTY

Susan Pritchard

Published by Liturgical Press, 2025, paperback/e-book/ Kindle.

ISBN 9798400802102

Also available from Amazon

We invite readers to suggest further books for review, and are looking for further member reviewers. Contact us on https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-book-reviews/

We invite readers to contribute to the Blog. Contact us on https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-blog/

Posted on 22 May 202625 May 2026 by Blog Editor

Remembering Julian of Norwich near her Anniversary

Julian of Norwich – reflections over the years.

Our meetings are named after Julian of Norwich, but she is not our primary focus. The churches remember her on the 8th of May, the anniversary of her stream of mystical experiences in 1373. Following the Revelations, Julian pondered them for twenty years, challenging God and gaining clarity. Julian’s final text was hidden for many years, through the Reformation persecutions in England and the French revolution. Finally, a Presbyterian woman, Grace Warrack, hunted out an old manuscript in the British Library and copied it by hand. Sheila Upjohn investigated the story, wrote a book about it, and alluded to it in her April 2018 article.

Here are some excerpts from our treasure trove of magazines:

She retained a positive outlook while remaining real.

She is a “happy mystic”, and her writings are full of ‘joyous calm’ in spite of the serious challenges she experienced and discussed with God

The book addresses contemporary concerns.

“Her book was ‘rediscovered’ by a woman scholar at just the right time, when women were beginning to have a voice and be listened to. It was immediately popular. Here was a book by an English woman, not a foreign mystic. One of us. And her message is one of hope and optimism, not doubt and despair. Julian’s book breathes an atmosphere of common sense, a balanced mind,a loving heart, a closeness to the ordinary, that we all need to hear.”

“She is conversant with the idea of God as Mother, most likely through her own experience of motherhood. Jesus feeds us and teaches us as a mother feeds and teaches her child; God wraps us in goodness as a mother wraps up her infant; Jesus is courteous and friendly in demeanour, not some judge who is easily offended”

“She would have seen the seamy side of life, had contact with tradesmen, prostitutes, rogues. Her mildness is noticeable in that she condemns no one, and sees God as non condemnatory too. A life of prayer and listening enabled her to see that sin is not always where we think it is, and indeed ‘all shall be well’ despite our faults and failings.

“in her cell Julian wrestles with the big questions of life: sin, the humanity of Christ, the place of suffering, what is love and how it is shown, our eternal destiny and God’s Providence”.

“If we want, Julian can be our friend and teacher, opening our eyes to new ways of seeing and understanding life, God and ourselves. She can teach us about the value of silence and prayer, of keeping going when there seems to be no feedback. And Julian is characterised by her wonderful sense of gratitude. God is good. The meaning of life is love. And in accepting one another prayerfully and non-judgementally we accept and love the whole of humanity. Truly ‘All shall be well.’ “

During the Coronavirus lock-down in 2020, Julian’s example became particularly relevent:

“Perhaps we can follow Julian by filling time with thoughts of the love of God rather than being led off-track by the media circus. All that Julian experienced led her to write her wonderful Revelations of Divine Love, so full of insight and reflection. The God she shows us in the suffering and compassionate Jesus is the same God for us. ‘He did not say, ‘you shall not be tempest-tossed, you shall not be work – weary, you shall not be discomforted’. But he said ‘you shall not be overcome’.”

(August 2020 © Gill Butterworth, citing Julian’s longer book, RDF Chapter 68).

In December 2023, Margaret Coles compared Julian of Norwich with a gifted, tenacious journalist:

Dangerous

It was a dangerous and perforce secret mission. While the medieval church was preaching sin, punishment, purgatory and hellfire, Julian was writing about God’s unconditional love and merciful compassion. She wrote that God was never angry, that he looked upon his darling children ‘with pity, not with blame’, had forgiven us for all wrongdoing, past, present and future, and was for ever coming towards us with his mercy and love. Julian knew full well the risk she was taking. Had she been discovered she would have had to recant or be burnt at the stake.

Persistent

… She had the integrity to risk her life for the story, as do many modern-day journalists. Julian is a reliable witness, a diligent fact-checker who dared to say, at a press conference with God, ‘Sorry, I didn’t quite get that point. Would you mind clarifying it?’ Add to her extraordinary courage and integrity a thoroughness and rigorous attention to detail and pains-taking efforts to describe precisely what she was shown, a she understood that every detail counted.

Not an easy task

Julian confronted the toughest questions, getting to grips with the puzzling and sometimes disturbing knowledge entrusted to her – deep, mysterious themes that take some unravelling. What to make of ‘sin is behoovable’ – translatable as ‘appropriate’ or ‘necessary’ or ‘sin shall be a glory’ – when you support the church’s condemnation of sin? She wrote it all down faithfully, with no fudging. The answer, she discovered, is that the pain caused by sin can become a source of self-knowledge and humility and an acceptance of God’s forgiveness and love.

An honest witness

Julian’s best known saying is ‘All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well’, but she is no Pollyanna. She lived through war, plague, famine and social unrest. She viewed the world through the little window of her anchor-hold, to which people brought their cares, seeking kindness and understanding. Trust is hard to win and easy to lose. Julian’s honest voice is a witness who helps us, in a world of pain and uncertainty, find the courage to dare to trust that we have the certainty of God’s love. © Margaret Coles

All the editions of the magazine are easily available on the web site. There is inspiration, challenge, history, and the testimony of many who have found again a living encounter with God. While we recall Julian of Norwich and read her words, in silence, alone or in a meeting, we meet her God afresh in our own age.

Text ©Philip Tyers, blog editor. Image from Wiki Commons, photograph of statue outside Norwich Cathedral by David Holgate, 2000.

We welcome contributions to the blog. Please go to our contact page:

https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-blog/

We invite readers to suggest further books for review, and are looking for further member reviewers. Contact us on https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-book-reviews/

Posted on 7 May 202618 May 2026 by The Julian Meetings

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.

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.

Posted on 3 April 20268 May 2026 by The Julian Meetings

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.

Posted on 23 March 20268 May 2026 by The Julian Meetings

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:

God is all- powerful and causes everything that happens in this world. Nothing happens without him willing it.

God is just and fair, and stands for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper and the wicked perish.

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; 1^st 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.

Editor: Philip Tyers

Posted on 16 November 2025 by The Julian Meetings

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.

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.

Category: Articles

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