Category: Books Recently Published

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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/  

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The Missing Peace: Book Review

Meditation as a spiritual path to peace, community and oneness.

Chris Whittington, the author of this book asserted  “To all intents and purposes, the teaching and practice of meditation, of silent prayer, has all but disappeared from institutional churches”(p.1). 

‘I was encountering (material) which was at the same time both utterly irresistible and profoundly disorientating… Alongside texts from the Christian contemplative tradition, I’d been studying texts from other traditions, particularly those of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta and Sufi Islam. I told the Abbot it seemed as if a single voice was shining through everything I was reading… he just smiled and quietly said, ‘Yes’. (p.2). 

The lack of tuition in silent prayer had concerned Hilary Wakeman when she initiated the Julian Meetings in 1973. She sought advice from church leaders, then from representatives of several contemplative prayer groups who had been running for 50 years or more. Chris had Prinknash Abbey on hand, and at the age of 18, spoke to the Abbot. 

Through his title, Chris is asserting that he has found the piece that will complete the jigsaw of our lives, and help us to discover the Peace that comes from God.

This book assembles the talks Chris has given to teach ‘meditation from the Christian wisdom tradition as a spiritual path to peace, community and oneness – as a way of clearing space to encounter the divine nature of life’. (p.128). 

Each chapter lasts between one and three pages. They are practical, showing how contemplative prayer heals our daily living. Each quotation is identified at the foot of the page. A quick flick through reveals the breadth of resources, ancient and contemporary, that he has used including Rowan Williams, Martin Laird OSA, the Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, the Desert Fathers, and Wendy Beckett. The book is prefaced by commendations from a reliable range of writers. 

To Chris, everything follows from the simple practice taught to him by Fr. Alphege, OSB: ‘Let the prayer word and your breath flow together gently and rest there’ (p. 22). His book shows how this can benefit every aspect of our lives.  

I recommend this book as an accessible resource about the living Christian tradition of contemplative prayer and meditation.  

© Philip Tyers 

Member of The Julian Meetings 

The Missing Peace: Chris Whittington: Norwich, Canterbury Press, 2025. ISBN 978-1-78622-679-2, paperback, e-book and audiobook.  £12.99/£19.99 

We invite readers to suggest further books for review, and are looking for further member reviewers. For this or to offer a contribution for the blog, visit https://thejulianmeetings.net/contact-for-blog/  

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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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/

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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All That Is Made-The Comfort of Contemplative Prayer by Keren Dibbens-Wyatt

Keren Dibbens-Wyatt reflects on Julian of Norwich’s writings in ‘Revelations of Divine Love’.  Keren writes:

“I’ve been fascinated by the book and the wisdom it contains ever since I was given a copy by my husband Rowan on our first wedding anniversary. I had just begun my journey into contemplative prayer and was struck by how God had tucked me away from the world through chronic illness, so that I felt a kinship with Julian in her seclusion. 

 As I have contemplated Mother Julian’s vision of the small thing “the size of a hazelnut,” over the years, I’ve felt that it gives us a true sense of eternal perspective. One much needed in the world! God inspired me to write about it and my own smallness. The seed of a book began to germinate. 

I wrote about how it feels to be small, fragile and dependent, just like that small, round thing. I considered how that can lead us to trusting and knowing God as the one who made, keeps and loves us. I found that just this one revelation alone is enough to contemplate on for the longest time and that it can teach us a great deal about true humility and genuine faith. 

 This book is now out in the world and I’d love to share with you all the insights God has gifted about how this one “shewing” can bring us the ultimate comfort of knowing God and his love through contemplative prayer. 

Keren” 

Text and photo ©Keren Dibbens-Wyatt  

Publisher Herald Press USA

 Amazon link for UK

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Moments of Love by John Mann

Book cover Moments of Love by John Mann

An Eight-Day Retreat with the Song of Songs 

Information from the publisher:

This attractive little book offers an eight-day retreat through the Bible’s poetic allegory of divine love, the Song of Songs. Four times a day for eight days, for Morning, Midday, Evening and Night, the book presents a short passage from the Song of Songs (NRSV) and a 300-500 word reflection. Each reflection is designed according to the time of day. Readers should put aside 20-30 minutes four times a day for the duration of this eight-day period – for the purpose of creating a focused and rewarding meditation upon personal prayer in loving fellowship with God. With a Foreword by Michael Burrows, the Bishop of Limerick (Church of Ireland). 

John Mann has served as a full-time stipendiary Anglican priest for almost all his working life, much of it in Belfast. He was Dean of Belfast Cathedral from 2011 to 2017, having spent many years in parish life and as examining chaplain to the Bishop of Connor.  He has written four other books. 

https://www.dltbooks.com/titles/2408-9781917362009-moments-of-love

If you would like to review this book please contact our Book Review Editor

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Books Recently Published

Here are three books recently published which might interest you. Click on the picture to go to the publisher’s page. These are from an American publisher, you can find price and purchase information in other currencies from the usual online sellers and bookshops.

If you are able to review one of these books, email bookreviews@thejulianmeetings.net. A review copy may be available.

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Books Recently Published

A Man Reading Book while Sitting on a Bed

Here are a few books recently published which might interest you. Click on the picture to go to the publishers page.

Some of our members have already volunteered to write reviews for these. We give our members first choice and a review copy from the publishers (if available) through our monthly members email newsletter. Join us here.

Header Photo from Pexels, Dayan Rodio

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A Sound of Sheer Silence

From the earliest years of Christianity to the present day, the practice of silent prayer is where many have sought, and found, the presence of God. But it is not always as simple as it sounds. In this video The Revd Richard Carter offers a ‘beginner’s guide’ to silence, reflecting on its nature, practice, joys and pitfalls, and how we can find it in our noisy city and busy lives. Richard was for many years a member of the Melanesian Brotherhood in the Solomon Islands where silence was a daily part of the spiritual life of the community. In London he is the founder and leader of the Nazareth Community where contemplative prayer is the basis for their contemporary rule of life. He is Associate Vicar for Mission at St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London, and the author of ‘The City is my Monastery: A contemporary rule of life’.

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“Lectio Divina – The Sacred Art” Book Review

Paintner, Christine Valters, Lectio Divina – the Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images Into Heart-Centered Prayer, SPCK,  2012

Publisher’s Information:

Lectio divina, which means sacred reading, is an ancient contemplative practice of listening deeply to the voice of God in sacred texts. In recent years there has been a reclaiming of the riches of contemplative prayer forms of Western traditions. Through the practice of lectio divina you become present to each moment in a heart-centred way. Gradually, the practice of lectio expands your capacity to sense God’s presence until all of life becomes a cascade of prayer. Drawing on her own experience as a monk in the world, Christine Valters Paintner breaks open the movements of this spiritual practice. She makes them accessible to the contemporary reader who longs for a more pervasive experience of the holy in the everyday but lives far away from the sanctuary of a monastery.

Sample review from Amazon.co.uk

“I found this book to be a very helpful refresher on the practice of Lectio Divina. I have followed this practice on and off for several years, but this book applied the ideas and practice to a wide range of texts and also introduced ways of applying it to visual arts, music, nature, and our own life stories. The afterword says: ‘The whole world is, in fact, a text of sacred revelation. All experience has the potential to be revelatory, and God is singing one unending song seducing each of our hearts. So the call is to listen, to attune to the words God utters in the world.’
Every chapter has a suggested way of practising the ideas that have been discussed. If you are looking for a book that will give you practical help in refreshing your prayer life, or a book to take away on retreat, this would be a good start.”

Photo-Monique, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

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The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism

A Guide to Contemplative Spirituality By Carl McColman (Author) Aug 2023

Information from the Publisher, Broadleaf Books:

“This revised and expanded edition offers a big possibility: the hope of achieving real, experiential union with God.

‘The Christian of the future will be a mystic—or will not exist.’ This word of warning from theologian Karl Rahner was uttered half a century ago, and today, Christianity is indeed in crisis. Is mysticism necessary for the survival of Christianity? What exactly is Christian mysticism? How can it be relevant in our crisis-ridden world? Questions like these inspire The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism, a newly updated edition from beloved spiritual teacher and bestselling author Carl McColman.

The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism serves as both introduction and practical instruction for a living contemplative practice today. In addition to the overview of mysticism, spiritual and prayer practices in mysticism, the various types of mysticism in Christian tradition, and influential mystics through the millennia, this second edition offers an embodied understanding of the mystic life with a more diverse range of voices and perspectives, from Howard Thurman to Pauli Murray. It also includes new chapters and themes that address embodied mysticism, contemplation and social justice, and the ongoing relevance of Jesus’s message of radical equality and inclusivity.

This bigger book introduces both Christians and non-Christians to the contemplative tradition within Christianity, a tradition that has often been marginalized or cloistered (to the church’s detriment). As a practice-oriented book, this is an invitation to embrace the mystical element within Christianity—a practice that can equip faithful persons with a joyful sense of divine intimacy, not just for personal benefit but as a foundation to a life of service and activism in the interest of justice.

McColman’s overview of mysticism shows how it has been practiced and lived through the centuries and will prove inspirational for today’s seekers, regardless of their faith tradition. At its heart, Christian mysticism is an ancient practice that incorporates meditation, contemplation, worship, philosophy, the quest for enlightenment, the thirst for a better world, and the experience of divine presence.”

“The mystic is not a special kind of person; every person is a special kind of mystic.” –William McNamara