Contemplative Prayer – The Julian Meetings

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/

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.

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.

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.

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.

Text © Philip Tyers.

Image © Blackburn Cathedral, used with permission

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.

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.

Posted on 18 August 202518 August 2025 by The Julian Meetings

Opening and Closing the Silence

Words used to open and close the silence at a Julian Prayer group.

OPENING PRAYER

We are your sheep,

and you are our Father and Mother.

You lead us towards peace and stillness

and are a balm for our souls.

No matter what trouble or strife we encounter

you are always there for us,

letting us know that

All Shall Be Well

and All Shall Be Well.

No matter what despair and anxieties we feel

you tell us that you are always with us

to the end of time,

and we will not be overcome.

You nourish us daily, in all circumstances,

and your balm overflows upon us,

as you enfold us in your everlasting Love.

OPENING PRAYER

Lord God, we come before you today,

in stillness and silence.

We thank you for breathing your Holy Spirit

into our lives and into our hearts.

Bless us Lord,

as we listen to your

still small voice of calm.

Amen.

The words in this following prayer came to me near the end of the 30-minute silence at my local Julian Prayer group:

OPENING PRAYER

Lord, calm our minds,

as you calmed the storm.

Let all our anxious thoughts and feelings

drift away

like ripples on a lake,

as you walk across the water

of our hearts

and take us by the hand

and say

Peace, Be Still.

OPENING PRAYER

You Lord are in this place,

your presence fills it.

I have come to rest in your presence,

taking time to just ‘Be’.

Fill me with your Holy Spirit,

Love and Peace.

Amen.

CLOSING PRAYER

Thank you for this time of stillness,

a time to share in the

Love, Peace, Joy and Hope

with everyone in this Julian group,

with angels and archangels

and with all the company of heaven.

Amen.

CLOSING PRAYER

We thank you, Lord

for this time of stillness.

For the time we have spent in your presence.

May we go forth each day

with faith, with hope, with love,

and may our souls be filled with your

eternal Light.

Amen.

Posted on 10 July 202510 July 2025 by The Julian Meetings

Overcoming Distraction in Contemplative Prayer

The practice of contemplative prayer in the face of distraction

So here in the midst of the world
With all its present pain and madness
You are not the sponge soaking up carbon emissions
Rather you are the channel of God‟s peace
Let that peace arise within you
Deeper than the sea of your own need or desire
Let that peace be a purity
A swept room
A tidied house
A simple order
An inner spaciousness
A forgiven, merciful place
Released from clawing need
Let go of the castles you have dug for yourself in the churned sand
Be washed flat by the beauty of the incoming waves
Let God‟s goodness in
Like a sparkling incoming tide
Smoothing the sand
And leaving a sheen of silver
Now you have cleared your near distance of the debris of your mind

See the expanse
Where heaven and earth meet
And all, all from east to west
From north to south
Is filled with light

Richard Carter
From ‘The City is my Monastery’
published by Canterbury Press ISBN: 9781786222138
© Used with permission. August 2024 Magazine.