Julian was a 14th century hermit, called anchorite, who lived in a small place next to this Old Church of St. Julian (google photo) in Norwich, 100 miles of London. She chose to live in seclusion, praying often out of her longing for God and reflecting on: black plague causing a third of population to die, wars that enslaved and oppress folks, pestilence, cruelties and inhumanity towards Armenian Christians who pled for help to the Court of King Edward.
My gratitude to Holy Family Artesia whose Bishop Marc Trudeau celebrated the Eucharist today and spoke of Julian, the anchorite who had 16 revelations of God’s Divine Love for humanity, including: “God shall make well all that is not well; and thou shall see it.”
Julian, a woman, pledged vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, seclusion, and permanency of place. Folks held funerals for these anchorites or hermits. After the funeral, the doors were closed to their place, usually a small addition to the side of the church. Bishop described the place of this anchorite or hermit: her secluded room, isolated from the community, with two interior windows – one for the sun to peek in, and another for food containers to be delivered, and a door for her to walk into the sanctuary of the church to receive the Eucharist. She spent 40 years of her life in seclusion. On May 13, 1373, the Lord showed revelations to her, Julian calls them 16 “shewings” in her dream. She was 30 years old. She had a mysterious illness that she thought she would die from, that the priest came to give her the Last Rites. But, she recovered to write 16 revelations on Endless Bliss and Divine Love. She referred to the soul as as sanctuary to a church and sins behave as thick mist before the eyes of the soul, thus unable to see the fairness of God. She wrote them after recovering, and she revised them for 20 years. She is known for her great calmness, power of observation, reflection, discriminating judgment or critical thinking skills, certitude, humor, depth of passion, loyalty in faith, serenity and candor.
God is with us, most especially in our sufferings, not just for us, but with us – God is with us in sufferings, pain, isolation, fear and death. Jesus makes that all holy. May we join Julian and be a light to others. All shall be well!
Bishop Marc Trudeau
I cried for most of the Mass, in part recalling the experiences of the sheperds, the children of Fatima, Portugal and their parents and ancestors who witnessed more than 65% of their population perish from influenza or flu.
I did my research today to learn more about Julian of Norwich and read about her 16 revelations, wrote them and consulted other sources to know about the context of upheaval, terror and chaos during Julian’s time on earth. This 21st century, April 22, 2020, we now have worldwide 2, 623, 415 confirmed cases of #CoronaVirus resulting in 183,027 deaths in 185 countries in 4 months. Palau and Samoa have zero cases. We are experiencing our own plague.In the US, we have 839, 675 confirmed cases and 46, 583 deaths. South Korea has 10, 694 confirmed cases and 238 deaths, while Singapore has 10, 141 confirmed cases and 12 deaths.
I often think about mistakes I may have made, what I could do better. But the one mistake I know I never make is the mistake of not caring.
Hashem Zikry, MD, Mt. Sinai Hospital
Reflections: I am quite grateful that my adult children set the tone of caring for us their elderly parents with co-morbidity factors at the beginning of this pandemic. They nurtured us with love and kindness. They took extra steps of dropping off groceries and prepared dinners for hubby, myself and octogenarian neighbor. We said more I love yous. They gave us love bit more than, hope that our end is not near yet. It is about living to the max to appreciate more love and goodness.
Last night, I kept holding the hand of my husband, grateful that we are both alive. He is busy preparing the soil to plant more vegetable crops for the next season.
I got sentimental last night from the passing of former Senator Sonny Alvarez, who actually got better with the plasma treatment, then died suddenly.
I sent out ensaymadas with gratitude to the four priests ministering to our spiritual needs. If only I can send a box to Pope Francis, a carrier of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you losangelesbuffet.com! Thank you Max’s and Lucy’s Ensaymadas! Thank you all, and my gratitude to Facebook and Instagram for keeping us all connected.
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the famous Swiss-American psychiatrist and author of the best-selling On Death and Dying, wrote: “It’s not really the dying that’s so hard; dying takes no skill and no understanding. It can be done by anyone. What is hard is living—living until you die; whether your death is imminent or a long way off . . . the real challenge is to fully live the time you have.
Greg Castilla
