Mother Julian of Norwich has fascinated me for several years, I chose to write a reflection about her during my first year at college and her book Revelations of Divine Love was an inspiration to me as I set out on a new journey of faith myself. Little did I know, as I studied that only three years later we would be living in Norwich ourselves, not far from the cell where Mother Julian spent most of her adult life. Her writings indicate that she was born in 1343 and became an Anchoress, meaning that she withdrew from secular society to lead an intensly prayer orientated life. Julian confined herself to a cell in Norwich and lived out her life of faith. The cell had three windows, the first looked into the sanctuary of the Church, where she observed mass and received the eucharist, the second window was the place where her daily needs were attended to and the third window looked out onto the street where she observed life passing by.
Most of us experienced that feeling of being shut away from the rest of the world during this year and we are concious that there are many across this country and the rest of the world that are still sharing that experience. One of the greatest concerns has been peoples welfare and for many, this experience of isolation, has caused physical and psycholgical issues. I have felt the pressures of losing that personal contact with people myself and it has not been easy. Here in East Anglia, we have had a low Covid impact, meaning that we haven’t experienced the intense situation others have felt.
All of this reminds me of the importance of our dependence on other people, at heart most of us are communal people. I could not imagine living the life Julian of Norwich lived, my faith is built on times of isolation, but also being out in the world, I need to live in the real world, get frustrated by the behaviour of others, laugh at funny situations, have my hero’s and those who irritate me, I thrive on people disagreeing with me and then together finding a solution that works. My faith has a foot in the Church and a foot in the world.