Jesus will our soules be in glad cher to Hym, for His cher is to us mery and lovely; and how He shewith to us three manner cher, of passion, compassion, and blisfull cher. Seventy-first chapter.
Our Glad Countenance and His
Our Lord looks upon our souls with gladness and calls us to meet Him with a joyful heart, that He may draw our outward self into inward union with Him and with one another in Jesus.
The blissful, lovely face of our Lord is glad, merry, and sweet toward our souls.1 For He always holds us living in love-longing, and He wills that our soul be in glad countenance toward Him, to give Him His reward. And thus I hope that by His grace He has drawn, and will still more draw, the outward countenance into the inward countenance, and make us all at one with Him, and each of us with one another, in the true lasting joy that is Jesus.
Three Countenances of Our Lord
Julian identifies three kinds of divine countenance—the Passion, pity and compassion, and eternal bliss—and explains how the first two sustain us in pain and sin during this life.
I mean three kinds of countenance of our Lord.2 The first is the countenance of the Passion, as He showed it while He was here in this life, dying. Though this beholding is mournful and full of grief, yet it is glad and joyful, for He is God.3 The second kind of countenance is pity and compassion and tender mercy, and this He shows to all His lovers with the sure keeping of those who need His mercy.45 The third is the blissful countenance as it shall be without end; and this was continued most often and longest. And so in the time of our pain and our woe He shows us the countenance of His Passion and of His cross, helping us to bear it by His own blessed power.6 And in the time of our sinning He shows us the countenance of compassion and pity, mightily keeping us and defending us against all our enemies.
Bliss Mingled with Grace
The blissful countenance, though belonging to the life to come, is already mingled with the other two in this life, working in us faith, hope, charity, and all solace by grace.
And these two are the face He commonly shows us in this life. Mixed with them is the third, and that is His joyful face, partly like the one we will see in Heaven.7 And that is by the gracious touch and sweet illumination of the spiritual life, by which we are kept in sure faith, hope, and charity, with contrition and devotion, and also with contemplation and every kind of true solace and sweet comfort.✦8 The blissful face of our Lord God works this in us by grace.
Read the original Middle English
Glad and mery and sweete is the blisfull lovely cher of our Lord to our souleis. For He havith us ever lifand in lovelongeing, and He will our soule be in glad chere to Him to gevin Him His mede. And thus I hope with His grace He hath, and more shall, draw in the utter chere to the inner cher, and maken us all at one with Him, and ech of us with other in trew lestand joye that is Jhesus.
I have menyng of three manner of cheres of our Lord. The first is cher of passion, as He shewid while He was here in this lif, deyand. Thow this beholdyng be mornyng and swemful, yet it is glad and mery, for He is God. The second manner of chere is pite and ruth and compassion, and this shewith He to all His lovers with sekirnes of keping that have nede to His mercy. The third is the blisfull cher as it shal be without end; and this was oftenest and longest continuid. And thus in the time of our peyne and our wo He shewith us chere of His passion and of His cross, helpand us to beer by His owne blissid vertue. And in the time of our synnyng He shewith to us chere of ruth and pite, mytily kepand us and defending agaynst all our enemies.
And these two be the common cher which He shewith to us in this life. Therewith medlarid the thord, and that is His blisfull chere like in parte as it shall be in Hevyn. And that is be gracious touchyng and swete lyteyng of the gostly life wherby that we arn kept in sekir feith, hope, and charite, with contrition and devotion, and also with contemplation and alle manner of true solace and swete comforts. The blisfull cher of our Lord God werkith it in us be grace.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.13.13 — And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Notes
- 1 ↩ME cher/chere is countenance/face/expression toward someone — not "cheer" in the modern mood sense. Rendered "countenance" for consistency with earlier JulianShowings usage.
- 2 ↩Middle English cher/chere means the countenance or bearing God shows toward the soul; rendered here as countenance throughout the section.
- 3 ↩swemful: Middle English for grievous / full of sorrowful distress; rendered as full of grief.
- 4 ↩pite and ruth and compassion is a near-synonym triad; ruth modernized as tender mercy to keep three distinct terms without archaic diction.
- 5 ↩Relative clause that have nede to His mercy taken with keping: assurance of keeping those who need His mercy; it could also be read as modifying His lovers.
- 6 ↩vertue here taken as enabling divine power rather than moral virtue alone.
- 7 ↩ME medlarid = meddled/mingled; thord = third. Rendered as the third countenance being mingled with the first two.
- 8 ↩charite kept as charity in the faith–hope–charity triad (theological virtues), not paraphrased to love alone.
Revelations of Divine Love (Showings) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent