Sadly, we have no definitive manuscripts which contain her original work, but only copies of copies of copies that have been updated and redacted by subsequent generations - perhaps proof that those who read her text, however small and selective a number this might have been in the past, sought to make this Middle English text as accessible and understandable to the present age as they possibly could.
This text is at least twice as long as the first, and interweaves descriptions of her visions with interpretation and theological reflection, the fruit of many years’ hard thinking and praying. In this longer text, Julian tells us that she spent nigh on 20 years reflecting on, and thinking deeply about, the visions she received, and what they revealed about the nature of God, our relationship with the Trinity, and the problem of sin. The first, and shorter, version of Revelations of Divine Love was probably written soon after her revelation of 1373, as it has the feel of capturing her initial thoughts and the immediacy of her visionary experience but then, at some later point, she writes again. Of course, we would have known nothing of the events of this single day in May 1373 if Julian had not survived and left us her writings. Collectively, she called them “a revelation of love”.
In one revelation, she even enters into the wound in the side of Christ, where she sees “a large delectable place, large enough for all humanity to be saved and to rest in peace and love”. Some of the showings were rooted in the story of the Passion, as described in the Gospels, but others took her down to the bottom of the sea or up to a feast in heaven. The room darkened, and from this cross flowed a series of 16 “shewings”, or revelations, which were given to the woman we now know as Julian of Norwich. As was the custom, her local parish priest was called to give her the last rites, and, as he held a crucifix before her eyes, she saw it take on a “common light”.
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