Eyes
Have I That See by John Julian
A monk, priest and a scholar, poet John Julian
has given us a breadth of wisdom here in a new collection of poems that gathers
together old and new poems alike. Julian
founded the Order of Julian Norwich in 1985 and his poems exude that same quite
confidence. These poems span the time
from his first ones, written in 1959 to the most contemporary, written in
2014. Yet, these poems have a strength
to them that comes from someone who has long pondered the mysteries of life,
suffering, and faith.
In the poem Incarnatus, Julian captures the
profundity of Christ’s becoming flesh on the earth in a unique and forceful
way. He writes, Suffer, he said, but
never cause suffering / Give, while the rest of the world seeks to take; / Die,
if its needed , but never cause dying; / Love, with the knowledge that friends
may forsake (49).” The extending of
grace, the giving of himself to and for others, and the love that he gave out
completely to friends was part and parcel of the life and ministry of
Jesus. Yet, this giving, this unhindered
letting go of the clutches of vain glory and recognition were met with
rejection, forsakenness, and self-promotion.
Julian finishes the poems with the lines, “To celebrate life amidst
deathly confusion, / To speak in your living the truth of my Birth (49).”
The veritable tension that a prophet’s calling
and what he should do is displayed in the poem, A Prophet Should. Near the end of the poem, Father Julian
endorses this tension, “A prophet should resolve, / facilitate, ease, answer, /
and console. / Buts shoulds are alien to him and judgment echoes off his walls
(55).” The tension exists between a
steady and growing conscience of a prophet and his duty to bring judgment to
the people. There is a sort of
dissonance here that Julian calls to, the kind of tension between the prophet’s
personality and feelings and what he must say from the Lord. The tenderness is lost on the prophet in the
midst of his prophetic oracles that many times come in the form of thundering
denouncements.
Thanks to Paraclete Press for the copy of this
book in exchange for an honest review.
Check out www.paracletepress.com for more resources
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