Literal Actions emry sunderland though it’s unclear if she was living in seclusion at For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I will this time, or if it is what prompted her decision, we do know that she wrote about it and that it help you.—Isaiah 41:13
I
magine stepping into a room not much bigger than a closet. Three tall walls without any windows. It’s stuffy and claustrophobic. You say goodbye to friends or family. A few hugs and tears are shed before the fourth and final wall is ceremonially bricked up, sealing you in. Forever. Row by row, as the mortar sets, you prepare inwardly for your new life. There’s only a tiny window where food is passed through. Should someone fail to come weekly or monthly, or your funds—or the funds raised by the devoted townspeople— should run out, you’ll go without. You could very well die in this ready-made tomb, but then, it was your choice. No one coerced you.
laid the foundation for her steadfast faith.
I’ve ruminated Julian’s moment of no return—the moment that she essentially left her friends,
The last brick is in place. It’s done. Now what? The life of Sister Julian Norwich, the famous Christian anchoress used to scare me. I learned about her from a class I took in college on late-medieval women. One of the few female voices of this period in the Western tradition, her memoir, Revelations of Divine Love, describes her decision to leave behind her everyday life for one in permanent seclusion and solely dedicated to God. A child when the Black Death was raging through Europe, Julian1 would’ve lived a life where uncertainty about the future was prevalent. Though there is little known about her upbringing, history shows that around the age of thirty, she fell ill and became very close to death. During this time, she had many visions about Christ’s life, and
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1. It’s unclear if her real name was Julian, or if it was a name she took on entering into the religious life.
