Julian's Three Wounds

I have been reading Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love and was struck again, at the start of her meditations, by her prayer for "three wounds."

As you likely know, Julian's Revelations is considered to be one of the great works of the Christian mystical tradition. And at the start of her Revelations, Julian shares how she asked the Lord for three wounds:

Moved by this I conceived a great longing, praying our Lord God that he would grant me three wounds in my lifetime: that is to say, the wound of contrition, the wound of compassion and the wound of an earnest longing for God.

What's striking here, and a little jarring for modern readers, is how Julian calls these "wounds." Feeling sorry about one's sin is a wound. Feeling compassion for others is a wound. Longing for God is a wound.

That Julian calls these wounds goes to her identification with Christ's passion in the Revelations. The wounds of Christ's passion wound our hearts, causing us sorrow, enflaming our love, and deepening our desire for God. And while there is undoubtedly something medieval about describing love as a wound, I'm struck today by the image. For love can very much feel like a wound. Love, as we say, causes our hearts to bleed. We are stricken. There is something in love that makes the heart tender to the touch. Love makes the heart vulnerable and sensitive. Love causes the heart to ache. 

A wounded heart is not cold, distant, inert or dead. A wounded heart has touched the world and that touch comes with pain.