In Chapters 4-9 Julian begins to describe the first of her showings. As she shared in Chapter 1, this first showing was "of His pretious [precious] coroning [crowning] with thornys [thorns]; and therewith was comprehended and specifyed the Trinite [Trinity] with the incarnation..."
Julian begins to unpack this first showing in Chapter 4. She starts with the blood that flowed from the crown of thorns:
In this sodenly [suddenly] I saw the rede blade trekelyn downe [the red blood trickling down] fro under the garlande hate [hot] and freisly [freshly] and ryth plenteously [right plenteously], as it were in the time of His passion that the garlande of thornys [garland of thorns] was pressid on His blissid hede [pressed on his blessed head].
From there Julian goes on to describe how, in this showing, she beheld the whole of the Trinity in Christ's sufferings:
And in the same sheweing [showing] sodenly [suddenly] the Trinite [Trinity] fullfilled [filled] the herte [heart] most of joy; and so, I understood, it shall be in Hevyn [Heaven] withoute end to all that shall come there. For the Trinite is God, God is the Trinite. The Trinite is our maker and keeper, the Trinite is our everlasting lover, everlasting joy and blisse, be our Lord Jesus Christ; and this was shewed in the first and in all, for where Jesus appereith [appears] the blissid Trinite is understand [understood], as to my sight.
Julian's reflections in the Revelations are very Trinitarian. She will mention the Trinity close to fifty times. Here in Chapter 4 the Trinity is described as our maker, our keeper, our lover, and our everlasting joy and bless.
Importantly, Julian keeps the Passion tightly connected to the Trinity. As she puts it, "where Jesus appears the blessed Trinity is understood." Thus, Julian's vision of the Passion resists any division between the Father and the Son. In Christ's sufferings and death there was no divine rupture or intra-Trinitarian conflict. For Julian, the sufferings of Christ reveals the unity of divine love. The Passion is not the Son suffering the wrath of the Father. Rather, the self-giving love of the whole Trinity is made visible in Christ. In the Passion of Jesus, Julian beholds the love of the Trinity drawing near to us. The cross discloses the heart of God as our maker, keeper, and everlasting lover.
