Al Shall Be Wele: Chapter 26, "The nombre of the words passyth my witte and al my understondyng and al my mights"

"The nombre of the words passyth my witte and al my understondyng and al my mights..."

Chapter 26 brings us to Julian’s twelfth of sixteen showings. In this showing, the Lord appears more glorified than Julian has seen him before, declaring himself to her through a series of descriptions that identify him as the source of her love, desire, and joy. The words overwhelm Julian’s mind and understanding, and the joy she sees in them exceeds anything the heart can wish for or the soul desire. It’s a short chapter, so I’ll quote it in full:

And after this our Larde shewid Hym more gloryfyed, as to my syte, than I saw Him beforne, wherin I was lernyd that our soule shal never have rest til it comith to Hym knowing that He is fulhede of joy, homley and curtesly blisful and very life. Our Lord Jesus oftentymes seyd,

I it am,
I it am,
I it am that is heyest,
I it am that thou lovist,
I it am that thou lykyst,
I it am that thou servist,
I it am that thou longyst,
I it am that thou desyrist,
I it am that thou menyst,
I it am that is al,
I it am that Holy Church prechyth and teachyth the,
I am that shewed me here to thee.

The nombre of the words passyth my witte and al my understondyng and al my mights, and it arn the heyest, as to my syte. For therin is compre­hendid, I cannot tellyn - but the joy that I saw in the shewyng of them passyth al that herte may willen and soule may desire; and therefore the words be not declaryd here. But every man, after the grace that God gevyth him in under­stondyng and lovyng, receive hem in our Lords menyng.

Translation:

And after this our Lord showed Himself more glorified, as to my sight, than I had seen Him before. In this I was taught that our soul shall never have rest until it comes to Him, knowing that He is fullness of joy, intimately and courteously blessed, and true life.

Our Lord Jesus often said, 

“It is I,
It is I,
It is I who is highest.
It is I whom you love.
It is I in whom you delight.
It is I whom you serve.
It is I for whom you long.
It is I whom you desire.
It is I whom you mean.
It is I who is all.
It is I whom Holy Church preaches and teaches you.
It is I who showed Himself here to you.”

The number of the words surpasses my wit, and all my understanding, and all my powers, and they are the highest, as it seemed to me. For therein is comprehended what I cannot tell. But the joy that I saw in the showing of them surpasses all that the heart can wish and the soul can desire, and therefore the words are not declared here. But let every person, according to the grace that God gives him in understanding and loving, receive them in the meaning of our Lord.

In his book The Darkness of God, Denys Turner describes two different approaches to apophatic mysticism within the tradition. Following Turner, call these the Way of Contradiction and the Way of Verbal Exhaustion. The Way of Contradiction describes mystics who make and then contradict cataphatic (positive) claims about God. Through this process of assertion, negation, assertion, negation, and so forth, the mystic ascends toward God. 

Mystics who follow the Way of Verbal Exhaustion share a profusion of words attempting to describe the indescribable, a process that exhausts itself under the strain of trying to grasp God with the mind. You speak and you speak until, at last, you just run out of words.

Turner describes Julian as an example of this second type of apophatic mysticism, the Way of Verbal Exhaustion. Chapter 26 is a good illustration. Christ describes himself in his glory, and the profusion of words overwhelms Julian's mind: “The number of the words surpasses my wit, and all my understanding, and all my powers, and they are the highest, as it seemed to me.”