Revelations of Divine Love

In the eighth showing, Julian sees a vision of Jesus at the end of his Passion, when his body is nearing death. His face is “dry and bloodless with the pallor of death” (64), becoming first ashen and then blue. Meanwhile, a “bitter, dry wind” (65) blows and dries the body of Jesus even more. Julian watches as Jesus seems to die a slow and agonizing death. 

Julian's graphic vision of Jesus’s death continues with his parched body hanging “in the air, as a cloth is hung to dry” (66). Julian is filled with horror at these sights—so much so that she regrets ever having asked God for the three wounds—but also with pity. Julian feels that her love for Jesus at this moment surpasses her love for herself, and that “there was no pain that could be suffered comparable to the sorrow [she] felt to see him in pain” (67).

Julian continues the theme of pity and compassion at Christ's death. All of creation seems to share in Jesus’s Passion, as shown in the earthquake and solar eclipse that according to the Gospels occurred at the time of his death.

In particular, Julian focuses on the compassion of the Virgin Mary, for “Christ and she were so united in love that the greatness of her love for him caused the intensity of her pain” (67).