Like many keen Christians, Mother Julian says she desires a supernatural revelation of God, and so she asks for three things:
1) a 'memory' of the Passion, as if she were actually a witness of the crucifixion
2) (bizarrely) she desires a life-threatening illness, so that afterwards she might be more grateful.
Both of these desires fade away (although she does receive them).
It is the third that remains:
"I conceived a mighty desire to receive three wounds...
the wound of true contrition
the wound of natural compassion, and
the wound of earnest longing for God...
This desire dwelled with me constantly".
How curious - when we naturally seek wholeness and independence, Julian asks to be lamed by God, so that she might become helplessly open to loving herself appropriately, loving others and loving God.
(Revelations, ch. 2)
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