Historians place her birth in Carthage, sometime in the rule of my 45th Great Grandfather, Gaiseric of the Vandals. He would have been in his early 30s, probably, when she was born. That's my guess, according to my estimated birth for him in my family tree. Christians were getting quite a lot of persecution during his time.
Anyway, my 45th grandfather captured her and sold her as a slave to a Syrian merchant by the name of Eusebius.
Predictably, she is a virgin in the story and is automatically given lots of credit for that, whereas men are never mentioned in relation to virginity - another aggravating fact about the Catholic saints. She was also stereotypically long-suffering in her habit of never complaining, even when life was really tough, which typically means that men are keeping you prisoner, torturing you or raping you and forcing you to render them service.
Of course, there is something to be said for putting up with the travails of life and just getting on with it. I myself have had an extremely difficult life and, until recently, was not in the habit of revealing it. But now, if telling my stories somehow helps other people, such as other sick and poor people (who are beloved by Christ) then my policy is to talk it up in the hope that I may make a dent in unjust habits of my culture. Otherwise, I do keep it to myself.
As a senior woman with a lot of experience "under my belt," I will also occasionally dispense helpful information, but I try very hard not to meddle where I am not wanted and especially not to give unsolicited advice unless I have been given the "go ahead" by the recipient and I have also taken the time to ask enough questions to get me up to speed on the situation so that my advice is informed. I recommend this method.
It is irritating and tiring to be the recipient of unsolicited advice, especially since it is often couched in a way that gives the impression that the giver of advice thinks you are an idiot and could not possibly have thought of it yourself. They assume that you've done nothing to solve whatever situation exists in your world.
Lately, I have been asking for prayers for my next door neighbor who suffers from Parkinson's for the last 29 years and things are getting particularly bad for her. I am intimately familiar with the avenues of help that are available for the woman and have followed through with all of it. The only thing left is to ask for prayers - unless someone else wants to actually DO something for the poor woman. But no. that's not the way this goes. Without bothering to even find out what I have done, a certain percentage of people can be relied upon to shove advice at me. It's a "thing."
Don't get me wrong. I DO take advice from informed sources. I have a close handful of friends, some very holy women, who are familiar with all my life circumstances and have taken the time to get to know me and my various endeavors. From them, I take advice because they know what they're talking about. They're here - "on the ground," so to speak.
But when I ask acquaintances for prayers, that predictable percentage of people give me unsolicited advice instead....advice that isn't worth the time it took to write it because I am already doing everything that can be humanly done and I have specifically asked for prayers. Why substitute worldly advice for an action in the Divine realm?
I wonder if these people actually believe in the holy ways of God?
I can feel when someone is praying for me, just as I can sense when someone means me well or ill. There is a flow in the universe. I am sure that many of you could say the same. No matter what religion you profess, I would be willing to bet that this is true for you, to a greater or lesser extent, depending on your sensitivity.
This is one of the reasons that I enjoy reading about saints such as Julia because she really believes. Despite being enslaved and treated terribly, having all her freedom ripped from her and forced to live a life of perpetual labor and service, she remained a pious woman of undaunted faith. It is reported that when she was not slaving away in service to her master, she was praying and reading devotional texts.
Despite her youth, she had a mature religion. She wasn't moaning and ranting about how God has "done her wrong" by allowing this to happen to her, or complaining about how God has allowed evil to exist in the world. She did not abandon her faith because life did not go her way. She did not believe in the "shopkeeping" religion where you pray to get what you want and if the big shopkeeper in the sky doesn't give it to you, you go elsewhere. She maintained her connection with The Lord throughout her troubles.
Predictably, this impressed Eusebius but enraged OTHER powerful people of the day, such as Felix of Corsica, who first tried to buy her from Eusebius but then just took her by artifice, getting Eusebius drunk and then taking Julia and torturing her when she refused to renounce Christ. He did terrible things to her and she is celebrated as "virgin and martyr."
Julia's body was taken to the Isle of Gorgon, but later removed to Brescia, in Lombardy.
I wonder if the people who give advice instead of prayers would keep the faith if put into a situation such as Julia's slavery and torture, as they do not appear to believe in prayer very much.
Speaking of prayer, here is a prayer referencing Julia:
No comments:
Post a Comment