Revelations of Divine Love

by Julian of Norwich

  Let us fly to our Lord and we shall be comforted, touch him and we shall be made clean, cling to him and we shall be safe and secure from all manner of peril; for our courteous Lord wants us to be as friendly with him as the heart may conceive or the soul may desire. But be careful not to take this friendliness too casually, so that we neglect courtesy; for our Lord himself is supreme friendliness, and he is as courteous as he is friendly; for he is truly courteous. And he wants the blessed creatures who will be with him in heaven for ever to be like himself in all things. And to be perfectly like our Lord is our true salvation and our full bliss. And if we are uncertain how we can do all this, let us ask our Lord and he will teach us; for it is his pleasure and his glory. Blessed may he be!

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  Our Lord wants us to recognize four kinds of goodness which he offers us; and how we need the light of grace to know our sin and weakness, for by ourselves we are nothing but wretchedness and cannot know the hideousness of sin as it is; and how our Enemy does not want us ever to know our sin until the last day and therefore we are much indebted to God who shows it to us now.

  In his mercy, our Lord shows us our sin and our weakness by his own sweet, gracious light; for our sin is so vile and so horrible that in his kind courtesy he will show it to us only by the light of his grace and mercy. It is his wish that we should have knowledge of four things: the first is that he is the ground from which we have all our life and our being; the second, that he protects us mightily and mercifully in the time of our sin and among all the enemies that fall upon us so fiercely – and we are in the greater peril because we give them the opportunity and do not know our own need; the third is that he protects us with kind courtesy and lets us know that we are going wrong; the fourth is how steadfastly he waits for us with unchanging face, for he wants us to turn to him and unite with him in love, as he is united with us.

  And so through this gracious knowledge we may see our sin profitably, without despairing, for we do really need to see it; and the sight will make us ashamed of ourselves and break down our pride and presumption; for we really must see that in ourselves we are nothing at all but sin and wretchedness. And so through our sight of the lesser part which our Lord shows us, the greater which we do not see loses its power; for in his kindness he moderates the sight for us, for it is so vile and so horrible that we could not bear to see it as it is.

  And so by this humble awareness, through contrition and grace, we shall be severed from everything which is not our Lord, and then our blessed Saviour will heal us perfectly and unite us to himself. Our Lord applies this severing and healing to people in general, for he who is highest and nearest to God may see himself as sinful and needy along with me; and I, the least and the lowest of those who will be saved, may take comfort from him who is highest. So our Lord united us in charity when he showed me that I would sin.

  And because of the joy I felt when I beheld him, I did not pay attention to that showing immediately; and then our kind Lord stopped and would not teach me any more until he had given me the grace and the will to pay attention.

  From this I was taught that though we may be lifted up high in contemplation through the special gift of our Lord, yet at the same time we must have knowledge and sight of our sin and our feebleness; for without this knowledge we cannot have true humility, and without this we cannot be saved. And I also saw that we cannot gain this knowledge by ourselves, nor from any of our spiritual enemies, for they do not want so much good for us; if it were left to them, we should not see it until our dying day. So we are greatly indebted to God who for love will show it to us while it is not too late for mercy and grace.

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  We are taught to consider our sin and not our neighbours’, unless it is to help them; and God wants us to know that whatever impulse we have contrary to this showing comes from our Enemy; knowing the great love of God should not make us more careless about falling; and if we fall, we must rise again quickly or else we are most unresponsive to God.

  I also received greater understanding in this matter: when God showed me that I would sin I took this to apply simply to myself in particular, for it meant nothing else to me then; but through the great and gracious comfort of our Lord which came later I saw that his message applied to mankind in general, that is to everyone who is sinful and shall be until the last day. Of these I am one, I hope, through the mercy of God, for the blessed help which I saw is ample enough for us all. And here I was taught that I should see my own sin and not other people’s sins, unless it is to support and help my fellow Christians.

  And also in this same showing, where I saw that I would sin, I was taught to fear my own instability; for I do not know how I shall fall, nor do I know the size or the seriousness of sin; I longed and feared to know that, but had no answer to my question. Also, at the same time, our kind Lord showed powerfully and certainly the endlessness and unchangeableness of his love; and also how, through his great goodness and the spiritual protection of his grace, his love and our souls shall never be parted through all eternity. And so in this fear I have cause for humility which saves me from presumption; and in the blessed showing of love I have cause for true comfort and joy which save me from despair.

  All this friendly showing of our kind Lord’s is a lovely lesson and his own sweet, gracious teaching to comfort our souls, for he wants us to know, through his sweet and familiar love, that everything we see or feel, within or without, which is contrary to this is of the Enemy and not of God. For example, if we are moved to live or guard our hearts more carelessly for the very reason that we have knowledge of his abundant love, then we must take great care, for if we have this impulse, it is flawed and we should loathe it; it is nothing like God’s will.

  And when we fall through frailty or blindness, then our kind Lord touches us, moves us and calls us, and then he wants us to see our wretchedness and sinfulness and acknowledge it humbly. But he does not want us to stop at this point, nor does he want us to be very anxious to accuse ourselves, nor does he want us to be inwardly miserable; but he wants us quickly to turn our thoughts to him; for he stands all alone and waits for us, sorrowing and lamenting until we come, and is impatient to have us with him; for we are his joy and his delight, and he is our balm and our life.

  When I say that he stands alone, I omit mention of the blessed company of heaven and refer to his function and his works here on earth, according to the nature of the showing.

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  God is worshipped and we are saved by three things; and how our present knowledge goes no further than an ABC; and sweet Jesus does everything, waiting and lamenting with us, but when we are in a state of sin, Christ laments alone, and then it is fitting for us, from kindness and reverence, to turn quickly to him again.

  Man relies on three things in this life, three things by which God is worshipped and we are helped, protected and saved. The first is the use of man’s natural reason; the second is the general teaching of Holy Church; the third is the gracious inner working of the Holy Ghost; and these three are all from one God. God is the origin of our natural reason, and God is the teaching of Holy Church, and God is the Holy Ghost. And these are distinct gifts which he wants us to observe carefully and pay attention to, for they are always at work in us, bringing us to God, and they are very important things which he wants us to know about here as we might know the ABC; that is to say, that we should have a little knowledge here of what we shall know fully in heaven; and that is for our benefit.

  We know through our Christian faith that God alone took on our human nature and none but he; and further that Christ alone performed all the works needed for our salvation, and none but he; and in just the same way he alone is now carrying out the final task: that is to say, he is living here with us, ruling and governing us in this life and bringing us to his bliss. And he will do so as long as any soul that will come to heaven is still on this earth; and to such an extent that if there were no more than one such soul, he would be with it alone unti
l he had brought it up to his bliss. I believe and understand what the scholars say of the ministration of angels, but I was not shown this; for Christ himself is nearest and humblest, highest and lowest, and does everything; and not only all that we need, but he also does all that brings us glory for our joy in heaven.

  And where I say that he waits, sorrowing and lamenting, it refers to all the true feelings of contrition and compassion which we have within ourselves, and all our sorrowing and lamenting for not being united with our Lord. All such feelings which are helpful are Christ within us, and though some of us seldom have such feelings, Christ will never cease to work in this way until he has brought us all out of all our woe; for love never allows him to be without pity. And when we fall into sin and forget him and forget to safeguard our own souls, then Christ alone bears the whole burden, and so he stands sorrowing and lamenting. Then it is fitting for us, out of reverence and kindness, to turn quickly to our Lord and not to leave him alone. He is here for all of us alone: that is to say, he is only here for us. And whenever I am cold towards him through sin, despair or sloth, then I let my Lord stand alone, to the extent of my sin; and so do all of us who are sinners. But although it is true that we often do this, his goodness never allows us to be alone; but he is always with us, and he tenderly excuses us, and he always shields us from blame in his eyes.

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  This blessed woman saw God in various ways, but she saw him find a resting-place only in man’s soul; and he wants us to rejoice more in his love than we sorrow over our frequent falling, remembering our everlasting reward and living willingly in penance; and why God is patient with sin.

  Our good Lord showed himself in various ways, both in heaven and on earth, but the only place I saw him occupy was man’s soul. He showed himself on earth in his precious Incarnation and in his blessed Passion. And he showed himself on earth in another way at the point where I say, ‘I saw God in an instant.’69 And he showed himself on earth in another way as though on a pilgrimage: that is to say, he is here with us, leading us, and will be until he has brought us all up to his bliss in heaven. At different times he showed himself reigning, as I have said before, but principally he showed himself in man’s soul. He has made that his resting-place and his glorious city, a glorious throne out of which he will never rise or remove for all eternity. The place where the Lord dwells is marvellous and noble.

  And so he wants us to respond readily to his gracious touch, rejoicing more in all his love than we sorrow over our frequent falling, for it honours him more than anything else we can do that we should live willingly and cheerfully in our penance for love of him. He watches us so tenderly that he sees all our living and suffering; for his kind love shows itself in our lasting penance, suffering which he causes in us and mercifully helps us to bear. His love makes him long for us, but his wisdom and his truth with his righteousness make him patient while we are here, and he wants to see us patient in the same way; for this suffering of ours is kind and natural, and seems the noblest to me, for this penance never leaves us until the time when we are finally satisfied, when we shall have him for our reward. And that is why he wants us to set our hearts upon our passing on: that is to say, from the pain that we feel to the bliss in which we believe.

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  God looks at the lamenting soul with pity and not with blame, and yet we do nothing but sin, and so we are left in joy and fear; for he wants us to turn to him, clinging eagerly to his love, seeing that he is our medicine; and so we must love him, with joy and longing; and anything contrary to this comes not from God, but from the Enemy.

  But here our kind Lord showed the soul’s lamentation and mourning, meaning this: ‘I know well that for love of me you wish to live cheerfully and gladly, bearing all the suffering that may come to you, but insofar as you do not live without sin, you are willing to suffer for love of me all the tribulation and distress that can come to you. And this is true. But do not be too troubled by the sins that you commit unwillingly.’ And here I understood that the lord considers his servant with pity and not with blame, for in this passing life we are not expected to live quite free from blame and sin.

  He loves us everlastingly, and we sin habitually and he reveals our sins very gently; and then we sorrow and mourn appropriately, turning to the consideration of his mercy, clinging to his love and goodness, seeing that he is our medicine, knowing that we do nothing but sin. And so by the humility we gain from seeing our sin, faithfully knowing his everlasting love, thanking and praising him, we please him. ‘I love you and you love me; and our love shall not be divided,70 and I suffer for your profit.’ And all this was shown in spiritual understanding of these blessed words, ‘I am keeping you very safe.’71

  And from the great desire which I saw in our blessed Lord that we may live in this way, that is to say, in joy and longing, as all this lesson of love shows, I understood that everything which is harmful to us is not of him but of our Enemy; and he wants us to know it by the sweet gracious light of his kind love.

  If there be any lover of God on earth who is continuously kept from falling, I do not know of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and in rising we are always tenderly protected in one love; for as God beholds us we do not fall, and as we behold ourselves we do not stand, and both these seem to me to be true, but our Lord God’s view is the highest truth: so we are much indebted to God for showing us this great truth while we are still in this earthly life. And I understood that while we are in this life, it is greatly to our benefit to see both of these at once; for the higher view keeps us in spiritual comfort and true pleasure in God; the other, that is the lower view, keeps us in fear and makes us ashamed of ourselves. Our good Lord wants us to see ourselves much more in accordance with the higher view, but without ceasing to be aware of the lower one, until the time when we are brought up above, where we shall have our Lord Jesus as our reward and be filled with joy and bliss without end.

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  Of three properties of God: life, love and light; and that our reason is in harmony with God; it is our highest gift; and how our faith is a light which comes from the Father and is allotted to us, leading us through this night and to the end of our woe; our eyes shall suddenly be opened in the full light and clarity of vision, seeing our Maker, Father and Holy Ghost in Jesus our Saviour.

  I was able to touch, see and feel some of the three properties of God on which the strength and meaning of the whole revelation is based; and they were seen in every showing and most characteristically in the twelfth, where it often says, ‘It is I.’ The properties are these: life, love and light. There is marvellous familiarity in life, gracious courtesy in love, and in light there is endless kindness. These properties belonged to a single goodness; and my reason desired to unite and cling to this goodness with all its might. I watched with reverent fear, marvelling greatly as I saw and felt the sweet harmony between our reason and God, understanding that it is the highest gift we have received and that it is grounded in nature.

  Our faith is a light, coming kindly and naturally from everlasting day, which is our father, God; and in this light our mother, Christ, and our good lord, the Holy Ghost, lead us in this transitory life. This light is allotted prudently, supporting us in the night according to our need. The light is the cause of our life, the night is the cause of our suffering and of all our woe, through which we deserve reward and thanks from God; for we, eagerly knowing and believing in our light through mercy and grace, walk in it surely and strongly. And when woe ends, our eyes shall suddenly be opened, and in the brightness of light our sight will be clear; and this light is God our Maker and the Holy Ghost in Christ Jesus our Saviour. Thus I saw and understood that our faith is our light in our night, light which is God, our everlasting day.

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  Charity is this light, which is not so small that, with toil, it does not deserve the endless, glorious thanks of God; for faith and hope lead us to charity, of which there are three kinds.

/>   The light is charity, and this light is beneficially allotted to us by the wisdom of God; for neither is the light so great that we can see our blessed day, nor is it hidden from us, but it is just such a light as we may live in deservingly, with toil meriting the endless glory of God. And this was seen in the sixth showing, where God said, ‘I thank you for your service and your suffering.’72 Thus charity keeps us in faith and in hope; and hope leads us in charity. And at the end, all shall be charity. I understood this light in three ways: the first is charity uncreated; the second is charity created; the third is charity given. Charity uncreated is God; charity created is our soul in God; charity given is virtue; and that is conduct, given by grace, by which we love God for himself, and ourselves in God, and what God loves for the sake of God.

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  God has loved his chosen since before time began, and he never allows them to be so harmed that their bliss might be lessened; and how mysteries now hidden in heaven shall be known, so that we shall bless our Lord because everything is so well ordained.

  And I marvelled greatly at this sight; for in spite of our ignorant way of life and our blindness here, our kind Lord everlastingly watches our behaviour and rejoices. And of all things we can please him best by wisely and truly believing this and rejoicing with him and in him; for as surely as we shall be in God’s bliss everlastingly, praising and thanking him, so, through God’s providence, have we been known and loved in his everlasting purpose since before time began; and in this love without beginning he protects us and never allows us to be so harmed that our bliss would be less. And therefore when the judgement is given, and we are all brought up above, we shall clearly see in God the mysteries which are now hidden from us. Then none of us shall be moved to say in any way, ‘Lord, it would have been very good if it had been like this’, but we shall all affirm silently, ‘Lord, may you be blessed! For it is thus and it is good. And now we truly see that all is done as it was ordained before anything was made.’