Julian of Norwich on Existing by God's Love

Have you ever been offered comfort in the form of the maxim, “all shall be well”? If so, you’ve encountered the spiritual guidance of Julian of Norwich, Christian mystic, theologian, and English anchoress in the Middle Ages.

Throughout her life, Julian received sixteen visions, or “showings,” as she called them, revealing the unconditional and radical nature of God’s love and mercy. These visions and the insight that followed are recorded in Revelations of Divine Love, the oldest surviving book written in English by a woman. Julian’s message of assurance—that “all shall be well”— was one that spoke powerfully into her own context of plague, mass death, as well as personal illness. It continues to offer hope to those who read it today.

In one of Julian’s visions, she sees the whole of creation, not as a daunting and fearful expanse, but as “a little thing, the size of a hazelnut.” Yet in the face of its smallness and fragility, it is sustained, not by its own strength but by the love of God. Through this vision, Julian gains a deeper understanding of what it may mean to rest in oneness with God, and exist by his love:

[.alt-blockquote]In this vision [the Lord] showed a little thing, the size of a hazel-nut in the palm of my hand, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with my mind’s eye and thought, ‘What can this be?’ And the answer came to me, ‘It is all that is made.’ I wondered how it could last, for it was so small I thought it might suddenly have disappeared. And the answer in my mind was, ‘It lasts and will last for ever because God loves it; and everything exists in the same way by the love of God.’ In this little thing I saw three properties: the first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God cares for it. But what the maker, the carer, and the lover really is to me, I cannot tell; for until I become one substance with him, I can never have complete rest or true happiness; that is to say, until I am so bound to him that there is no created thing between my God and me.[.alt-blockquote]

[.alt-blockquote]We need to know the littleness of all created beings and to set at nothing everything that is made in order to love and possess God who is unmade. This is the reason why we do not feel complete ease in our hearts and souls: we look here for satisfaction in things which are so trivial, where there is no rest to be found, and do not know our God who is almighty, all wise, all good; he is rest itself.[.alt-blockquote]

[.alt-blockquote-attribution]-Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, p. 47[.alt-blockquote-attribution]

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Questions to Consider

• Have you ever felt so united to something—a person, a tree, a song—that you felt “oneness” between you?
• What difference would it make for you to see love not just as an emotion or personal feeling but, as a real power or force in the world?
• What would it feel like to be sustained by love? To actually live off love?
• How would the way you treat others change if you saw them as “exist[ing] in the same way by the love of God”?
• Julian seems to equate “true happiness” with “complete rest.” Are these the same to you?
• Have you experienced a moment of true rest?
• What are the trivial things that you turn to for satisfaction? Do they offer you rest?
• How might knowing God result in true rest?
• Julian considers God in three ways: as maker, carer, and lover. When you consider God, which property speaks most directly to you? Is there one that you desire a deeper connection with?

Context

• Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love‍
• Chapter 8: “The Really Big Picture,” in Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most

Pairs Well With:

• Christian care ethics
• Dorothy Day on "precarity"

Pairs Poorly With:

• Hedonistic utilitarianism
• Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" and its perspective on scale and significance