Julian of Norwich

Following on from last week I was thinking about that verse in the bible which Jesus speaks,

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

I am a big fan of Lady Julian of Norwich, a 14th century mystic who was the first women author in the English language. During a grave illness (Norwich, at that time a city of around 25,000 was in the grip of the Black Death) she received amazingly detailed revelations or “showings” from God, which she then devoted the rest of her life to writing down. She shared their wisdom with all who visited her tiny cell attached to St Julian’s Church in Norwich – the church gave this anonymous lady her name.

What I wanted to say was that throughout her showings a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ emerges which echoes the verse above – gentleness, humble hearted and a place of rest for our souls. God is never in a hurry to make changes in our lives or fix us as we so often try to do with ourselves or others. God is infinitely gracious and patient with us and tends us with loving care. God takes us from where we are to the place where we were made to be, step by step, moment by moment with our total co-operation.

When I was a child, I thought childish things about faith – that God was someone who wanted me to be better, do better, always improve and stop doing the bad things, a bit of a killjoy to be frank and was not satisfied with me as I was. But now I am a women I have learnt that in fact, unlike the world, God loves me just as I am. Nothing I do will make God love me more. Nothing I fail to do will make God love me less. Where I am right now is where God is content to be with me – loitering – as the poet Ross Gay says. (There is some profanity at the beginning of this prose reading.)

https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/loitering-by-ross-gay

God is not pushing me forward or pulling me back but with the greatest wisdom and grace – showing me the Way and walking beside me at the pace at which I am willing to go. Please let that sink deeply into you being and slow down if you need to – spend your time at rest with the Creator who knows you intimately and would like nothing more than for you to sit and loiter and be in His presence.

If you would like to know more about the simple yet deep wisdom which Lady Julian shared, Richard Rohr at The Centre for Action and Contemplation, has recently had a week of posts on this wonderful lady…
https://cac.org/a-mystic-for-our-times-2020-05-10/?utm_source=cm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dm&utm_content=summary