In our father, God almighty, we have our being; in our merciful mother we are remade and restored. Our fragmented lives are knit together and made perfect… And by giving and yielding ourselves, through grace, to the Holy Spirit we are made whole.
— Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
Prayer unites the soul to God. Although the soul is like God in nature, it is often different from Him in condition because of a person’s sin. Prayer then acts as a witness that the soul wills as God wills. It eases the conscience and prepares us for grace.
–Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
When we die we shall come to God knowing ourselves clearly having gone wholly. We shall be enfolded in God for ever, seeing him truly, feeling him fully, hearing him spiritually, smelling him delectably, and tasting him sweetly.
— Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
For here we are so blind and foolish that we never seek God until he, of his goodness, shows himself to us. It is when we do see something of him by his grace that we are stirred by that same grace to seek him, and with earnest longing to see still more of his blessedness. So I saw him and sought him; I had him and wanted him. It seems to me that this is and should be an experience common to us all.
— Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
It is a valuable thing for us to experience the valleys as well as the peaks. God wants us to know that he is with us in both good times and bad. For our spiritual benefit we are sometimes left to ourselves. We may be allowed to suffer misery. Both happiness and sadness are expressions of the same divine love. Of all the pains that lead to salvation, the greatest is to see your love suffer.
— Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
Because of our good Lord’s tender love to all those who shall be saved, he quickly comforts them saying, “The cause of all this pain is sin. But all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” These words were said so kindly and without a hint of blame. So how unjust it would be for me to blame God for allowing my sin when he does not blame me for falling into it.
— Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
