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Posted by Kimmy Sophia Brown
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This book is begun by God's gift and his grace, but it is
not yet performed, as I see it....
And from the time that it was revealed, I desired many times
to know in what was our Lord's meaning. And fifteen years after
and more, I was answered in spiritual understanding, and it was
said: "What, do you wish to know your Lord's meaning in
this thing? Know it well, love was his meaning. Who reveals it
to you? Love. What did he reveal to you? Love. Why does he reveal
it to you? For love. Remain in this, and you will know more of
the same. But you will never know different, without end.
So I was taught that love is our Lord's meaning. And I saw
very certainly in this and in everything that before God made
us he loved us, which love has never abated and never will be.
And in this love he has done all his works, and in this love
he has made all things profitable to us, and in this love our
life is everlasting. In our creation we had beginning, but the
love in which he created us was in him from without beginning.
In this love we have our beginning, and all this shall we see
in God without end.
~ Julian of Norwich ~
In 1373, an ordinary 30 year old Englishwoman had a profound and loving vision of God during an illness. She meditated and wrote about her experience for many years to come, and finally became an anchorite at the church of St. Julian of Norwich, which may be why we know her by the name, Julian of Norwich. Her revelations, which she called, "Showings", were a very reassuring account of God's love. The Black Death hit Europe during her lifetime which some believed was evidence of God's judgment. Her relevations were contrary to the prevailing worry about sin and punishment during that era.
This is a photograph of the church where Julian of Norwich was an anchoress. It suffered damage during bombings in World War II but has since been rebuilt.
Dictionary.com defines Anchorite (male)/anchoress (female), (adj. anchoritic;
from Greek: ?ναχωρ?ω anach?re?, signifying "to withdraw",
"to depart into the rural countryside"), denotes someone who, for
religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to
lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic and, circumstances
permitting, Eucharist-focused life. As a result, anchorites
are usually considered to be a type of religious hermit,[1]
although there are distinctions in their historical development and
theology.
Image(s) from Wikimedia Commons
