Pain and Joy Are One Love

Over the past two days we’ve been looking at Julian’s unique take on sin: first how God is able to turn everything bad to our ultimate benefit, and second, how sin is ‘no thing’, leading her assertion that “all will be well and all will be well and every manner of thing will be well” … Continue reading Pain and Joy Are One Love

Sin is Nothing

Yesterday, we saw how Julian came to understand that God turns everything intended for evil to the good of the faithful. This idea turns the idea of sin and its relative importance on its head. And, versed as she was in a medieval monastic spirituality that emphasized the the dangers of sin, this probably came … Continue reading Sin is Nothing

Strength against All Devils: A Reflection on Matthew 4.1-11

The theme of sin and temptation to sin runs all through today’s Sunday readings. There’s the story of the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden from Genesis, Paul’s reflections on the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin, and the Gospel reading features the temptation of Jesus in the desert. As one might expect … Continue reading Strength against All Devils: A Reflection on Matthew 4.1-11

Our Daily Light

One of the things that strikes me so much about Julian of Norwich is how she seems to have avoided the trap of spiritual consumerism that so many of us fall into when we have peak religious experiences, of wanting to repeat the excitement and the highs rather than being grateful for what God has … Continue reading Our Daily Light

Nature and Grace Are of One Accord

Yesterday we saw how, in the midst of her first vision (of the blood streaming from Jesus’ head under the crown of thorns), Julian saw the image of all of creation as a sphere no bigger than a hazelnut, from which she concluded that all things are created by God, loved by God, and sustained … Continue reading Nature and Grace Are of One Accord