Revelations of Divine Love

Revelations of Divine Love

Julian of Norwich
The earliest surviving book written in English by a woman. In May 1373, the anchoress Julian of Norwich received sixteen visions of Christ's love during a severe illness. She spent twenty years meditating on their meaning, producing this luminous theology of divine love — from the famous hazelnut vision ("a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand") to the words that have comforted believers for six centuries: "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Source: ccel.org · Modernized for readability

✦ Table of Contents · 86 Chapters
1 A Revelation of Love--in Sixteen Showings 2 A simple creature unlettered.--Which creature afore desired three gifts of 3 I desired to suffer with Him 4 I saw . . . as it were in the time of His Passion . . . And in the same 5 God, of Your Goodness, give me Yourself;--only in You I have all 6 The Goodness of God is the highest prayer, and it comes down to the lowest 7 The Showing is not other than of faith, nor less nor more 8 In all this I was greatly stirred in charity to my fellow-Christians that 9 If I look singularly to myself, I am right nought 10 God wills to be seen and to be sought: to be abided and to be trusted 11 All thing that is done, it is well done: for our Lord God doeth all." "Sin is 12 The precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as verily as it is most 13 The Enemy is overcome by the blessed Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus 14 The age of every man shall be acknowledged before him in Heaven, and every 15 It is not God's will that we follow the feeling of pains in sorrow and 16 A Part of His Passion 17 How might any pain be more to me than to see Him that is all my life, and all 18 When He was in pain, we were in pain 19 Thus was I learned to choose Jesus for my Heaven, whom I saw only in pain at 20 For every man's sin that shall be saved He suffered, and every man's sorrow 21 We be now with Him in His Pains and His Passion, dying. We shall be with Him 22 The Love that made Him to suffer passes so far all His Pains as Heaven is 23 The Glad Giver 24 Our Lord looked unto His [wounded] Side, and beheld, rejoicing. . . . 25 I wot well that you would see my blessed Mother. . . . 26 It is I, it is I 27 Often I wondered why by the great foreseeing wisdom of God the beginning of 28 Each brotherly compassion that man has on his fellow Christians, with 29 How could all be well, for the great harm that is come by sin to the 30 Two parts of Truth: the part that is open: our Saviour and our 31 The Spiritual Thirst (which was in Him from without beginning) is desire in 32 There be deeds evil done in our sight, and so great harms taken, that it 33 It is God's will that we have great regard to all His deeds that He has 34 All that is speedful for us to learn and to know, full courteously will our 35 I desired to learn assuredly as to a certain creature that I loved. . . . It 36 My sin shall not hinder His Goodness working. . . . A deed shall be done--as 37 In every soul that shall be saved is a Godly Will that never assented to sin, 38 In Heaven "the token of sin is turned to worship."-- 39 Sin is the sharpest scourge. . . . By contrition we are made clean, by 40 True love teaches us that we should hate sin only for love." "To me was 41 I am the Ground of your beseeching. 42 Prayer is a right understanding of that fulness of joy that is to come, with 43 Prayer uniteth the soul to God 44 God is endless, sovereign Truth,--Wisdom,--Love, not-made; and man's Soul is 45 All heavenly things and all earthly things that belong to Heaven are 46 It is needful to see and to know that we are sinners: wherefore we deserve 47 We fail oftentimes of the sight of Him, and anon we fall into our self, and 48 I beheld the property of Mercy, and I beheld the property of Grace: which 49 Where our Lord appeareth, peace is taken, and wrath has. no place. 50 The blame of our sin continually hangeth upon us." "In the sight of God the 51 He is the Head, and we be His members." "Therefore our Father nor may nor 52 We have now matter of mourning: for our sin is cause of Christ's pains; and 53 In every soul that shall be saved is a Godly Will that never assented to sin, 54 Faith is nought else but a right understanding, with true belief and sure 55 Christ is our Way"--"Mankind shall be restored from double death 56 God is nearer to us than our own soul 57 In Christ our two natures are united 58 All our life is in three: Nature, Mercy, Grace.' The high Might of the 59 Jesus Christ that doeth Good against evil is our Very Mother: we have our 60 The Kind, loving, Mother 61 By the assay of this falling we shall have an high marvellous knowing of Love 62 God is Very Father and Very Mother of Nature: and all natures that He has 63 As verily as sin is unclean, so verily is it unkind"--a disease or monstrous 64 You shall come up above 65 The Charity of God makes in us such a unity that, when it is truly seen, no 66 All was closed, and I saw no more." "For the folly of feeling a little bodily 67 The place that Jesus takes in our soul He shall never remove from, without 68 He said not: 69 I was delivered from the Enemy by the virtue of Christ's Passion 70 Above the Faith is no goodness kept in this life, as to my sight, and beneath 71 Three manners of looking seen in our Lord's Countenance 72 As long as we be meddling with any part of sin we shall never see clearly the 73 Two manners of sickness that we have: impatience, or sloth;--despair, or 74 There is no dread that fully pleases God in us but reverent dread 75 We shall see verily the cause of all things that He has done; and evermore 76 The soul that beholds the fair nature of our Lord Jesus, it hateth no hell 77 Accuse not yourself overmuch, deeming that your tribulation and your woe is all 78 Though we be highly lifted up into contemplation by the special gift of our 79 I was taught that I should see mine own sin, and not other men's sin except 80 Himself is nearest and meekest, highest and lowest, and doeth all." Love 81 God sees all our living a penance: for nature-longing of our love is to Him 82 In falling and in rising we are ever preciously kept in one Love 83 Life, Love, and Light 84 Charity 85 Lord, blessed mayest You be, for it is thus: it is well 86 Love was our Lord's Meaning