Julian of Norwich

Falling and rising again

If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.

True thanking is to enjoy God

True thanking is to enjoy God. Gratitude is a true understanding of who we really are. With reverence and awe we turn ourselves around toward the work God leads us to do, enjoying and thanking with our real selves.

No one listens

No one listens, they tell me, and so I listen...
and I tell them what they have just told me,
and I sit in silence listening to them,
letting them grieve.

Be a gardner. Dig a ditch.

Be a gardener.
Dig a ditch,
toil and sweat
and turn the earth upside down
and seek the deepness
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor
and make sweet floods to run
and noble and abundant fruits
to spring.
Take this food and drink
and carry it to God
as your true worship.

Be a gardner, dig a ditch, toil and sweat

Be a gardner.
Dig a ditch,
toil and sweat
and turn the earth upside down
and seek deepness
and water the plants in time.
Continue this labor
and make sweet floods to run
and noble and abundant fruits
to spring.
Take this food and drink
and carry it to God
as your worship.

Prayer fits us for grace

Prayer unites the soul to God, for though the soul may be always like God in nature and in substance restored by grace, it is often unlike God in condition, through separation on our part. Then prayer is a witness that the soul wills as God wills, and it eases the conscience and fits us for grace.

The best prayer

The best prayer is to rest in the goodness of God knowing that that goodness can reach right down to our lowest depths of need.

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