Revelations of Divine Love

“[F]or our natural wish is to have God, and God's good wish is to have us. And we can never stop wishing or longing until we fully and joyfully possess him.” 

Julian frequently speaks of our longing for God as the true object of our desires, and God's corresponding longing for us. However, we know him in this life only through intermediate signs; it is only in heaven that we shall enjoy a direct vision of him—“possess” him completely. 

“And what comforted me most in the vision was that our God and Lord, who is so holy and awe-inspiring, is also so familiar and courteous.” 

In a number of passages, Julian calls God “familiar” (the Middle English word she uses is homely) and “courteous.” This reflects the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation—the idea that God entered into close communion with human beings by becoming man in Jesus Christ. Julian contrasts this intimacy and friendliness with the idea of God's transcendence (“holy and awe-inspiring”). 

“[F]or the faith of Holy Church which I had understood beforehand, and, I hope, by the grace of God, gladly followed and kept in my daily life, was continually before me, and I never wished or intended to receive anything which might be at variance with it.” 

Julian stresses repeatedly that her showings are consistent with the official teaching of the Church. This is to discourage any temptation to take her private revelations as new doctrine or to associate her with heretical movements in an era in which such groups (e.g., the Lollards) were active. In contrast with such movements, Julian proclaims herself an obedient daughter of Mother Church. 

“All this was shown in three ways: that is to say, by bodily sight, and by words formed in my understanding, and by spiritual sight.” 

Julian explains the three ways in which the showings were given to her. They consisted of visions that were literally seen with the eyes, words that were apprehended directly by her mind (without literally being spoken), and a kind of inner vision in which images were apprehended by the mind. 

“For God wants us to believe that we can see him constantly, even though we think we see very little of him, and if we believe this he makes us grow in grace continually; for he wants to be seen and he wants to be sought; he wants to be waited for and he wants to be trusted.” 

Julian speaks of God's constant presence in our souls, loving and protecting us and making us grow in grace even though we are not aware of it. This insight comes as a result of Julian wanting to have better sight in order to see the vision of the Passion. She receives the response that if God wants to show her more, he himself will be her light. This leads Julian to understand that God reveals himself slowly—gradually and in subtle ways. 

“‘See that I am God. See that I am in everything. See that I do everything. See that I have never stopped ordering my works, nor ever shall, eternally. See that I lead everything on to the conclusion I ordained for it before time began, by the same power, wisdom and love with which I made it. How can anything be amiss?’” 

The belief in God's Providence is central for Julian. She stresses that there is “no doer but God,” that God arranges all things exactly as they must be and makes everything “in the perfection of excellence.” (Page 59). This means that nothing that happens in our life is due to chance, and that we should not have anxiety over what happens to us but should rejoice in God's wise purpose: “Everything which is done is well done” (58). 

“But it seems to me that there can be no anger in God, for our good Lord is always thinking of his own glory and the good of all who shall be saved.” 

Julian believes firmly that God is incapable of anger because of his intense concentration on saving human beings. Instead, Julian sees God scorn the wickedness of the devil, which causes Julian to laugh heartily. 

“Hell is another pain, for there is despair. But of all the pains which lead to salvation, this is the greatest pain: to see your love suffer.” 

The vision of Christ's pain in turn fills Julian with pain, to the extent that she forgets herself and her own pains and is filled with love for Christ.  

“Thus was I taught to choose Jesus as my heaven, though at that time I saw him only in pain. I was satisfied by no heaven but Jesus, who will be my bliss when I go there.” 

Julian understands that Jesus alone is the proper object of our desires, our “heaven,” whom we must continually fix our gaze upon throughout the suffering of this life until finally we meet him in heaven.

“‘If you are pleased, I am pleased. It is a joy, a delight and an endless happiness to me that I ever endured suffering for you, and if I could suffer more, I would suffer more.’” 

Throughout the book, Julian stresses Jesus’s “courteousness” and his pleasure in suffering for our sake. Julian emphasizes God's intense love and longing for human beings, such that he was willing to endure extreme suffering for us. Thus, the intensity of the Passion gives way to joy and delight. 

“But I did not see sin; for I believe it has no sort of substance nor portion of being, nor could it be recognized were it not for the suffering which it causes.” 

Julian, like St. Augustine, considers sin to have no reality in itself but to be a negation or privation—not a positive thing. The suffering which sin causes is transient and purifying for us, and throughout we are supported by God's love. 

“‘It is true that sin is the cause of all this suffering, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.’” 

Probably the most famous quotation from Revelations of Divine Love, this conveys the firm conviction in God's Providence in the midst of sin and suffering. Julian sees God as the prime mover who orders all things to their proper ultimate end. The quote occurs in the thirteenth revelation and is a reply from Jesus to Julian's doubt about why God allowed sin to exist. Different forms of the quote recur throughout the book. 

“‘I shall shatter you for your vain passions and your vicious pride; and after that I shall gather you together and make you humble and meek, pure and holy, by uniting you with me.’” 

Julian sees suffering as having a morally purifying value for man. God allows his elect to suffer in order to protect them from the “pomp and vainglory” of this world and to prepare their path for heaven. It is for the sake of moral perfection. 

“‘Since I have turned the greatest possible harm into good, it is my will that you should know from this that I shall turn all lesser evil into good.’” 

Julian finds herself doubting that “all will be well,” given the gravity and pervasiveness of sin. The Lord reassures her that he can turn every evil into good. Adam's sin was the greatest harm every done, but Christ's atonement surpasses it in goodness and is more pleasing to God than Adam's sin was harmful. 

“And as on the one hand we are punished here with sorrow and suffering, on the other we shall be rewarded in heaven by the generous love of our Lord God almighty who does not want the toils and troubles of any that come there to be wasted in the least degree.” 

Julian emphasizes that all the evil and suffering we undergo in this life will be generously compensated by God in heaven. The joyousness of the reward will completely cancel out the sorrow we experienced. 

“[F]or our generous Lord does not want his servants to despair because they fall into sin often or grievously; our falling does not prevent him from loving us.” 

Julian stresses that God continues to love us despite our sinning. Although sin is a grievous wrong against God, because of his compassionate nature he does not blame us for it, but rather brings us salvation. 

“God is God, and our essential being is a creation within God.” 

In Julian's conviction, God is so closely united in love to the human soul which he created that the two are one in being; yet each retains its distinctness. It is through God's being that we have our being, and he dwells in our souls and our souls in him. 

“And in spite of all our feelings, weal and woe, God wants us to understand and believe that we are more truly in heaven than on earth.” 

The reason we can believe this is that God—the Holy Trinity—continually molds and protects our soul by means of his grace, which starts working in us from the beginning of our lives, with the assistance of our senses and our reason. Thus, we have the love of God always within us and therefore a foretaste of heavenly bliss.

“So nature and grace are in harmony, for grace is God as nature is God. He is double in his way of working and single in love, and neither of them works without the other, nor can they be separated.” 

The idea that nature and grace (or reason and faith) work together in man's spiritual life is common in medieval thought. Julian insists that nature is “all good and fair of itself” but was corrupted through sin, and that grace exists to purify nature and bring it back to God. God works through both nature (the created world) and grace (his spiritual working within man's soul).

“It is more blessed for man to be taken from suffering than for suffering to be taken from man; for if pain is taken from us it may return.” 

Julian makes a distinction between having pain taken away from us while on earth and being taken away from pain definitively at our death. The latter is more “blessed” because it signifies the transcendence of pain and suffering that comes from the grace of God through Christ's Passion, which definitively overcomes pain and death. 

“The soul that wants to be at peace must flee from thoughts of other people's sins as though from the pains of hell, begging God for a remedy and for help against it; for the consideration of other people's sins makes a sort of thick mist before the eyes of the soul, and during such times we cannot see the beauty of God unless we regard the sins with sorrow for those who commit them, with compassion and with a holy wish for God to help them; for if we do not do this the consideration of sins harms and distresses and hinders the soul.” 

Julian insists more than once that we should avoid dwelling on the sins of our neighbors—except to have compassion on them, help them, and ask God to forgive them—because thinking excessively about other people's sins leads to pride and obscures the beauty of God in our eyes. 

“This place is a prison and this life a penance, and he wants us to find joy in the remedy.” 

This quote comes during a discussion of the meaning of suffering. The Lord tells Julian that this life is to be regarded as a penance, and that we will have suffering no matter what we do. Therefore, we must bear it patiently, keeping in mind our heavenly reward. The “remedy” is the Lord's presence with us, bearing our suffering with us and leading us on to the fullness of joy in heaven.

“But be careful not to take this friendliness too casually, so that we neglect courtesy; for our Lord himself is supreme friendliness, and he is as courteous as he is friendly; for he is truly courteous.” 

Julian repeatedly describes the Lord as both “friendly” (homely in Middle English) and “courteous.” In the mystery of the Incarnation, God comes into intimate terms with human beings, becomes their friend and brother in Jesus Christ. However, we must not take advantage of God's friendliness. We must remember that he is also courteous—i.e., having a quality of lordly politeness and respect.