This past week, May 8th was a wonderful convergence of events: our monthly labyrinth walk and the day the Church remembers Julian of Norwich, a medieval English Christian mystic.

In the 14th century, Julian had a near-death experience in which she had a number of visions of Jesus, along with several spiritual insights. She wrote these down in The Revelation of Divine Love.

Julian has been one of my most influential teachers on the Love of God – my hazelnut song and tattoo are tributes to her and, in particular, one of her visions:

 

And in this [Jesus] showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, and I perceived that it was as round as any ball. I looked at it and thought: What can this be? And I was given this general answer: It is everything which is made. I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that I was so little that it could suddenly fall into nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will, because God loves it; and thus everything has being through the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first that God made it, the second is that he loves it, the third is that God preserves it.

 

At the labyrinth walk this week, I invited us to imagine that we were a little hazelnut, and that the labyrinth was the hand of God holding us as we walked. Whether with a labyrinth or not, I wonder if that might be a fruitful image for you to meditate on this week.

Something else that Julian is known for exploring in her writings and meditations is the motherhood of God and the motherhood of Christ Jesus:

And so in our making, God almighty is our loving Father, and God all wisdom is our loving Mother, with the love and the goodness of the Holy Spirit, which is all one God, one Lord.

On this Mother’s Day weekend, as we reflect upon and give thanks for all the mothers in our lives, let us take a page from Julian’s book and imagine how God is like a mother; how mothers might reveal the character and love of God to us.

May our meditations this week and always, lead us ever deeper into the heart of God so that Divine Love may be further revealed to and through us.

Thanks be to God!



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