Today the Church remembers and
honors St. Julian of Norwich, a contemplative, who lived in England during the
late Middle Ages. James Kiefer writes:
The
Lady Julian was born about 1342, and when she was 30 years old, she became
gravely ill and was expected to die. Then, on the seventh day, the medical
crisis passed, and she had a series of 15 visions in which she was led to contemplate
the Passion of Christ. These brought her great peace and joy. She became a
hermit, living in a small hut near the church in Norwich, where she devoted the
rest of her life to prayer and contemplation of the meaning of her visions. The
results of her meditations she wrote in a book called Revelations of Divine Love. During her lifetime, she became known
as a counselor, whose advice combined spiritual insight with common sense, and
many persons came to speak with her. Since her death, many more have found help
in her writings.
The
precise date of her death is uncertain.
Her book
is a tender meditation on God’s eternal and all-embracing love, as expressed to
us in the Passion of Christ. She
describes seeing God holding a tiny thing in his hand, like a small brown nut,
which seemed so fragile and insignificant that she wondered why it did not
crumble before her eyes. She understood that the thing was the entire created
universe, which is as nothing compared to its Creator, and she was told, “God
made it, God loves it, God keeps it.”
She was
concerned that sometimes when we are faced with a difficult moral decision, it
seems that no matter which way we decide, we will have acted from motives that
are less then completely pure, so that neither decision is defensible. She
finally wrote: “It is enough to be sure of the deed. Our courteous Lord will
deign to redeem the motive.”
A
matter that greatly troubled her was the fate of those who through no fault of
their own had never heard the Gospel. She never received a direct answer to her
questions about them, except to be told that whatever God does is done in Love,
and therefore “that all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of
thing shall be well.”
Of our
response to the sins of others, she said: “The soul that would preserve its
peace, when another’s sin is brought to mind, must fly from it as from the
pains of hell, looking to God for help against it. To consider the sins of
other people will produce a thick film over the eyes of our soul, and prevent
us for the time being from seeing the ‘fair beauty of the Lord’-- unless, that
is, we look at them contrite along with the sinner, being sorry with and for
him, and yearning over him for God. Without this it can only harm, disturb, and
hinder the soul who considers them. I gathered all this from the revelation
about compassion...This blessed friend is Jesus; it is his will and plan that
we hang on to him, and hold tight always, in whatever circumstances; for
whether we are filthy or clean is all the same to his love.”
Let us pray: Lord God, who in your compassion granted to
the Julian of Norwich many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love:
Move our hearts, like hers, to seek you above all things, for in giving us
yourself you give us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
ART CLASS WITH LEE RUNION:
Friday, 11 May and Saturday, 12 May—Stepping Stones. There is a $10 charge for supplies. Please call Lee at 409-539-4632 so that he
can make sure that there will be enough supplies. We need about 10 more stones
to finish the garden walk way.
MOTHER’S DAY, 13 MAY 2011-
Please join in celebrating our Mothers.
We will also bless the newly planted trees after the 9:00 a.m.
Eucharist.
PLEASE REMEMEBR EVERYONE ON OUR
PRAYER LIST, including Lee’s mother, Melva’s sister, Rosella Watson (who died
last week) and her family, and all of those who have no one to pray for them.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo
Episcopal ChurchGalveston, Texas 77550
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