In one of her visions, she witnesses the architecture of her inner soul as an enormous kingdom, an "endless castle" in which God is eternally enthroned:
I saw my soul as large
as if it were an endless castle
and as if it were a blessed kingdom;
and by the circumstances I saw in it
I understood that it is an honorable City.
In the midst of that City sits our Lord Jesus Christ,
true God and true man,
a handsome person,
and of tall stature,
a most exalted Bishop,
a most solemn King,
a most honorable Lord. (180)
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And thus I understood truly that our soul can never have rest in things that are beneath itself. And when it comes above all created things into the self, still it cannot remain in the contemplation of the self, but all its contemplation is blissfully fixed on God, who is the Creator dwelling in the self (for in man's soul is His true dwelling). (181)
She testifies to the blinding, distancing effects of sin which thereby estranges us from the Godhead.
I saw two persons in bodily form, that is to say, a lord and a servant; and with this God gave me spiritual understanding.
The lord sits solemnly in repose and in peace; the servant stands near, before his lord reverently, ready to do his lord's will. The lord looks upon his servant most lovingly and sweetly, and humbly he sends him to a certain place to do his will.
The servant not only goes, but he suddenly leaps up and runs in great haste because of his love to do his lord's will. And immediately he falls into a deep pit and receives very great injury. Then he groans and moans and wails and writhes, but he cannot rise up nor help himself in any way.
In all this, the greatest misfortune that I saw him in was the lack of reassurance, for he could not turn his face to look back upon his loving lord (who was very near to him and in whom there is complete comfort), but like a man who was feeble and witless for the moment, he was intent on his suffering, and waited in woe. (120)
When we turn our backs on God or stumble into the abyss of sin, God is always immediately nearby, waiting with a loving hand and a loving heart.
Amidst the many showings that the Lord granted to Blessed Julian of Norwich, she often wondered at the Lord's meaning. Fifteen years later, she eventually was granted spiritual understanding that God's meaning is always, essentially, and wonderfully Love.
Wouldst thou know thy Lord's meaning in this thing?
Be well aware:
love was His meaning.
Who showed it thee? Love.
What showed He thee? Love.
Why did He show it thee? For love.
Keep thyself in that love and thou shalt know and see more of the same,
but thou shalt never see nor know any other thing therein without end. (218)
I love this conclusion. Blessed Julian leaves us with the blessed reassurance of God's endless and eternal, expressive and essential, eloquent and effervescent Love. Deus Caritas Est!
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