Words of Light and Hope from Jane McLarty

Words of Hope and Light from Jane McLarty

How fragile our world seems at times!  We see the reality of climate change playing out around us, we see the destruction caused by war in Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan. But we also see constancy and stability, brought home to us recently by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and her faithful service of God and the nation.  This passage from Mother Julian of Norwich reminds us how in all the changes of our world (and of our own lives) we are wrapped in the love of God in Christ; and the world itself also is held together by God’s love:

It was at that time that the Lord gave me a spiritual understanding of the warm friendliness of his love. I saw that he is everything which is good and comfortable.  He is our clothing: out of love for us he wraps us around, fastens the clasp, and enfolds us in his love, so that he will never leave us. I saw that he is everything that is good for us. In this Revelation he showed me something else, a tiny thing, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of the hand and as round as a ball. I looked at it, puzzled, and thought, ‘What is it?’ The answer came: ‘It is everything that is made.’ I wondered how it could survive. It was so small that I expected it to shrivel up and disappear. Then I was answered, ‘It exists now and always because God loves it.’

From Mother Julian’s First Revelation