This is our Lord's will... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large.
Julian Of NorwichRead
Glad and merry and sweet is the blessed and lovely demeanour of our Lord towards our souls, for he saw us always living in love-longing, and he wants our souls to be gladly disposed toward him . . . by his grace he lifts up and will draw our outer disposition to our inward, and will make us all at unity with him, and each of us with others in the true, lasting joy which is Jesus.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the loving and joyful nature of God, encouraging a deep, mutual connection with Him and others.
Julian of Norwich expresses the profound love and grace of God towards humanity, portraying a vision of divine harmony where our inner joy and disposition align with God's nature. This relationship not only brings personal joy but also fosters unity among individuals, reflecting the essence of true joy found in Jesus. It suggests that God's grace invites us to embrace a joyful, loving attitude towards Him and towards each other.
In practice
In a sermon about God's love and joy, this quote can illustrate the depth of divine love towards humanity.
This is our Lord's will... that our prayer and our trust be, alike, large.
Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes a third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love.
Peace and love are ever in us, being and working; but we be not alway in peace and in love.
And I saw that truly nothing happens by accident or luck, but everything by God's wise providence. If it seems to be accident or luck from our point of view, our blindness and lack of foreknowledge is the cause; for matters that have been in God's foreseeing wisdom since before time began befall us suddenly, all unawares; and so in our blindness and ignorance we say that this is accident or luck, but to our Lord God it is not so.
Where I say that He abideth sorrowfully and moaning, it meaneth all the true feeling that we have in our self, in contrition and compassion, and all sorrowing and moaning that we are not oned with our Lord. And all such that is speedful, it is Christ in us. And though some of us feel it seldom, it passeth never from Christ till what time He hath brought us out of all our woe. For love suffereth never to be without pity.
Charity keepeth us in Faith and Hope, and Hope leadeth us in Charity. And in the end all shall be Charity.
She let herself love me for three minutes. Can three minutes last forever? I ask myself, but already know the answer. Probably not, I reply. But maybe they last long enough.
For what is love itself, for the one we love best? An enfolding of immeasurable cares which yet are better than any joys outside our love.
The people who are most attractive to me are those who feel most comfortable in their skin - there's a sense of self-acceptance.
He seemed to take to me quite as naturally and unbiddenly as I to him; and when our smoke was over, he pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married.
When you confuse personal love and cosmic heroism you are bound to fail in both spheres. The impossibility of the heroism undermines the love, even if it is real. This double failure is what produces the sense of utter despair that we see in modern man... Love, then, is seen a religious problem
I had traded the fight against love for the fight against loneliness, the fight against life for the fight against death.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.