Julian of Norwich
A thunderburst of glorious light -
A hazeburst of rainbowhue;
A vision of bloodiedsplendour
and tragicunparalleled grandeur of
Messianicrevealing to a
tiny maid; a plainvisaged
anchoress from Norwich
who lived near the Church;
helped her servant carry wood;
cook; set herbdinners;
clean stoneflags;
who prayed and sewed and cooked and
counselled at an openwindow
and stared - openmouthed - into a blue and white sky
at the visions that surrounded her
and the light that drew her on.
As the grim Stalker pillaged medievalvillages with
death and pits of plaguevictims stared
sightless at the sky
She worked among their souls and angelspirits of light
bringing comfort and love and vision and
salthumour to a world - as always - gone wrong
And she swayed and sang to herself next
to that little open window with shutters,
Free, free as a bird to roam the sky
and pillage for souls, and love and laugh
and rise above anguish and death and
torment and cries and tears
Into a newvisioning of a world
newly born
fresh as an acornleaf
in the innocentwondering Hand
of a Divinitytremulous Creator.
Catherine Nicolette Whittle
QUOTE FROM ST JULIAN OF NORWICH
"And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marvelled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God love it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.
In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third that God keeps it."
- Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
With thanks to youtube
