Julian of Norwich: You will not be overcome…

I haven’t actually read any Julian in a few years, but Mr. Wong, thinking about the name of this site, recalls one of her “showings”.

He showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, and I perceived that it was as round as any ball. I looked at it and thought: What can this be? And I was given this general answer: It is everything which is made.

He said, “If I could suffer more, I would suffer more.” He did not say: If it were necessary to suffer more, but: If I could suffer more; for although it might not be necessary, if he could suffer more he would suffer more.

I did not want to look up, for I would rather have remained in that pain until Judgment Day, than have come to heaven any other way than by him. For I knew well that he who had bought me so dearly would unbind me when it was his will. Thus I chose Jesus for my heaven, whom I saw only in pain at the time. No other heaven was pleasing to me than Jesus, who will be my bliss when I am there; and this has always been a comfort to me, that I chose Jesus as my heaven in all times of suffering and of sorrow. And that has taught me that I should always do so, and choose only him to be my heaven in well-being and in woe.

He did not say: You will not be assailed, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted, but he said: You will not be overcome.

I’m pretty sure Julian’s book of “showings” is included in my bookshelf, just beneath the blogroll. It should be a bright yellow book! :-)