From "Revelations of Divine Love" by Lady Julian of Norwich, as she shares some of the things God showed her:
Yea, so far forth I saw, that our Lord joyeth of the tribulations
of His servants, with [pity] and compassion. On each person that
he loveth, to his bliss for to bring them, He layeth something
that is no blame in His sight, whereby they are blamed and
despised in this world, scorned, mocked, and outcasted. And this
He doeth for to hinder the harm that they should take from the
pomp and the vain-glory of this wretched life, and make their way
ready to come to Heaven, and up-raise them in His bliss
everlasting. For He saith: I shall wholly break you of your vain
affections and your vicious pride; and after that I shall together
gather you, and make you mild and meek, clean and holy, by [making
you one with] me. ...
Wherein were two manner of understandings in our Lord's meaning.
The one was the bliss that we are brought to, wherein He willeth
that we rejoice. The other is for comfort in our pain: for He
willeth that we perceive that it shall all be turned to worship
and profit by virtue of His passion, that we perceive that we
suffer not alone but with Him, and see Him to be our Ground, and
that we see His pains and His [dying for us] passeth so far all
that we may suffer, that it may not be fully thought.
The beholding of this will save us from murmuring and despair in
the feeling of our pains. And if we see [the truth that] our sin
deserveth it, yet His love excuseth us, and of His great [mercy]
He doeth away all our blame, and beholdeth us with compassion and
pity as children innocent and unloathful.
This passage was taken from the 99-cent Kindle version of this classic.
