Being Beloved

Julian of Norwich was a theologian and mystic of the 14th century. She was an anchorite which is a particular kind of monastic. She led a very contemplative life and she saw the world with  different eyes. As I was reading a book called Living in the Spirit I came across the following passage from Julian:

I saw that [our Lord] is to us everything which is good and comforting for our help. He is our clothing, who wraps and enfolds us for love, embraces us and shelters us, surrounds us for his love, which is so tender that he may never desert us. And so in this sight I saw that he is everything which is good, as I understand. And in this he showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand….
In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it. But what did I see in it? It is that God is the creator and protector and the lover. For until I am substantially united to him, I can never have perfect rest or true happiness, until, that is, I am so attached to him that there can be no created thing between my God and me.

As we celebrate the Great Fifty Days of Easter remember that you also share the properties of the hazelnut. God made you. God loves you. God preserves you.

This passage reminds me of Jesus’ baptism in Mark’s gospel. When he comes out of the water, God declares “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” By virtue of following the Risen Christ, by sharing in his death and resurrection, we too share in being beloved. God looks at each one of us and says, “You are my beloved; with you I am well pleased.” God fully enfolds us and promises the abundance of new life to us in Christ. May we walk in the Way of God’s new creation as a resurrection people, remembering that God made us; God loves us; and God sustains us on the journey.