And after this the Lord showed himself in even greater glory, it seemed to me, than when I saw him before, and from this revelation I learned that our soul will never rest until it comes to him knowing that he is the fullness of joy, of everyday and princely blessedness and the only true life. Our Lord Jesus said repeatedly, 'It is I, it is I; it is I who am highest; it is I you love; it is I who delight you; it is I you serve; it is I you long for; it is I you desire; it is I who am your purpose; it is I who am all; it is I that Holy Church preaches and teaches you; it is I who showed myself to you here.' The number of these utterances went beyond my wit and all my understanding and all my powers, and it is supreme, it seems to me, for there is included within it--I cannot tell how much; but the joy that I perceived as they were revealed surpasses all that the heart may wish and the soul may desire; and therefore the utterances are not fully explained here, but, according to the powers of understanding and loving which are given by the grace of God, may everyone receive them as our Lord intended.
--Julian of Norwich
Beautiful object of meditation.
ReplyDeleteBeen thinking about your post on words in music; lectio divina is the meditation on a word or phrase in scripture. There's a lot of repetition involved there. Notice how many words get repeated here, clearly to some effect, clearly with some purpose.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the purpose of words is not merely to rush pell-mell for the exits, to get to the point and get out as rapidly as possible. Sometimes the point is to linger and consider not must the meaning, but the sound, the tenor, of the words.
At any rate, I enjoyed your posts on the subject.