God is everything which is good, as I see it, and the goodness which everything has is God. God’s goodness fills all creatures and all blessed works full and endlessly overflows in them.
Julian of Norwich 14th century mystic
This 14th century mystic, has been called the first woman of English letters and is one of the first women to write in English. She developed a theology not of despair and of self-pity, or pessimism, or of saying God is punishing us for our sins. No, she developed a creation spirituality that is built around goodness. I just love this teaching and especially for our time because Julian was living through the Black Death as we’re living through Coronavirus and climate change. I think she has a tremendous amount to say to our times, keep the goodness in our hearts, keep the goodness in our minds. I think Julian is a courageous genius, leading us that way as she draws on the wisdom of Thomas Aquinas, Meister Eckert, and Francis of Assisi who came before her. Julian is reminding us that we can move from being dangerous to being friendly with the rest of creation.
Father Matthew Fox, Ph.D. Theologian and
author of many books including
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
