“I saw that God is to us everything which is good and comforting for our help. God is our clothing, who wraps and enfolds us for love, embraces us and shelters us, surrounds us for love, which is so tender that God may never desert us. And so in this sight I saw that God is everything which is good, as I understand.

And in this God showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand It seemed to me as round as a ball. I gazed at it and thought, ‘What can this be?’ The answer came thus, ‘It is everything that is made.’ I marveled how this could be, for it was so small it seemed it might fall suddenly into nothingness. Then I heard the answer, ‘It lasts, and ever shall last, because God loves it. All things have their being in this way by the grace of God.’

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 God, I can never have perfect rest or true happiness, until, that is, I am so attached to God that there can be no created thing between my God and me.” - Julian of Norwich

The Mystics retreat ends three weeks before Ash Wednesday. For those who want to journey through Lent with Julian of Norwich, click the button below for stations of the cross. Writings from Julian’s Revelations on Divine Love are paired with the traditional scriptures for the stations of the cross. Copyright by Stefan Reynolds.

Julian of Norwich was one of the great English mystics of the Middle Ages. Born in 1342 in Norfolk, England. Little is known about Julian, even her real name or about her early life. At the age of thirty-one, Julian contracted the Black Death. A priest was called to administer last rites. When the priest held the cross up to Julian, the cross began to glow and she experienced sixteen visions, or showings, of the Passion of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The showings are chronicled in Revelations on Divine Love, the first book written in English by a woman. After this near death experience, Julian withdrew to live as an anchoress in a cell attached to the church, St. Julian of Norwich. Julian’s visions reveal the feminine aspects of the Divine. “Our Lady is our mother in whom we are all enclosed and we are born from her in Christ; for she who is mother of our Saviour is mother of all who will be saved in our Saviour . . . And our Saviour is our true mother in whoem we are eternally born and by whom we shall always be enclosed.” Julian died in 1416. She is considered one of the most significant English Christian mystics.

Week Two - you are invited to:

• Listen to the yoga nidra.

• Walk a labyrinth.

• Practice walking meditation. Notice your steps and your breath.

• Journal about your experience.

  • How do you experience God’s divine love?

  • What image of God brings you comfort?

  • How is the Divine Feminine present in your life?

  • Recall a time when you have felt one with God.

    • What is it like in body, mind, and heart when you feel one with God?

    • What limits you from feeling one with God?

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WALKING MEDITATION

“Take my hand.
We will walk.
We will only walk.
We will enjoy our walk
without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Walk peacefully.
Walk happily.
Our walk is a peace walk.
Our walk is a happiness walk.

Then we learn
that there is no peace walk;
that peace is the walk;
that there is no happiness walk;
that happiness is the walk.
We walk for ourselves.
We walk for everyone
always hand in hand.

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Print on Earth your love and happiness.

Earth will be safe
when we feel in us enough safety.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh