"I saw truly that our Lord was never angry, and never will be."

Today in our Contemplative Christianity class, we are studying a truly amazing woman - a mystic named Julian of Norwich. Julian lived in 14th century England, a time of great turmoil. Bubonic Plague - "the Black Death" - was ravaging Europe, killing as much of 60% of the population. Because people had no knowledge of microbiology, they attributed this disease to the "wrath of God." However, Julian knew otherwise. Accordingly, she wrote the following words after receiving a vision from God:

"We are sinners and commit many evil deeds. And despite this, I saw truly that our Lord was never angry, and never will be. Because he is God, he is good, he is truth, he is love, he is peace; and his power, his wisdom, his charity and his unity do not allow him to be angry . . . And between God and our soul there is neither wrath nor forgiveness in his sight. For our soul is so wholly united to God, through his own goodness, that between God and our soul nothing can interpose. Our God cannot in his own judgment forgive, because he cannot be angry - that would be impossible . . . For I saw no kind of wrath in God, neither briefly nor for long. For truly, as I see it, if God could be angry for any time, we should neither have life nor place nor being. For though we may feel in ourselves anger, contention and strife, still we are all mercifully enclosed in God's mildness and in his meekness, in his benignity and in his accessibility. For I saw very truly that all our endless friendship, our place, our life and our being are in God . . . [For] we are God's bliss, because he endlessly delights in us . . . We are his bliss, we are his reward, we are his honor, we are his crown. His thirst and longing for us were in him from without beginning."

Photo: Spring-beauty flowers blooming next to a burned tree; High Park Burn; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 29, 2014