Revelations of Divine Love

“We need to know the littleness of all created beings and to set at nothing everything that is made in order to love and possess God who is unmade.” 

For Julian, humility is a necessary prerequisite to finding God. This humility includes a perception of ourselves as a part of God's creation, contingent and small in comparison with his magnificence. 

“[F]or our natural wish is to have God, and God's good wish is to have us. And we can never stop wishing or longing until we fully and joyfully possess him.” 

Julian frequently speaks of our longing for God as the true object of our desires, and God's corresponding longing for us. However, we know him in this life only through intermediate signs; it is only in heaven that we shall enjoy a direct vision of him—“possess” him completely. 

“And what comforted me most in the vision was that our God and Lord, who is so holy and awe-inspiring, is also so familiar and courteous.” 

In a number of passages, Julian calls God “familiar” (the Middle English word she uses is homely) and “courteous.” This reflects the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation—the idea that God entered into close communion with human beings by becoming man in Jesus Christ. Julian contrasts this intimacy and friendliness with the idea of God's transcendence (“holy and awe-inspiring”).