He showed his wound to make us glad and happy

Yesterday I began reading the Revelations of Saint Julian of Norwich, something I now wish I read years ago. My primary purpose in reading them is to search for possible references to the Veil of Manoppello, the Volto Santo, but in doing so I found a passage that seems quite fitting in light of the Gospel of the day.

 

Her revelations consist of five ways the Lord Jesus showed his Passion to her and largely her reflections on what was shown to her. Concerning her twenty-fourth revelation, she writes:

Then, with a glad expression, our Lord looked into His wounded side and gazed with joy, and with His sweet gazing He directed the understanding of His creature through that same wound into His side therein.

 

There He showed a fair, desirable place, and large enough for all mankind that shall be saved to rest in peace and love.

 

And with that He brought to mind His dearworthy blood and precious water which He allowed to pour out for love.

 

And with the sweet sight He showed His blessed Heart cloven in two.

 

And with this sweet rejoicing, He showed to my understanding, in part, the blessed Godhead, strengthening the pure soul to understand (in so far as it can be expressed) that this Heart is to signify the endless love that was without beginning, and is, and shall be always.

 

With this our good Lord said most blissfully, "Lo, how I loved thee" (as if He had said: "My dear one, behold and see the Lord, thy God, who is thy Creator and thine endless Joy; see thine own Brother, thy Savior; my child, behold and see what delight and bliss I have in thy salvation, and for my love, enjoy it now with me").

 

Also for further understanding this blessed word was said: "Lo, how I loved thee. Behold and see that I loved thee so much before I died for thee that I was willing to die for thee; and that now I have died for thee, and suffered willingly what I can. And now is all my bitter pain and all my cruel labor changed to endless joy and bliss for me and for thee. How should it now be that thou wouldst pray for anything pleases me, and I would not most gladly grant it thee? For my pleasure is thy holiness and thine endless joy and bliss with Me.

 

This is the understanding, as simply as I can express it, of this blessed word: "Lo, how I loved thee."

 

This our good Lord showed in order to make us glad and happy.