Nature and Grace are in harmony with each other… God is two in manner of working and one in love.

Nature and Grace are in harmony with each other… God is two in manner of working and one in love.

Julian of Norwich

One in Love

Topic: Love, Compassion, & Kindness

Nature and Grace are in harmony with each other. For Grace is God as Nature is God… God is two in manner of working and one in love. Neither Nature nor Grace works without the other. They may never be separated.

Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich (c. 1343–after 1416) was an English anchoress and mystic of the Middle Ages. She is renowned for her book Revelations of Divine Love, which is considered one of the earliest surviving works of English literature written by a woman.

Julian lived in the city of Norwich during a tumultuous period marked by the Black Death and the Peasants' Revolt. In the midst of these upheavals, she experienced a series of profound visions of the Passion of Christ in 1373, when she was around 30 years old. These visions transformed her understanding of God's love, leading her to believe that all people are loved unconditionally by God, even in their sinfulness.

Julian's Revelations of Divine Love is a beautiful and moving meditation on the love of God, exploring themes such as the compassion of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of salvation. She also delves into the mystery of suffering and the role of pain in spiritual growth. Although her writings were not published during her lifetime, they were carefully preserved by her followers and later rediscovered and translated into English in the 19th century. Today, Julian of Norwich is recognized as one of the most important Christian mystics and theologians, renowned for her profound insights into the nature of God's love and her emphasis on the harmony between faith, nature, and grace.

(c. 1343-1416) Christianity
Revelations of Divine Love

Julian of Norwich. Meditations with Julian of Norwich. Edited by Brendan Doyle, Bear & Company, 1983, pp. 89, 107–09. Passage from chap. 63 of Revelations of Divine Love.

Julian of Norwich

Theme: Love

About This Julian of Norwich Quote [Commentary]

Julian of Norwich begins with unity: “Nature and Grace are in harmony with each other.” Nature is “good and fair in itself,” while grace is given “to save Nature” and restore it. They are not opposing realms, one earthly and the other spiritual. “For Grace is God as Nature is God”: both belong to God’s work and reveal divine care for creation. Grace does not reject nature but heals it and brings it toward the fullness for which it was made.

Julian of Norwich then writes that “God is two in manner of working and one in love.” Nature bears its created goodness, while grace repairs what sin has wounded. Yet they remain inseparable: “Neither Nature nor Grace works without the other. They may never be separated.” Love is the unity within God’s creating and restoring work. What God brings into being, God continues to sustain, heal, and draw toward wholeness.

Julian of Norwich invites us to receive nature and grace together. To “accord us to Nature and Grace” is to honor what is “good and fair” while accepting the mercy that restores what has been harmed. We need not reject embodied human life in order to seek God, nor imagine that human nature reaches fulfillment without grace. Julian of Norwich calls us to cherish created goodness, resist what deforms it, and allow grace to renew life.

Matthew Fox Commentary

Julian sees nature and grace as being in harmony with each other and united in God’s love. This means that we can experience God’s love in both the natural world and the spiritual realm.

Matthew Fox, a contemporary theologian and mystic, writes, “Julian expands her teaching this way: God is two in manner of working and one in love. Neither Nature nor Grace works without the other. They may never be separated.” [Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, pp. 81-87, 208-219, 257-264.] This quote further emphasizes the unity of nature and grace in God’s love. It tells us that nature and grace are always working together to express God’s love in the world.

Also, Julian often makes the point that faith means trust. For example she writes: “Faith is nothing else but a right understanding of our being—trusting and allowing things to be; a right understanding that we are in God and God whom we do not see is in us.”

One in Love

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