Our Father, Our Mother, which art in heaven

Anyone who is turning up the heat under the oil to burn me probably will be dissatisfied with what follows. I am no more a 'gender feminist' than I ever was, and I'm one of the last people on earth who would be looking for controversy. However, when I heard from someone who was irate that the newly elected Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA had referred to Jesus our mother, I thought I'd save my readers time by providing a link to selections from Julian of Norwich's writings on that topic.

Since Julian's book was focussed on, and derived from, visions she had of Jesus in his Passion, and her words related to the Trinity express relationships of a family, there hardly could be more of a treatment of Jesus in his humanity (very common in the Middle Ages, and, I must add, to this day sometimes an excess for Franciscans, which Julian was not.) But Julian was a mystic, and those who are know well that becoming totally immersed in divine love involves being stripped of attachments. One attachment which ultimately must be sacrificed for the mystic is any pre-conceived notion of God.

I must make this clear: the images of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which so enrich our prayer and are extensive in the liturgy are extremely important. Jesus' referring to God as Father (a topic I'll treat in more detail some time, I'm sure), and to our status as adopted children, is one I would never care to see minimised. Those who are in mystic union, nonetheless, are beyond images. They realise how limited is our vision in recognising the transcendent God. Jesus of Nazareth, of course, was a male - and Julian was not at all questioning that.

I am sorry to sound a bit silly today. Yet I did wish to take the opportunity to perhaps introduce some of you to Julian's writings on Jesus our Mother. The intimacy and unity they express are often a balm for my own weary soul.