August 29
Companions of the Way (Morning)When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.
THIS is a sovereign friendship of our courteous Lord, that He keepeth us so tenderly while we be in sin; and furthermore He toucheth us full privily and showeth us our sin by the sweet light of mercy and grace. But when we see ourself so foul, then ween we that God were wroth with us for our sin, and then are we stirred of the Holy Ghost by contrition unto prayer and desire for the amending of our life with all our mights, to slacken the wrath of God, unto the time we find a rest in soul and a softness in conscience. Then hope we that God hath forgiven our sins: and it is truth. And then sheweth our courteous Lord Himself to the soul—well-merrily and with glad cheer—with friendly welcoming as if it had been in pain and in prison, saying sweetly thus: My darling, I am glad that thou art come to me: in all thy woe I have ever been with thee; and now seest thou my loving, and we be oned in bliss.
JULIAN, the Anchors
THE FORGIVEN SOUL