The Motherhood of God

Motherhood of God

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Father Richard Rohr praises the wisdom of the mystic Julian of Norwich (1342–ca. 1416), who experienced the motherhood of God and Jesus.

Translator and dear friend of mine Mirabai Starr offers these words from the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich: “This beautiful word ‘mother’ is so sweet and kind in itself that it cannot be attributed to anyone but God.” [1]

With these words, Julian offers us an amazing and foundational statement. She is not saying that the most beloved attributes of motherhood can analogously be applied to God, although I am sure she would agree they could.

She is saying much more—that the very word mother is so definitive and beautiful in most people’s experience (not everybody’s, I must add) that it evokes, at its best, what we mean by God. This perspective is not what most of the world’s religions have taught or believed up to now—except for the mystics. Among these, Julian of Norwich stands as pivotal.

The concept and human experience of mother is so primal, so big, deep, universal, and wide that to apply it only to our own mothers is far too small a container. It can only be applied to God.

This is revolutionary! Mother is, for Julian, the best descriptor for God Herself! I use this to illustrate the courageous, original, and yet fully orthodox character of Julian’s teaching.

Father Richard considers the archetypal human need for maternal care:

Julian helps me finally understand one major aspect of my own Catholic culture: why in heaven’s name, for centuries, did both the Eastern and Western Churches attribute so many beautiful and beloved places, shrines, hills, cathedrals, and works of religious art in the Middle East and Europe, not usually to Jesus, or even to God, but to some iteration of Mother Mary?

Many people in Julian’s time didn’t have access to scripture—in fact, most couldn’t read at all. They interpreted at the level of archetype and symbol. The “word” or logos was quite good, but a feminine image for God was even better.

The soul needs a Mother Savior and a God Nurturer! God is, in essence, like a good mother—so compassionate that there is no need to compete with a Father God—as we see in Julian’s always balanced teachings. [2]

Mirabai Starr translates one of Julian’s teachings on God as Mother:

Only [God] who is our true Mother and source of all life may rightfully be called by this name. Nature, love, wisdom, and knowledge are all attributes of the Mother, which is God.

Even though our earthly birth is low and humble … [God] is the one responsible for the birth of all babies that are born to their physical mothers.

The kind, loving mother, aware of the needs of her child, protects the child with great tenderness. This is the nature of motherhood…. Whenever a human mother nurtures her child with all that is beautiful and good, it is God-the-Mother who is acting through her. [3]