But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well

But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.


I see this prayer from Julian of Norwich several times a week during our quarantine days. It’s beautiful, poignant, and comforting.
Not buying it? I don’t blame you. 

I wake up every morning thinking I’ve had the worst dreams, but the news reminds me I am very much awake and very much concerned for us all. How exactly to pray a prayer like all things shall be well? That doesn’t sound like Norwich as much as an ostrich with a head buried deep in the sand. 

Does it help to know that these words came to Julian on what she thought was her deathbed at only 30 years of age?  She had lived through several bouts of the black plague and watched her country be ravaged by the peasants’ revolt. Life in the 1300s was far from what we can recognize, even in these difficult days of Covid-19. 

What makes this prayer valuable to me is that Julian felt she was quoting these words not creating or convincing herself of these words. Julian tells us it was Jesus who met her in the realm of mystery and reality and tenderly spoke these words to her. These words were to her, and now to us, a promise from God, a reminder that while there is much that is hard, difficult and unfair in this world, God has a way and will to make all things new, all things well. There is cruelty and darkness unfortunately, inexplicably even, but they can never extinguish the light of the world. 

I pray we hang on to the reality of all things being well while we also acknowledge the present moment that is full of uncertainty. We don’t know what will happen, but we know who we will trust and lean on to get us there. 

I hope you are hanging in, hanging on, clinging to every shred of good news, basking in every ray of goodness, no matter how brief or narrow the sliver is. Hold fast to all that is good. Know that somehow, in some way, all things shall indeed be well. Including you.