All Shall Be Well

The Three Desires of Julian of Norwich

Sometimes I do a bit a research just for the fun of it. This morning, a tweet from Liz Burns sent me on my merry way:

I discovered that this quote is attributed to Julian of Norwich, a 14th-15th century Christian mystic. Her visions while seriously ill led her to write Revelations of Divine Love (ca. 1393), purportedly the first book composed in the English language by a woman. Despite living in a time of turmoil, punctuated by peasant revolts and outbreaks of the Black Death, Julian believed in a merciful and loving deity. She claimed that her famous "All will be well..." was spoken directly to her by God.


The lines were incorporated into T. S. Eliot's Little Gidding (1941-42):

"Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us—a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching."

In more recent times, Julian's words appear in an amazing variety of song lyrics:

Pete Townshend (from The Iron Man: The Musical, 1989)


Anderson Peterson (from The Far Country, 2005)


A more traditional rendition by OHRWURM Folk Orchestra (c. 2012)


And for Easter, from the Oremus Hymnal (1984)
All shall be well! Lift every voice on high;"Death has no more dominion but shall die."

Poetry, song lyrics, even the title of a murder mystery...Julian of Norwich's words live on. Tracking down the source of this quote, and its modern manifestations, was a lovely little task for a Monday morning.

Thanks for the inspiration, Liz!

"ALL SHALL BE WELL" By Leo Reynolds

And wild and sweet the words repeat...

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Their old familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat. Of peace on earth goodwill to men." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Yesterday I heard "Oh Holy Night" on the radio and was immediately transported back to a Sunday afternoon in late December, over 45 years ago.

Every adult parishioner, each student from the school (grades K -8), all members of the elementary and high school choirs, gathered for a program of traditional and sacred music.

Jimmy Maguire sang a solo in his soaring Irish tenor; the senior choir contributed a cappella Latin hymns; the entire congregation thundered forth "Joy to the World".

We walked home in the deepening evening to sip hot chocolate and dream beside the Christmas tree.

My beliefs have matured, possibly; changed, certainly. The music has stayed with me as a continuing comfort and delight.


"Adeste fideles, laetit triumphants, venite, venite in Bethlehem!" -Adeste Fideles (Oh Come, All Ye Faithful)

"You are the music while the music lasts." -T. S. Eliot