Daily Reading for November 24
Julian lived in a time of great upheaval. The Black Death swept through Europe several times, killing millions and almost certainly touching Julian’s family and neighbors. The Catholic Church was in schism, and the theology of the day was that God was angry with a world of sinners and inflicted these ills as punishment. Yet Julian’s most famous saying and prayer was that “all manner of things would be well.” . . . For Julian, God was in everything, even the bad things, working to bring about the best end. “God is more nearer to us than our own soul,” she wrote. She planted herself not in the darkness, but in the light. For that reason, I find praying her words on prayer beads to be a rallying cry in the darkest of times, a way to trust God to bring peace and love, hope and redemption.
On the Cross
I am that which is highest,
I am that which is lowest,
I am that which is All.
On the Invitatory Bead
The Lord’s Prayer
On the Cruciform Beads
God of your goodness, give me yourself
For you are enough for me.
I cannot properly ask anything less to be worthy of you.
If I were to ask less, I should always be in want
For only in you have I all.
On the Weeks Beads (on Every Bead)
All shall be well and all shall be well,
And all manner of thing shall be well.
From “Praying the Anglican Rosary with the Saints” in Bead One, Pray Two: A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads by Kimberly Winston. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com