43 pages • 1 hour read
Julian of NorwichRevelations of Divine Love
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1393A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 41-63Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 41 Summary
The fourteenth showing concerns prayer. We often feel doubt about whether God is hearing our prayers, but God wants us to persevere in prayer despite these doubts. God tells Julian that he is the foundation of our prayers, inspiring in us the will to pray in the first place and instilling our desires: “Everything that we pray for is what he himself has ordained for us since before time began” (99). It is therefore certain that we will obtain mercy and grace when we pray for them. God hears our prayers with “gratitude”(100) and delight, storing them up in heaven like a treasurer. An essential component of prayer is thanksgiving, “a new inward awareness, accompanied by great reverence and loving fear” (100).
Chapter 42 Summary
The discussion of prayer continues. Julian outlines three essential things that, according to God's will, must belong to our prayers: to know that God is the foundation from which our prayers arise; to pray in such a manner that our will is transformed into God's will; and to know God as the fruit and end of our prayers, being united to him in every way.
Our prayers must be accompanied by trust in God, otherwise they do not honor God and harm ourselves.
