Ordinary 19

The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Psalm 85; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33

“But all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

The repetitive sound is soothing. Is it not? It offers an assurance of hope. There is a comforting quality about the phrase. “But all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

These are the words of 14th century English theologian and mystic, Julian of Norwich. And yet for all these soothing words of hope, all is not well for us. “There is growing awareness that the world health crisis will continue in waves for who knows how long. Educational institutions and families struggle to prepare for an unknown future. The economic situation is staggering. The church at time seems paralyzed, and the recent murder of Black Americans is forcing a reckoning with racism in our country.”* All is not well.

But all was not well for Julian either when she received her divine revelations. It is uncanny to reflect on  how similar her 14th century experience is to ours in the 21st century.

Julian lived when the Black Plague reached Norwich, England and returned in subsequent outbreaks. “But all will be well…”

Julian experienced the Peasant’s Revolt in England whose causes were rooted in a lack of leadership from London and socioeconomic and political tensions caused by the plague. “…and all will be well…”

During Julian’s life there were already rumblings for needed reform in the Catholic Church with pre-protestant movements on the rise causing divisions in the church. “…and all manner of things will be well.”

How is a person living in such troubled times able to believe that all will be well?

We in the 21st century might learn from what historian and author Barbara Tuchman called, the calamitous 14th century and a storm on a lake in the 1st century.  Consider that there is only one constant in both situations – the quite presence of Jesus Christ.

I am surprised the apostles struggle with the waves and wind on the sea. At least four of the Twelve were Galilean fishermen. They’d been here before. Did they not know the capricious moods of the sea? Why the lack of courage? Why the fear?

Similarly, Julian received her revelations with mixed feelings. Her revelations that “all will be well” were not soothing. It was shocking to her. By her own account the divine words were taken with a heavy heart and “very great fear”.*

But in both situations Jesus was present because he promised to always be with us. And Jesus keeps his promises. Do we perceive Jesus’ presence in the midst of our very similar situation in the 21st century?

For…empires and governments forever rise and fall. The qualities of leadership or the lack thereof vary from person to person. The economy fluctuates due to demand, disease, international relations, internal affairs, the weather. The Christian community has always argued about who Jesus is, the meaning of his life and what it means to follow him. Pandemics have and will continue to occur. And our personal lives, caught up as they are in the movements of history, feel as if taken away on the tide.

And so, throughout our lives we respond like Peter with a mixture of boldness and a touch arrogance, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water,” mingled with fear, “Lord, save me!”

In other words, how can it be that all will be well?*

Notice after Peter and Jesus got into the boat, “the wind died down.” There is only one constant that binds the stories and lives of Julian of Norwich and her generation, a group of Galilean fishermen living under oppression and ourselves living in total disarray. It is Jesus. Jesus who is present with us and beckoning us to trust him because he embraces everything. 

“All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

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*Quoted and/or paraphrased from, Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, ‘All Will Be Well’, AMERICA, The Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture. August 2020.