Revelations of Divine Love

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). 

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.