Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
Prayer that Ones the Soul
To keep praying inwardly through dryness, barrenness, and feeling nothing — trusting that prayer ‘ones the soul to God’ and is heard whether or not it is felt, rather than abandoning it when sweetness is absent.
Pray inwardly even when it feels like nothing — “though thee thinketh it savour thee not.” Dry, flat, “can’t”? Pray anyway: “in dryness and in barrenness. then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me.” Lean on God as the ground of your prayer, not your own fervour, add a quiet “thank You,” and trust the assurance — prayer ones the soul to God, felt or not.
What it is
This is Julian of Norwich’s teaching on faithful prayer through dryness — continuing to pray inwardly even when it brings no feeling, sweetness, or sense of being heard, trusting that it works regardless.
Her foundation is that prayer joins us to God: “Prayer oneth the soul to God.” And its ground is not our worthiness but God’s own will: “I am Ground of thy beseeching: first it is my will that thou have it; and after, I make thee to will it.” From this she gives her great encouragement to the discouraged pray-er: “Pray inwardly, though thee thinketh it savour thee not: for it is profitable, though thou feel not, though thou see nought; yea, though thou think thou canst not.
For in dryness and in barrenness, in sickness and in feebleness, then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me.” The practice, then, is to keep praying when it feels empty — to decouple the value of prayer from the felt reward, leaning on God as its ground rather than on your own experience, and to let thanksgiving accompany it (“And also to prayer belongeth thanking”).
Distinct from the dryness/dark-night and surrender entries. John of the Cross’s Nada / Dark Night reads dryness as a purgative night to be passively endured as God reworks the soul; Keating’s Welcoming Prayer welcomes and lets go of present sensation. Julian’s emphasis is gentler and more reassuring: not “endure the night” or “release the feeling,” but simply keep praying inwardly — it pleases God and ones you to Him even when you feel and see nothing. The accent is on God as the ground of the prayer (so it cannot fail for lack of your fervour) and on continuing in plain trust. It is encouragement for the discouraged, not a map of mystical purgation.
The Method
Julian counsels a disposition; rendered faithfully and lightly:
- Pray inwardly, as you can. Turn the heart toward God in petition or simple presence — however thin it feels. Julian’s word is inwardly: a quiet, interior turning, not a performance.
- Expect that it may not “savour.” Accept in advance that prayer often brings no sweetness — “though thee thinketh it savour thee not.” This is normal, not a sign you’re doing it wrong.
- Keep going through dryness. When you feel nothing, see nothing, even think you can’t — pray anyway. “In dryness and in barrenness. then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me.” The dry prayer is, if anything, especially pleasing.
- Lean on God as the ground, not your fervour. Recall “I am Ground of thy beseeching.” The prayer’s worth rests on God’s will, not your felt devotion — so it cannot be voided by your flatness.
- Let thanking accompany it. Add a simple thanksgiving — “Good Lord, I thank Thee!” — turning toward God’s goodness even amid the dryness.
- Trust it is heard, and ones you to God. Hold the assurance: “Prayer oneth the soul to God.” The uniting is happening whether or not you can feel it. (Sourcing: quoted phrases are verbatim from Revelations, chs. 41 and 43, modernized rendering; the steps arrange Julian’s counsel — she gives encouragement, not a numbered method.)
Source & Lineage
Julian of Norwich (c. 1342 – after 1416), anchoress of Norwich, sets out this teaching in the chapters on prayer in the Long Text of Revelations of Divine Love (chs.
41–43), part of her unfolding of the fourteenth shewing. Living the enclosed, repetitive, often unconsoled life of an anchoress, she writes from inside the experience of dry prayer — and offers it not as a trial to be survived but as something already pleasing to God and uniting the soul to Him.
Common refinements
Quitting when sweetness goes. This is the exact failure Julian writes against. Felt dryness is not a verdict on the prayer; keep going.
- Grim forcing / self-punishment. Perseverance here is gentle trust, not teeth-gritting. The tone is reassurance (“then is thy prayer well-pleasant to me”), not duty under threat.
- Leaning on your own fervour. The ground is God’s will, not your intensity. Trying to manufacture feeling misses the point — pray plainly and trust the ground.
- Dropping thanksgiving. Julian pairs thanking with beseeching; a simple “thank You” keeps the dry prayer turned toward God’s goodness rather than your own emptiness.
- Mistaking depression for ordinary dryness. If the “dryness” is crushing, hopeless, and persistent, it may be more than spiritual aridity — see Safety.