“And they lived happily thereafter” is a familiar and consoling ending to many a fairy tale—one that stands in stark contrast to our experience of real life. The story of Job appears to conclude with just such a “fairy‑tale ending”: his health restored, his fortunes renewed, and his latter days more blessed than his earlier ones. Yet Scripture gives no indication of how long Job suffered before this relief came, nor any hint that he ever knew when—or even if—his agony would cease. This is one of the most daunting challenges in seasons of intense and extended spiritual or psychological suffering: we do not know if or when the darkness will lift. We want to trust Dame Julian of Norwich that “all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” but in the bleakness through which true growth and spiritual maturation often unfold, such a promise can feel as remote and unrealistic as a child’s fairy tale. Mary, standing at the foot of the Cross before her dying Son, knows something of this struggle. May she intercede for us, obtaining the grace that was hers—to trust, despite everything, that our trials and sufferings will have a blessed end, and that indeed all things, and all manner of things, shall be well.