No. 79 of 124 · A Name of God · The Long Healing Prayer

The Invoked by all

Before the words even form, this name reminds us that we are already heard.

I call on Thee O Thou Succorer of all, O Thou Invoked by all, O Quickening One! Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One! Bahá'u'lláh, The Long Healing Prayer · read the full prayer

What “The Invoked by all” means

The meaning above is the plain dictionary definition of the word. What follows reflects on it as a name of God, offered for your own contemplation, and not as an authoritative interpretation of the Bahá'í Writings, which rests with ‘Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi alone.

There is something quietly astonishing about this name. To call God 'The Invoked by All' is to say that every genuine reaching, in every language, in every tradition, from every kind of suffering or joy, arrives at the same Source. The name is not exclusive; it is almost wildly inclusive. It points to a quality of God that exists independently of whether the one praying knows the right words or even the right name. The call is already being received.

This also means that when we feel most alone in our need, when illness isolates us, when grief makes us inarticulate, when we cannot quite frame a proper prayer, we are still participating in something universal. Every creature that has ever strained toward relief or wholeness has been reaching toward this same Presence. There is a solidarity in that thought that can itself be steadying.

The name carries within it an implicit acknowledgment of human dependence. To be 'invoked by all' presupposes that all creatures are, in some fundamental way, in need. Need is not a flaw or a failure here; it is woven into the fabric of created existence. What the name celebrates is that the need is never misaddressed. However halting or wordless our turning, it finds its mark.

Calling on The Invoked by all for healing

When illness or distress settles in, one of its cruelest side effects is the feeling of being cut off, from normal life, from other people, sometimes even from a sense of connection with God. Sitting with the name 'The Invoked by All' can quietly dissolve that particular loneliness. You are not appealing to an indifferent universe or hoping to catch a distant God's attention. You are turning to the One that every honest human longing has always, without exception, been turning to. That realization does not remove pain, but it can change the texture of how pain is carried.

Healing, of body, mind, and spirit, is held in God's wisdom, not in our ability to pray correctly or urgently enough. This name invites us to release the anxious need to perform our prayer well. Simply invoking, simply turning, is enough to place us in the company of every soul who has ever done the same. Let the name settle in your awareness as you recite the prayer, and allow the sense of being universally received to do its own gentle work in you. And whenever a medical concern is part of what you bring to God, please also bring it to a qualified physician, these two forms of care are not in competition.

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In the Bahá'í Writings

Questions about The Invoked by all

Does 'The Invoked by All' mean that all prayers, from any religion, go to the same God?

This name does suggest a breadth and universality in how God receives human longing, and the Bahá'í teachings do affirm a fundamental unity underlying the world's religious traditions. However, questions of theological interpretation belong properly to authorized Bahá'í texts and scholarship rather than to a devotional reflection like this one. What we can say is that, within the context of this prayer, the name points to a God whose receptivity is without limit or boundary.

Can reciting this name in the Long Healing Prayer cure my illness?

The Long Healing Prayer is a sacred text for spiritual turning and trust, not a guarantee of physical recovery. Healing in all its forms, physical, emotional, and spiritual, rests in God's wisdom and timing, which are beyond our full understanding. If you are dealing with a medical condition, please consult a qualified healthcare professional; prayer and medical care work together and need not be in conflict.

Why does Bahá'u'lláh use so many names for God in a single passage of this prayer?

Each name illuminates a different facet of a reality that no single word could contain. Stringing several names together in rapid sequence, as this line of the prayer does, creates a kind of cumulative opening, each name widening our sense of who God is and what we may bring to God. It is less like a list and more like a door opening onto a larger and larger space.

I don't always feel like praying. Does this name have anything to say to that?

It might be one of the most gently encouraging names for exactly that situation. 'The Invoked by All' implies that the reaching itself, however faint or reluctant, counts as invocation. Even the inarticulate desire to be connected, to be helped, to be less alone, is a form of calling out. The name suggests the threshold is not as high as we sometimes fear.

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