Fr Peter Helman

“For all that has been, thank you. For all that is to come, yes.” (Dag Hammarskjöld)

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Dear beloved,

Most people say they don’t like change, but more often it’s the case that people don’t like the transition that change brings. It’s difficult. Each of our lives and the intricate mosaic that we become together, find their shape in the balance of change and transition. A favorite theologian of mine once said that our being is always in becoming. And that means we should ready ourselves for both joy and grief, for what is will not always be.

Why do we resist change when it’s inevitable? When was a time that you said to yourself, “I want my old life back.”?

Change fills us with every sort of feeling, some more welcome than others: fear of what we cannot see and fear that we are unable to bear all that is ahead; grief for the unfurling of ways we know the world, ourselves, and others (“What will become of me?”); helplessness as life finally escapes our grasp and control.

There are always seasons that fill with such light. And life continues to grow in ways we never thought.

The promise of the God we have is that we will never be lost. We will never be forsaken. There is nothing to be done about change except to search for God deep within the fray. God is there carrying the fire. Through the wind and all that dark God holds the light. God will brace us for what we think we cannot bear. God looks upon us with eyes of unceasing love.

There is a beloved prayer by Thomas Merton that I so often recall when change besets me. You may already know it.

May God bless and keep you today and always~

Fr. Peter

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.