Thank you letter from Areeta

Beloved Christ Church Cathedral, 

Chris, Kiran and I would like to thank you all for a beautiful blessing and a lovely baby shower last Sunday! As we prepare for the next season in our lives, we feel enveloped by your well wishes and blessings. 

John O’Donohue, a Catholic priest, poet and philosopher, wrote an essay called ‘To Retrieve the Lost Art of Blessing’ in his book ‘To Bless the Space Between Us’. He wrote: 

"We never see the script of our lives; nor do we know what is coming toward us, or why our life takes on this particular shape or sequence. A blessing is different from a greeting, a hug, a salute, or an affirmation; it opens a different door in human encounter.

Our longing for the eternal kindles our imagination to bless. Regardless of how we configure the eternal, the human heart continues to dream of a state of wholeness, a place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where damage will be made whole, where the clenched question will open in the house of surprise, where the travails of life’s journey will enjoy a homecoming. To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now."

Receiving a blessing feels like being equipped for the adventure that lies ahead. They offer our present condition, our hopes and desires into God’s safekeeping. 

We thank you for the visible and invisible ways you have helped us make our way across this threshold.  We will not be strangers, and we’ll share our news when the time comes! 

In the meantime, 
    May the Lord bless you and keep you. 
    May the Lord’s countenance shine upon you and
    be gracious unto you. 
    May God bless you on the path that lies ahead and grant you peace. 

Your sister in Christ,
Areeta+