Page 6 - CAMPAIGN Spring 2021

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CAMPAIGN Spring 2021
Que sera sera...
Many of our Members – and certainly the Veterans’ generation – will remember the popular song which took its title from the chorus: ‘Que sera sera, Whatever will be will be, The future’s not ours to see, Que sera sera.’
In some ways it’s an attractive idea. During the First World War, troops would say ‘If your name’s on the shell, that’ll be that....’ It was a way of dealing with the horrors of daily experience, and very understandable, but it is a kind of fatalism.
A good many people today are no less fatalistic. But can we live the good life if we think our future is in some way mechanically ordered? Far better is the idea behind the old Spiritual, ‘He’s got the whole world in His hand.’ For those of us with the gift of faith, that is surely another way of saying that all will be well.
I think a lot of our day-to-day living is too geared to fatalism, just sitting back and letting things happen. I am
certainly aware of that temptation inmy own life, but that way nothing much gets done. Choice lies before each one of us. We can choose to believe; we can choose to pray or not; we can choose to look out for others who are suffering (as we may be) or let it flow past us. We can accept things as they are, or we can work constructively for change.
There may be some truth in the saying ‘Que sera sera’: who knows? But in the meantime, there are choices to be made.
The poet Robert Frost put it like this:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I – I took the one less
travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Warmest wishes to all our members and your families, and my special prayers for those who are affected by the pandemic in these anxious days.
If any members would like to be in contact, an email to info@bntva.com will find its way to me.
With all good wishes
Very Rev. Nicholas Frayling KStJ BNTVA Chaplain