My wish for you this Christmas is peace: the kind of peace that lets the lion feed beside the lamb, according to the poets. The kind of peace, as Longfellow described, that spreads throughout the land. “In peace, the calf and bear, the wolf and lamb reposed together there … For lo! Beneath your eyes, earth has become a smiling paradise.”

My wish for you in this holy week is joy: the jubilation that resounds in choruses of voices and in trumpet calls; the joy felt, like an electrical current, in the clasping of hands. “Sing the song of great joy that the angels began,” wrote Whittier. “Sing of glory to God and of good-will to man … the dark night is ending and dawn has begun; Rise, hope of the ages, arise like the sun, all speech flow to music, all hearts beat as one.”

My Christmas wish for you is love: the warmth of family embrace, the cheer from friends that is as bright as the glow of a candle. My wish is that you’ll not be lonely … and that your home will resemble Riley’s Christmas long ago: “Ah! The revel and the din from without and from within, the blend of distant sleigh bells with the plinking violin: the muffled shrieks and cries – then the glowing cheeks and eyes – the driving storm of greetings, gusts of kisses and surprise.”

My wish for you this Christmas is hope: the hope that began with a ray of silver light from a star … and with an old story passed down through generations like a family heirloom, more precious than gold. The star of Bethlehem, Bryant said, continues to shed a luster pure and sweet. “O Father, may that Holy Star grow every year more bright, and send its glorious beam afar to fill the world with light.”

My wish for you is faith: the faith and trust like that of a child while being tucked into bed with the promise of guardian angels overhead and a new day to see. Lowell asked this at Christmas: “So shall we learn to understand the simple faith of shepherds then, and, clasping kindly hand in hand, sing ‘peace on earth, goodwill to men.’ And they who do their souls no wrong, but keep at eve the faith of morn, shall daily hear the angel song, ‘today the Prince of Peace is born.'”

My simple, my sincere wish for you during this Christmas season and for the new year of 2004 is the same as that of Dickens’ beloved Tiny Tim way back in 1843:

“God bless us every one!”