I'm very grateful for, but can't possibly respond to all your many holiday greetings and wishes! So please accept the following as my response to all your kind words!
Merry Christmas!
Long
before there was any question about the political correctness of
wishing others a Merry Christmas, my childhood pastor took the occasion every year of telling us why he preferred to wish everyone a Happy
Christmas. He’d point out that we never wish anyone a Merry Easter and would question whether this adjective for Christmas (dating back to
the 17th
century) was the best one for us to use today. The first printed
Christmas card (1843) wished recipients a Merry Christmas but in 1823, at the
end of A Visit From St. Nicholas (‘Twas the night before…"), Clement Moore's Santa wished all a Happy Christmas... e're he drove out of sight.
The
history, then, is mixed. Actually, neither merry nor happy may be strong enough to bear the weight of this day's substance. (In a homily eleven years ago, I suggested wishing folks a Righteous Christmas!)
So what kind of
Christmas do we hope and pray our family and friends will have?
My prayer is that you'll have a Joyful Christmas:
a Christmas rooted in the serenity that deep faith provides - strong
enough to survive the disappointments and sorrows life delivers to our
doorstep and exuberant enough to celebrate life’s happiest times. May
the birthday of Christ touch you with deep joy...
And I pray that you'll have a Peaceful Christmas,
the peace the world is so clearly unable to give itself: the peace that
broken hearts long for; the peace that's ours to share with one another
in forgiveness, kindness and charity; the peace that might end wars and
bind nations together. May the birthday of Christ sow seeds of peace
in your heart...
Finally, I pray that you have a Hopeful Christmas.
So much in the world around us encroaches on our capacity to hope. There's a
spirit abroad intent on draining the beauty and poetry from
our lives. Our ever burgeoning knowledge often robs us of awe and
reverence before the mystery of life, of love and of God. May the
birthday of Christ renew and refresh hope in your heart...
So, I wish you a Joyful, Peaceful, Hopeful - and Righteous- Christmas! And should your Christmas be merry and happy, too – all the better!
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