A CHRISTMAS wish... From the 16th century: "There is nothing I can give you which you do not have, but there is much that, while I cannot give it, you can take.

"No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today.

"Take Heaven.

"No peace lies in our future, which is not hidden in this present instant.

"Take peace.

"The gloom of the world is but a shadow behind it, yet within reach is joy.

"There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look.

"Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or hard.

"Remove the covering and you will find beneath a living splendour woven of love, by wisdom, with power.

"Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.

"Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, the angel's hand is there, the gift is there and the wonder of an over-shadowing presence.

"Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They too contain divine gifts.

"And so at this time, I greet you, not quite as the world sends greetings, but with the profound esteem and the prayer that for you now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away."

Merry Christmas!