“Peace!” the angel announced.  But peace is as much task as gift.  Only if

we become calm as earth, fluid as water, and blazing as fire will we be able

to rise to the task of peacemaking, and the air will stir with the rush

of wings of angels arriving to help us.  This is why I wish you that great

inner stillness which alone allows us to speak, even today, without irony,

of “peace on earth” and, without despair, to work for it.

Bro. David Steindl-Rast, OSB