In 1864 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned what is—with the exception of “Paul Revere’s Ride”—his most famous poem: “Christmas Bells.” Edited later, put to music, and renamed “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” the poem would be popularized in the 20th Century by such greats as Bing Crosby, Francis Albert, and the Johnny Cash, “The Man in Black.”
The poem opens with a nostalgic look at the hope-filled sentiments associated with the celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men!
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men!
Longfellow had a gift: these are beautiful words. Kept to these three stanzas, the poem would have undoubtedly been appreciated among his family and friends, but ultimately shelved and forgotten to history. But there was more going on in Longfellow’s world when this was composed.
Written in 1864, “Christmas Bells” was drafted a mere three years after the poet’s wife had tragically died after her clothes caught fire in her family home; leaving Longfellow to raise his six children alone and scarred both physically and emotionally. The poem was also written in the bloodiest year of America’s bloodiest conflict, one that saw his 19-year-old son recovering from life-threatening wounds suffered in battle, as well as being privy to the grief of friends who lost loved ones in the war. Not surprisingly he noted, after having made allusions to the Civil War in earlier stanzas, that
[...] in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on Earth, “ I said:
“For Hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on Earth, goodwill to men!”
Harry Belafonte, singer and civil-rights activist, brought a poignancy to these words as he sang them nearly 100 years later amid an ongoing Cold War and a re-energized civil rights movement that faced violent backlash. Even today the poem and song’s sentiment resonates with many of us today as we are fed a seemingly never-ending menu of news of war, violence, and hatred. It speaks to us as we—or those we love—suffer the effects of illness, heartbreak, and death.
Those concerns, voiced 150 years ago this year as “mocking the song of peace on Earth,” are exactly the concerns to which the evangelist John referred in the prologue of his version of the Gospel when he spoke of the “darkness” of the world which Jesus, the incarnate Logos, the “light” came to defeat (Jn 1:5).
A light which the “darkness” cannot overcome.
A Unitarian with decidedly Christian leanings, Longfellow hears in the Christmas bells reason for hope:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth He sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on Earth, goodwill to men!
Longfellow was, of course, right in his hope: God is not dead, He is Emmanuel, literally “God with us.”
Always.
This is the message of Christmas: that even—and especially—in our darkest moments, He comes to us to bring us peace, even if it is “not a peace as the world gives” (Jn. 14:27), but rather shalom, the “peace which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7): the gift of His salvation.
On the first Christmas morning angels called for peace on earth (Lk.2: 14) to a world anything but peaceful. They spoke to a family too poor to find safe lodging and shepherds who lived on what Pope Francis calls the “periphery” of society. They spoke of a peace that only Christ can give us: a peace of soul, a peace that reminds us that God stands with us in good times and bad. A peace that enables us to see in every baby born the promise made in the Baby in the manger: that God never gives up on us.
As you celebrate this Christmas with your families, my prayer is that you hear in the Christmas bells as you make your way to Mass the prayer (from Numbers 6) my wife prayed over our children every morning as we sent them on their way:
May the Lord bless you and keep you!
May the Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!
[And may] the LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!
Merry Christmas.
A.M.D.G. / B.V.M.H.