Hoping for Peace in the New Year

One of my favorite verses in all of poetry was penned by Thomas Hardy during Christmas, 1924 (which is the name of the poem):

"Peace upon earth!" was said. We sing it,
And pay a million priests to bring it.
After two thousand years of Mass
We've got as far as poison gas."

Guess that's still true. We layfolks have a lot of work to do.

Happy, hopeful New Year.