God chose to incarnate God’s self in the person of Jesus of Nazareth in an occupied territory, controlled by Roman colonizers. The United States of America was built on the unceded lands of the people of the First Nations and our history includes enslavement for capital gain -- the ripples of which we still see today in the fabric of our economic system. May we continue to center voices and perspectives that have been historically dismissed and oppressed. May this practice be one of many that brings us one step closer to the kin-dom of God, so that together, we can more fully proclaim, “Rejoice, the LORD is near!”

In the upcoming Sunday’s reflection from this year’s Advent booklet, Guide Our Feet In the Way of Peace, Sr. Jose Hobday, OSFS (d. 2009), reflects on an experience of racism that she witnessed when a server at a restaurant refused to serve her Seneca-Iroquois mother. Sr. Jose’s voice and message in this reflection urges us to choose the nonviolent path. Her voice continues in the cloud of witnesses (both living and deceased) within the Pax Christi body as we ask God to guide our feet in the way of peace. (Read her reflection in the "Prayer" section below.)

We invite you to Monday’s Advent Prayer Service on Zoom and to integrate other resources for Advent & Christmas, which can be found on our website at this page.

Ed. Note: Because this year the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe falls on the third Sunday of Advent, we offer this reflection which draws from the traditional liturgical readings for the feast day. This was written by Dr. Arturo Chávez originally for our Advent-Christmas 2006 reflection booklet, Awakening the Prophet Within: Reflections for Advent 2006. Dr. Chavez is the President and CEO of the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio and former National Council member of Pax Christi USA.

[This feast day] we celebrate one of the holiest days of the year for Americans throughout North, Central, and South America. The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Mother of the ONE Church in America, is a story of how God acted in a people’s history to bring light in a time of great darkness. The earliest account of the Guadalupe story states that “when it was night,” a great sign appeared in this part of the world: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet” (Revelation 12:1).

This gentle, pregnant woman came with a message of hope, a vision of unity from the God of “What is Near and Together.” Speaking to the powerful through a humble and wise Indian man, she offered all her children the opportunity to build together a Church where the homeless are welcomed, the sorrowful comforted, the sick healed, and the voiceless empowered. The imprint of her lovely brown face on the strands of Juan Diego’s garment still calls to the Church in America to weave together the many races and cultural groups of the continent into a “new creation.”...

>> Watch Why Black Lives Matter: A Catholic Perspective on Racism, a talk given by our Bishop-President Bishop Stowe at his diocesan Catechist Conference in August.

WALK FOR LIBERATION IN DC ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14: The Congregation Action Network (CAN), Faith in Action and our partners in the We Are Home Campaign are organizing a Walk for Liberation on Tuesday, December 14 to make a final push with Senate leadership to include as broad a pathway to citizenship as possible within the Build Back Better Act.

We will leave from the Holiday Inn Washington-Capitol (550 C Street, SW) at 3:30 pm and walk in a procession that will go past the Hart & Senate Buildings, ending outside of the United Methodist Building entrance (100 Maryland Ave). There, we will have a brief program featuring remarks from immigrant leaders and faith leaders. We plan to end by 4:30.