An Advent message released last week from Pax Christi and the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence.

As we enter the season of Christ’s coming, God made human for the salvation of each one of us, we are invited into a time of quiet expectation, a space where hope is not passive but carefully nurtured. Advent teaches us that light does not appear all at once; it grows slowly, often gently, through small acts of compassion, courage and solidarity.

In the coming weeks, as we journey towards Christmas, we will share each Sunday a thought, a reflection or a prayer from different parts of the world — especially those still deeply marked by crisis, violence and sorrow, where hope can feel like a distant concept, difficult to cultivate. We begin this Advent season with a reflection by Nicolás Paz, Director of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence:

Today, we are on the First Sunday of Advent. Advent time reveals a God who comes not with force, intimidation or domination, but with deep humanity and vulnerability — a child born in poverty, peace and infinite tenderness. He is the God in a manger.

Advent is a time of preparation for this highest miracle, the incarnation of God, which is precisely God’s great nonviolent act: entering the world not to overpower but to transform from within, through love.

The reading from Isaiah is precisely a call to embrace this moment that is upon us: Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:3). But this is not a passive call, it implies action, a journey, a process, an organization of the hope that is to come. Advent is not passive waiting; it is an attitude of readiness; it is putting into practice the theological virtue of hope.

Are we ready? Are we organizing and preparing for the hope to come? He may instruct us in His ways, and we may walk in His paths (Isaiah 2:3). That is the call, the call to actively walk the path to His house following God´s own ways. And what are those ways? They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again (Isaiah 2:4).

I read and reread these words over and over again. In a world today surrounded by war and violence, this is a disruptive and clear call to renounce the training of war and embrace the training of Gospel nonviolence. These are God’s instructions, this is God´s path: the Peace of Christ.

Today I ask God to let these words guide my spirit and encourage everyone around me to let them also guide them in this new beginning, in this preparation for the coming of the Son of Man.

This is a time that invites us to wake up to follow His path: Brothers and sisters: You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:11-14).

Today I can see precisely that armor of light in the many people in different parts of the world who embrace nonviolence training and try to bring Gospel nonviolence to every corner of Creation, protecting immigrants, saving lives, confronting injustice, structural violence, extractivism and war.

Today my heart is in the streets of every city and every town, in every home, school and family where a group of women and men are preparing and organizing to resist injustice not raising the sword against another but building peace with the attitude of one who is so convinced of God’s love and power that he or she is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone (Pope Francis, World Day of Peace 2017).

On this First Sunday of Advent, as we light the first candle, I encourage all of us to prepare our hearts, bodies and souls to the peace He proclaims, an unarmed and disarming peace (Pope Leo XIV), because we know that the Son of Man will come (Mathew 24:44). Peace be with you!