This season, as we acknowledge the profound shadows that stretch across the world — devastating wars, displacement, hunger, and the fracturing of our human family — we recommit to work in building solidarity and fostering the warmth of hope. It is overwhelming. In these times, the commercial holiday cheer rings hollow against the real grief of our times.
We must draw from a deeper, grounded and faithful revolutionary source. The story of a revolutionary born under an empire: Jesus. Jesus, born in occupied Palestine, to a marginalized teenage mother, into a refugee family and fleeing state violence. This is the story that affirms that the Divine is not neutral, but stands in solidarity with the poor, the displaced and the oppressed. This is the bedrock of liberation theology: God walks with the poor and our faith must be lived in the commitment of liberation from the systems that create poverty, war and despair.
Therefore, our faith is revolutionary optimism, grounded in the conviction that we are called to be co-creators with a God of many names, filled with love and compassion. We are called to build, right now, amidst the ruins, the kernels of a just world — a world where there is no hunger and abundance is collectively shared. This future demands our active and courageous solidarity. Solidarity is not a feeling. It is the material, political and spiritual practice of linking struggles. It is the Palestinian mother and the mother in Sudan, the Cuban and Venezuelan families living under economic blockades imposed by the empire, the homeless families in our cities and the refugees at the border — all understood as part of the same fight for dignity against the same systems of oppression.
This holiday, we ask you to nurture that revolutionary hope and enact sacred solidarity. Let’s recommit to practicing our revolutionary optimism and faith. The light that entered the world in Palestine was a radical light- it was a light that the empire tried to extinguish, but could not. It birthed a movement. That light still shines in every act of resistance, every shared meal, every defended community, every demand for justice. We must fuel that light in the world.
With revolutionary love and steadfast solidarity,
Claudia De la Cruz, Executive Director of IFCO
IMAGE CREDIT: Claudia De La Cruz Photo: IFCO
[ SOURCE: IFCO/PASTORS FOR PEACE ]
