Building Nonviolent Bridges: Lenten Reflections

“The visitor heals the sick” – African proverb [1] – Lent is a very special time of the year when we get another opportunity to reflect not only on our lives but also on our relationship with the world around us. Allow me invite you to journey with me this First Sunday of Lent, 2025. Today, we move to the continent of Africa, especially, Central and Eastern Africa where we, Pax Christi International members have been serving communities experiencing different forms of violent conflicts. We do this through prayer, advocacy and training in active nonviolence and peacebuilding.

To create stable, enduring, good, nonviolent dialogue between individuals and people, we must couple or bridge dialogue with active and authentic listening. The nations of our world have not had good relationships with the Indigenous peoples of their lands. Colonisation has affected all parts of the world. In history, we have seen global powers conquer the world and take ownership of lands not their own, stripping First Peoples/Indigenous Peoples of their culture and values. The dialogue with Indigenous peoples and governing bodies has often been one-sided and lacked active listening.

Walking with Hope implies build nonviolent bridges for Socio-Environmental Justice from a personal, communal and transcendent, eco-spiritual approach

Recalling the words of St. Romero, one day before his martyrdom, we remember communities in Latin America and the Caribbean affected by the extractivist economic model, whose rights are constantly violated, and those damages caused to the Mother Earth, the nature.

In our work on Nonviolence, central to everything we do as a global Catholic peace movement, we have built some bridges for Hope in a Latin America that resists predation, with a Spirituality of Active Nonviolence.

The Prodigal Son, Nonviolence, and the Disruptive Answer to Violence

The Fourth Sunday of Lent, also known as Laetare Sunday, is a moment of joy and hope amid the Lenten season. One of the central Gospel readings for this day is the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), a story that speaks to the transformative power of mercy, forgiveness, and love. It is also a powerful lens through which we can reflect on nonviolence as a bridge of personal, communitarian and international transformation. Nonviolent action disrupts cycles of violence, harm and destruction in our daily lives, from family realities to contexts of war and armed conflicts. But how does nonviolence work? Where does its power come from?

As we journey through Lent, we are invited into a time of prayer, reflection, and renewal. This season calls us to examine our hearts, deepen our commitment to justice, and embrace the transformative power of nonviolence and peace. For us at AEI Pax Christi Bethlehem, this is not only a spiritual exercise but also a lived reality—one that demands courage, faith, and steadfast hope. Our mission is rooted in the belief that bridges—not walls—will pave the way for freedom, liberation, and a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land.

The Holy Land is often spoken of as a land of division, but it is also a land of encounters—where Jesus and the prophets called for justice. In our work, we witness the beauty of Christians and Muslims standing together, learning from one another, and building a shared future of dignity and respect.

All the way to the cross, Jesus demonstrated the power of nonviolence and insisted that his followers do the same. In a world overwhelmed by violence, we are invited to follow in his footsteps: “… love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27)

What is the message of the Cross now? What does it mean to follow Jesus’ way of life – a way of life that got him killed? How do we repeat his pattern of active, nonviolent, persistent, risky, creative peacemaking?