{"id":1424,"date":"2025-11-29T08:12:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/?p=1424"},"modified":"2025-11-30T15:57:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:57:32","slug":"sobre-la-esperanza-en-tiempos-inciertos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/11\/29\/sobre-la-esperanza-en-tiempos-inciertos\/","title":{"rendered":"On hope in uncertain times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carlos Mendoza-\u00c1lvarez<\/em><\/p>\n

At dusk this Saturday, the first Advent vigil begins, when Christian communities throughout the world embark on a journey, in the midst of the darkness of time, to receive the human and divine light of dignity and hope that the Messiah brings. The ancient hymn will resonate during the nighttime celebrations, Rorate caeli<\/a> , whose lyrics and melody are like a lament that rises to heaven from the desolate city, crying out that \u201cthe clouds rain down on the Righteous One,\u201d as the prophet Isaiah (45:8) implored during the exile in Babylon.<\/p>\n

Each year, this four-week calendar leading up to Christmas is accompanied by symbols of light, greenery, carols, sweets, tenderness, and community. According to each culture, the waiting period for the Messiah's arrival evokes the awareness that \"something is lacking\" for the fulfillment of those desires for new times<\/em> of justice, truth, compassion and peace, not only for a people who arrogantly claim to be the only chosen ones, but for all of humanity and even for the entire cosmos.<\/p>\n

Every generation has seen terrible signs that the world is ending, whether through epidemics that make us feel how vulnerable our bodies and knowledge are; whether through wars waged by empires against emerging powers that threaten their arrogance; whether through the uncertainty of life itself, diminished by age, illness, failure, loneliness, or hopelessness.<\/p>\n

The biblical texts that we, the believing communities, meditate on these days speak of the expectation of the messiah, first with a strong apocalyptic tone that announces the destruction of the corrupt world, reaching the entire cosmos with a catastrophe that will destroy everything because of the human pride that has taken over creation.<\/p>\n

Then, as the date of the celebration of the Nativity of the Messiah Child, a Nazarene, approaches, the tone of the texts becomes more hopeful with the announcement of a God who is near, humanized, small, and fragile. It is the incarnate promise of a divine and human life that begins in complete vulnerability in the story of a migrant family with a newborn baby, trying to survive on the periphery of the empire and fleeing the fury of the local ruler, eventually finding refuge in Egypt, from where a definitive chapter in the history of human redemption will begin to be written.<\/p>\n

\u2202<\/p>\n

However, the collective depression we are experiencing today as humanity due to the escalation of hatred to extremes \u2013 which is spreading across the planet in an apocalyptic way \u201clike a lie of Satan,\u201d as Ren\u00e9 Girard said in an interview he gave me in 2007 in Paris (Hope as apocalypse<\/a>)\u2013 this seems to render any narrative of hope for our uncertain times illusory. The genocide in Gaza continues as the climax of the\u00a0Nakba or Catastrophe<\/a>\u00a0that began in 1947 with the expulsion of nearly a million Palestinians from their lands, paving the way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, this systemic violence continues today before our digital screens, met with indifference by social media and the international community. The wars in Ukraine, Congo, and South Sudan have become so \u201cnormalized\u201d that they no longer make the front page of newspapers, much less a trending topic<\/em> in the digital world. In Mexico, public indifference to urgent issues such as the crisis facing corn, lemon, and avocado farmers\u2014caused by the violence in Michoac\u00e1n\u2014along with the persistent femicides and forced disappearances, speaks to a growing discontent among the population, expressed through strikes, road blockades, and street protests. But the masses seem numb, retreating into bubbles of entertainment and unrestrained holiday shopping, which, among other ills, leaves household finances in ruins for months and years to come.<\/p>\n

Religious consumerism is also part of the overwhelming Christmas marketing, amidst kitschy decorations and echoes of folk crafts used to make pi\u00f1atas featuring popular characters. It will certainly be present at Mexican posadas, Trump's pi\u00f1ata<\/a> , which is sold in various markets in Mexico and the United States, will receive blows as a ritual of revenge amid laughter and boos until the cardboard breaks and the blond wicks of the tyrant fly out like shooting stars in some tenement courtyard in Mexico City, Chicago or Los Angeles for the delight of all.<\/p>\n

A few families may perhaps rediscover the \u201cmystical\u201d meaning of the Advent wreath, following the Avatar of Carlo Acutis explaining Advent 2025.<\/a>\u00a0This video, which is circulating online, aptly explains the spiritual significance of the ritual of lighting each of the four candles during this season that prepares for Christmas. The light lit each Sunday of Advent symbolizes the \"people who walked in darkness and have seen a great light\" (Isaiah 9:2), which the prophet foretold to the Hebrew people devastated by the division between the small kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with their leaders corrupted by the idolatry of power, seeking alliances with neighboring Syria to defeat the rival tribe.<\/p>\n

And like a non-place amidst so much noise, creating a void in the midst of the urban clamor, in Mexico the collectives of Searching Mothers (Searching mothers light Christmas tree<\/a>) will set up Christmas trees covered with ornaments bearing the faces of those we have lost. They are today \u201cthe voice crying in the wilderness\u201d (John 1:23) because they speak on behalf of the victims of the narco-state war and the idolatry of the necropower of our time.<\/p>\n

\u2202<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is where the theological core<\/em> of this season lies: the absence of the Messiah<\/em> is something that has inspired Hebrew and Christian generations for centuries to mobilize in order to make the messianic times present through acts of remembrance, justice and an (im)possible reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Beyond a folkloric celebration of the coming of God-with-us, what we are about today is going to the other side of history to contemplate there, in the silence of the night, some glimmer of light that announces the arrival of the Messiah. And those who feel in every second of their lives, in every breath\u2014like Vero and Fabiola, mothers searching for their missing children who shared their hope with us in a recent meeting in Guadalajara\u2014the absence that hurts and motivates them to search out of love, are the ones who teach us what hope means in times of uncertainty, the heart of Advent.<\/p>\n

Next Monday, December 1st, the documentary Re-exists 2025 will be presented online (Presentation of the documentary Re-exists 2025<\/a>), prepared by Uruguayan filmmaker Juan Meza. There, some of the stories of awakening, healing, and embodiment<\/em> shared by people from seventeen countries and different religious and spiritual traditions from four continents facing diverse forms of violence where it has been possible to spell out hope.<\/p>\n

Advent is a time to continue weaving networks of combative hope<\/em> , say the social movements on the peripheries of the empire, so that our world does not fall into the abyss. And it is possible to do so by listening to the people who for years and centuries have resisted and now accompany us in re-existing.<\/p>\n

Because there will always be hope as long as there are people and communities who live the end times<\/a>, so insistently emphasized by Javier Sicilia and El\u00edas Gonz\u00e1lez, as the opportunity to enter into another way of existing amidst violence but pregnant with the active expectation of messianic times.<\/p>\n

Happy Advent season!<\/p>\n

Mexico City, November 29, 2025<\/p>\n

Note: I would appreciate your feedback at the end of this page.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The absence of the messiah is something that has inspired Hebrew and Christian generations for centuries to mobilize in order to make messianic times present through acts of remembrance, justice and an (im)possible reconciliation.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":266113673,"featured_media":1430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"postBodyCss":"","postBodyMargin":[],"postBodyPadding":[],"postBodyBackground":{"backgroundType":"classic","gradient":""},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[780849811,780849979,780850191,780849778,780850188],"tags":[780850065,780849857,780849720,780849883,780849799,780849861,780850190],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-memoria-victimas-y-justicia","category-contemplacion-y-silencio","category-esperanza","category-espiritualidad-liberadora","category-teologia-politica","tag-desaparecidos-en-mexico","tag-espiritualidad","tag-palestina","tag-re-existe","tag-rene-girard","tag-teologia-decolonial","tag-tiempo-del-fin","post_format-post-format-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Madres-buscadoras-NTR-Zacatecas-2025.jpg?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgx1jY-mY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1342,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/10\/25\/noticias-de-wallmapu\/","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":0},"title":"Wallmapu News","author":"mendocinomx","date":"25 de October de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The evening light reaches Tir\u00faa, in Mapuche lands, as Carlos, my Jesuit host who has been here for more than fifteen years (HistoriActiva Jesuit community of Tir\u00faa), drives along the dirt road to visit...","rel":"","context":"In "Espiritualidad liberadora"","block_context":{"text":"Espiritualidad liberadora","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/espiritualidad-liberadora\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Gabriel-Pozo-Menares-Calendario-Mapuche-Wallmapu-2011.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Gabriel-Pozo-Menares-Calendario-Mapuche-Wallmapu-2011.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Gabriel-Pozo-Menares-Calendario-Mapuche-Wallmapu-2011.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Gabriel-Pozo-Menares-Calendario-Mapuche-Wallmapu-2011.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Gabriel-Pozo-Menares-Calendario-Mapuche-Wallmapu-2011.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1210,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/09\/20\/el-espiritu-conectando-las-periferias\/","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":1},"title":"The Spirit connecting the peripheries","author":"mendocinomx","date":"20 de September de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Since the end of the last century, humanity's religions have updated their mission, realizing the growing poverty and injustice in the world, accompanied by wars promoted by corrupt leaders, where religion was used as a weapon of...","rel":"","context":"In "Espiritualidad liberadora"","block_context":{"text":"Espiritualidad liberadora","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/espiritualidad-liberadora\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Re-existe-2025.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Re-existe-2025.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Re-existe-2025.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Re-existe-2025.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Re-existe-2025.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1730,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/03\/14\/la-teologia-feminista-como-resistencia-al-clericalismo-y-reinvencion-de-la-iglesia\/","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":2},"title":"Feminist theology as resistance to clericalism and reinvention of the Church","author":"mendocinomx","date":"14 de March de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This text tells the story of a thesis defense at Boston College on feminist theology concerning the crisis of sexual abuse against adult women in the Roman Catholic Church in Chile. It opens horizons for receiving the knowledge of women survivors as a compass for promoting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "G\u00e9nero"","block_context":{"text":"G\u00e9nero","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/genero\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lolo-Gongora-Mujeres-en-primera-linea-Santiago-de-Chile-2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C770&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lolo-Gongora-Mujeres-en-primera-linea-Santiago-de-Chile-2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C770&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lolo-Gongora-Mujeres-en-primera-linea-Santiago-de-Chile-2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C770&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lolo-Gongora-Mujeres-en-primera-linea-Santiago-de-Chile-2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C770&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Lolo-Gongora-Mujeres-en-primera-linea-Santiago-de-Chile-2020.jpg?fit=1200%2C770&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1179,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/09\/06\/santidad-laical\/","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":3},"title":"Lay holiness?","author":"mendocinomx","date":"6 de September de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend, two young Roman Catholics will be canonized by Pope Leo XIV (Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati). Pier Giorgio Frassati was an Italian Dominican layman who lived in the first quarter of the 20th century. The other, Carlo Acutis, was the so-called "first millennial saint."","rel":"","context":"In "Espiritualidad liberadora"","block_context":{"text":"Espiritualidad liberadora","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/espiritualidad-liberadora\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Papalote-disenado-por-Francisco-Toledo-en-papel-Artesanal-de-Arte-Papel-Vista-Hermosa-1.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1194,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2025\/09\/14\/la-monstruosidad-de-la-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":4},"title":"The monstrosity of religion","author":"mendocinomx","date":"14 de September de 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This week I was invited to the presentation in Cuernavaca of a book that chronicles a failed conversation between John Milbank, a British Anglican theologian, and Slavo \u017di\u017eek, a Slovenian atheist philosopher, about the monstrosity of Christ (The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic?). The Spanish translation was...","rel":"","context":"In "Geopol\u00edtica y espiritualidad"","block_context":{"text":"Geopol\u00edtica y espiritualidad","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/geopolitica-y-espiritualidad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Paroxismo-Ivan-Gardea-grabado-Cuernavaca-2019.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Paroxismo-Ivan-Gardea-grabado-Cuernavaca-2019.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Paroxismo-Ivan-Gardea-grabado-Cuernavaca-2019.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Paroxismo-Ivan-Gardea-grabado-Cuernavaca-2019.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Paroxismo-Ivan-Gardea-grabado-Cuernavaca-2019.png?fit=1200%2C799&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1982,"url":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/2026\/06\/20\/los-sionismos-que-nos-acechan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1424,"position":5},"title":"The Zionisms that threaten us","author":"mendocinomx","date":"20 de June de 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A reflection on the ideological justification of techno-fascism through Jewish and Christian Zionism by means of the perverse use of the Bible as a weapon of war. The ethical, theological, and spiritual implications of this expansionism in Chiapas and other territories pose challenges for a critical theology and practice that dismantles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chiapas"","block_context":{"text":"Chiapas","link":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/category\/chiapas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Juan-Fuentes-Critical-Zionism-Studies-2025.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Juan-Fuentes-Critical-Zionism-Studies-2025.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Juan-Fuentes-Critical-Zionism-Studies-2025.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Juan-Fuentes-Critical-Zionism-Studies-2025.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/266113673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1440,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions\/1440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carlosmendozaalvarez.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}