14 December. On the third Sunday of Advent, this reflection comes from Sister Maria Cecialia Sierra, a Comboni Missionary Sister working among Bedouin communities in the West Bank.
On the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, our Wave of Hope reflection comes from Sister Maria Cecialia Sierra, a Comboni Missionary Sister working among Bedouin communities in the West Bank.
Reflecting on the Threads of Peace project through which Bedouin women gather to learn and support each other and which was recently presented with a Weavers of Hope Award from Caritas Internationalis, Sr Maria Cecilia says:
“This year, the thing that gave me the most hope was witnessing how Bedouin women continue to weave dignity and resilience into their lives, even in the harshness of the Judean Desert. Despite displacement, demolitions, and uncertainty, they rise, every day, reminding us that hope is not an idea but a practice. A thread chosen, a stitch made, a story shared.”
Wave of Hope offers 25 short multimedia reflections for the season – one a day – as our contributors share a moment in 2025 that has led them to a place of hope.
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Salam, Shalom. Peace.
I’m Sister Maria Cecilia Sierra, a Comboni Missionary Sister from Mexico working among Bedouin communities in the West Bank, Palestine.
This year, the thing that gave me the most hope was witnessing how Bedouin women – mothers, grandmothers, young girls – continue to weave dignity and resilience into their lives, even in the harshness of the Judean Desert.
In this Jubilee Year, their courage has become to me a true Wave of Hope.
Through our project Threads of Peace, more than 200 women gather in small circles – embroidering, sewing, learning, supporting one another. Many of them, like Tamam, an 80-year-old grandmother teaching her ten daughters-in-law; or Manal, just 18, whose schooling was cut short; or Khadija, a mother of six who had never touched a needle, now stitch beauty out of hardship.
In freezing nights and burning days, they transform fear into creativity, tradition into leadership, and isolation into community.
Despite displacement, demolitions, and uncertainty, they rise, every day, reminding us that hope is not an idea but a practice. A thread chosen, a stitch made, a story shared.
As Christmas approaches, may our hearts turn again to the Holy Land, to the shepherds on the hills, and to these Bedouin women who still endure cold winter nights, yet choose hope every morning. May their embroidered threads become bridges, reminding us that hope springs at the margins, and that even the desert blooms when solidarity and resilience meet.
Fr Issa Thaljieh is a Greek Orthodox priest from the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem.
