Dear Friends, The season of Advent renews our hope for the reign of God’s peace and love, signified by the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. But almost immediately, Christmas is followed by the feast of Holy Innocents, when King Herod tried to extinguish that hope in its cradle. Those innocents represent all those who die in the dream of a different possible world, hoping but never knowing that their redeemer lives. How are we to read the story of Jesus through the lens of our current reality—significantly, in Bethlehem itself, but also closer to home? It is an ongoing tension between hope and the cruel forces of history, and our decision as to which we will choose. Leonardo Boff, the Brazilian theologian and author of twenty-five Orbis titles, has spent...