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July 20, 2026

Episode #81, John Dear with Catherine Meeks

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with Dr. Catherine Meeks, a nationally recognized leader in racial healing and founder of the Turquoise & Lavender Institute for Transformation and Healing. (See: www.turquoiseandlavender.com)  Her latest book is Bridging the Rivers of Difference: A Proclamation of Unity in Resistance. Her other books include The Night Is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations on Racial Healing, and The Quilted Life: Reflections of a Sharecropper’s Daughter. She spent 25 years as chair of the African American Studies program at Mercer University.
 
“I grew up poor and black in Arkansas, and my way in the world is to 
connect to the spiritual and God and the way people should be treated right,” she says. “This country was founded on the notion that some humans were worth more than others, included black people and women. The Constitution wasn’t talking about us. The Heritage Foundation has been working militantly with Project 2025, but we have to be willing to stop having a hierarchy of human value.
 
“Racism has injured us all,” she continues. “Everyone has been wounded by it. The culture in the US reinforces the notion that people of color are inferior to white people, but we’re all made in God’s image and we all deserve to be treated right. We have to create new narratives and trust each other enough to work for the general welfare that benefits everybody, not just one set of people.
 
“We need to recognize the nonviolent Jesus. To dehumanize another person is violent while Jesus was always respecting people. There is no Jesus for warmongers. War is never going to end other wars. We need to reimagine what nonviolence really is about. I see this moment as a time to come to grips with what kind of human we want to be.” Listen in and be inspired! God bless everyone.

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes John Dear! For more information, visit here.

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Listen on Apple, Spotify, all major platforms,
and the National Catholic Reporter

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National Catholic Reporter
Apple Podcasts
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July 13, 2026

Episode #80, John Dear with Fr. Ron Rolheiser

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with his friend writer and theologian, Fr. Ron Rolheiser, one of the most popular Catholic writers in the world, about his new book, Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years, the conclusion of his trilogy of modern spiritual classics, following The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire.
 
Fr. Ron Rolheiser is the author of many other best-sellers including The Restless Heart, The Shattered Lantern, Forgotten Among the Lilies; Prayer; and The Passion and the Cross. Orbis published an anthology, Ron Rolheiser: Essential Spiritual Writings. He recently retired from his position as President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, but continues to write, teach and speak around the country. You can learn more about him at his website: www.ronrolheiser.com 
 
Speaking about a spirituality for our wisdom years, Ron invites us to address anger, and other forms of resentment and bitterness, and let it go into softness, forgiveness, and gratitude.
 
“I’ve spent most of the years of my life in leadership and now nobody’s asking for my opinion,” he says. “Letting go of control is difficult. As my health deteriorates, I have to learn to let go. My mantra now is, ‘let it go, let it go, let it go.’ But as I move from full time activity into passivity, I’m asking myself, ‘Who am I when I stop doing? When you’re God’s beloved, how do we actually own that?’”
 
“In my lifetime I’ve never lived through darker days,” he adds. “We’re trying to solve violence with violence, but violence begets violence. Politicians are openly saying that compassion is weakness. We’ve never needed the message of nonviolence more than now. The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest moral code ever written. We have to be the ones who stand up and live in hope! To do that, we have to keep a subversive sense of humor.” Listen in to this great wisdom teacher and be inspired! God bless everyone!

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Catherine Meeks! For more information, visit here.

Upcoming Zoom Programs:

Joyce Rupp with John Dear on “Compassion and Prayer”

Saturday July 25, 2026

11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern



Todd Walatka on Saint Oscar Romero’s Prophetic Voice for Peace

Saturday August 22, 2026

11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern



Robert Jonas, “Teachings and Stories of Henri Nouwen on the 30th anniv. of his death”

Saturday September 19, 2026

11 am Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern



The Gospel of Mark and the Nonviolent Jesus: A 4 Week Monday Series with John Dear, October, 2026

Mondays October 5, 12, 19, 26, 2026

4 PM Pacific, 5 PM Mountain, 6 PM Central, 7PM Eastern



John Dear’s new book

Universal Love:
Surrendering to the God of Peace
By John Dear

For more information, click here
 
Available from www.orbisbooks.com or call 1-800-258-5838, or Amazon.com
 
 
“One of the people I respect most on this earth and whose winsome company I enjoy most is Fr. John Dear. In this short, valuable, and practical book, John shares his conversations with a young spiritual seeker named Will who came to him seeking spiritual guidance. As I read each chapter, I felt like I was meeting with John for coffee, sharing my struggles, and receiving his wisdom and encouragement. This book is a treasure.”
— Brian McLaren, author of Faith After Doubt and The Last Voyage

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LATEST NEWS FROM THE BEATITUDES CENTER

Quote for the Day: 

“The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid. The calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the
adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the God of peace as the waters cover the sea.”

(Isaiah 11:6–9)

Quote for the Day: 

“I am called in the Word of God — as is everyone else — to the vocation of being human, nothing more and nothing less … To be a Christian
means to be called to be an exemplary human being. And to be a Christian categorically does not mean being religious. Indeed, all religious versions of the gospel are profanities. In the face of death, live humanly. In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word. Amidst Babel, speak the truth. Confront the noise and verbiage and falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God. Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, define the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word. And more than that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death’s works and wiles, rebuke lies,
cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed,
raise those who are dead in mind and conscience.”
–William Stringfellow

July 21st, 2026

Dear Friends, Blessings of Christ’s peace!

   Please join me this Saturday, July 25th, when best-selling spiritual writer Joyce Rupp and I have a conversation on her great book, Boundless Compassion: Creating a Way of Life.  We’ve been preparing an outline and are both excited to talk about this fundamental ingredient of Christian discipleship which is so lacking in today’s world.

   We’ll discuss her fundamental first steps of “awareness, attitude, action,” and its four qualities—non-judgmentalism; nonviolence; forgiveness, and mindfulness. Then we’ll reflect on the practice of self-compassion, being kind, gentle and nonviolent to ourselves, befriending our hurts and wounds, what I call, making peace with ourselves. At the heart of self-compassion, Joyce teachers, is accepting ourselves as good, as loved by God, as worthy of respect and kindness. We’ll discuss how to nurture that in ourselves and especially in those who have been taught by their parents, schools, the culture, or even the church that they are no good.

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