Welcome to the Beatitudes Center for the Nonviolent Jesus!
Upcoming Zoom Programs:
Host Fr. John Dear on his 2024 Speaking Tour for his Forthcoming Orbis Book:
“The Gospel of Peace: A Commentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence.”
For more info, click here
John Dear’s new book now available
“The Gospel of Peace:
Reading Matthew, Mark & Luke
from the Perspective of Nonviolence”
Call Orbis Books at 1-800-258-5838 and give them the special code: “JDT”
To invite John Dear to speak in your city, write to: john@beatitudescenter.org
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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:
“Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.”
–Thomas Merton
April 8, 2024
Dear friends, Easter Blessings of Christ’s peace to you!
As I travel the country on my “Gospel of Peace” book tour, I’ve been inviting folks to ponder the nonviolence of Jesus, Gandhi, and King. Gandhi’s original word ahimsa meant “do no harm in thought, word, or deed.” Think about that! Ask yourself: “What do I have to do so that I never harm another human being or creature physically ever again, so that I never say another harmful word toward another human being ever again, so that I never think a harmful thought toward anyone ever again?” This is the foundation of the spiritual path of universal love. This is why we need God. We have to surrender ourselves to live the Gospel life of total nonviolence, individually, collectively, and globally.
As Gandhi studied the Sermon on the Mount, he realized this practice of nonviolence was an entirely new way of life. It is the spiritual life, the path to the God of peace, a universal ethic, the law of God. More, he realized that Jesus demonstrated active nonviolence as the politics of God, the only practical political solution for humanity, the way out of our madness into God’s reign of peace, the methodology of grassroots movement-building to transform our nation and our world. As Cesar Chavez once told me, “Nonviolence happens in the streets!”