This week I speak with my friend Jim Finley, the beloved teacher of contemplation and mysticism.

When he was a teenager, Jim entered the Abbey of Gethsemani and was a novice and later a friend of Thomas Merton. Eventually, he left the monastery, became a clinical psychologist, and opened his practice in Los Angeles, where he still lives.

He wrote the first serious book about Merton’s spirituality, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere. Jim has taught and lectured on Merton, spirituality and mysticism for over 50 years, and these days is a faculty member of Fr. Richard Rohr’s Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation.

He hosts a free popular podcast, “Turning to the Mystics,” centering on Christian mysticism and contemplative living, which has hundreds of thousands of regular listeners.

He is author of several other bestsellers, such as The Awakening Call, The Contemplative Heart, and his recent memoir, The Healing Path.

This year, Orbis Books is launching a ten volume series by Jim on the mystics, such as Teresa of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Meister Eckhart. The first volume is on Merton.

This year, Orbis Books is launching a massive, ten volume series by Jim on the mystics, such as Teresa of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Meister Eckhart, and the first volume comes out in a few months on Thomas Merton.

Jim has done two wonderful zoom presentations for the Beatitudes Center which you can listen to, like tens of thousands of others, on our free YouTube channel.

“I saw Merton as a living mystic,” he tells me. “I was so honored to be in his presence. He was my spiritual director, so every other week for six years, I would meet with him and he would always ask the three same questions."

He says he learned from Merton that “the only way to ever be at peace is to accept myself as I am, because I'll never be anyone else.”

Listen as Jim relates to us how God's presence resides in ourselves and others, and why we have to accept that we are infinitely accepted. Be inspired by him and his words for Holy Week to deepen in the contemplative life of mystical peace!

You can also subscribe to my Substack and find more about our work on our website https://beatitudescenter.org

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with writer and scholar of nonviolent resistance, Daniel Hunter. He coaches and trains movements across the globe; is a founder of ChooseDemocracy.us which organizes against authoritarianism; and is currently the director of Freedom Trainers. freedomtrainers.net

His books include "What Will You Do If Trump Wins,” "Climate Resistance Handbook" and "Building a Movement to End the New Jim Crow." His essays about resistance to growing fascism are widely read on wagingnonviolence.org

“How can you help stop authoritarianism?” he asks. “You stop viewing them as legitimate; you non-cooperate and don't comply with their orders.”

He speaks on the influence of the No Kings protests on elections, Steven Miller's nationalist goals, the Disney boycott, and how to stop authoritarianism.

“We are seeing unprecedented collective action. Authoritarianism does not care about polls or the number of activists protesting. Authoritarian power only cares about what it can make us do.”

He also reminds us of the National 'No Kings' protests coming on March 28th and 'May Day Strong' on May 1st which calls for no work, no school, and no shopping.

"This is a good moment. We're ready to take on the biggest super villain the world has ever seen. Every action, everything we're doing--it's all adding up right now.”

nokings.org

maydaystrong.org

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fatherjohndear.substack.com

Today I speak with Jonathan Kuttab on Palestine. He is the executive director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel North America, the best Christian solidarity group working with Palestinians for peace.

Jonathan is also co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and co-founder of Nonviolence International. A well-known international human rights attorney, Jonathan practices in the US, Palestine and Israel. He serves on the Board of Bethlehem Bible College and is President of the Board of Holy Land Trust. He was the head of the Legal Committee negotiating the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO.

“The war on Gaza is continuing even today,” he told me just before the US/Israel declared illegal war on Iran.

“They're refusing medicine, food, journalists, aid, and they're using the ceasefire to continue the genocide. The world is allowing this to continue, and it breaks my heart.”

Jonathan explains why most Christian Palestinians are nonviolent peacemakers, and have been since the 1st century. His conclusion:

"Violence does not work. It does not deliver what it is supposed to deliver."

FOSNA promotes the vision of Sabeel Jerusalem, an ecumenical liberation theology movement founded by Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land, joining Friends of Sabeel chapters around the world.

As a nonprofit organization in the United States, they amplify the voice of Palestinians by advocating with churches, communities, and civic leaders for justice, peace, and liberation in Palestine. See www.fosna.org and www.jonathankuttab.org for more information on Jonathan and FOSNA. I have worked with them for many years and gave a keynote speech at the Sabeel conference in Bethlehem in 2008 with the Cardinal of Jerusalem, you can find it here: www.sabeel.org

“It is possible for people to live together!” Jonathan concludes. “We have lived together peacefully in the past, and hopefully we will in the future".

Listen in to this Palestinian voice for peace today and be inspired to join the grassroots movement of ordinary Christinas trying to live out the teachings of Christ in the 21st century.

www.beatitudescenter.org

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I speak with Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise of Greenfaith.org, a global, multifaith, grassroots network working to protect creation and resist environmental destruction around the world.

She previously served as the Education Director for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network in Charlotte, NC and also as the Pastor for the UU Fellowship of Lake Norman in NC. She lives outside Charlotte with her partner and daughter.

“We work with people around the world who are most impacted by climate change,” Amy says. “We encourage people to get involved in local climate issues and make different choices that protect creation.” Check out their website to see some of their grassroots campaigns.

“We all see that natural disasters are bigger, more catastrophic and happening more often and everywhere,” she continues. “Scientifically, it is proven our climate is getting warmer, and our use of fossil fuels is the main contributor to global warming. Why is it okay to continue to use fossil fuels?"

"The fossil fuel companies created a massive disinformation campaign that became politicized and promoted by politicians. We're now living in a world that is breaking down because the global economy depends on fossil fuel. I'm excited to see so many countries embracing renewable energy, and people of faith involved in these struggles.”

She encourages each one of us to get involved: "Find your people, find your community, choose your issue, get training, start showing up in public and doing the work. We are made for times like this, this is exactly what people in faith are for!"

Put your faith into action and join Greenfaith today!

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greenfaith.org

https://fatherjohndear.substack.com/

On today’s new episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” I offer part 2 of my reflection on my new book, Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace.

If you haven't listened to Part 1 yet, it will be helpful to listen to last week's podcast first. There I tell how the book came about, and why I wrote it.

I conclude the first episode with the story of my visit with Archbishop Tutu in Cape Town, South Africa, where he confided with me his thoughts on free will as the basis of understanding God and our work for peace, justice and nonviolence,

In this 2nd episode, I’ll reflect on the connection between nonviolence and surrendering our will to God, and the political consequences of doing God’s will of peace in a world of war, I also recount many of my experiences with some of the greatest peace activists and peacemakers in the world and how surrender is vital to becoming an extension of Universal Love.

In this concluding part, I explore the connection between surrendering our will to the God of universal love and living nonviolence in our daily lives. Then, I try to unpack the shocking political implications of universal love, peace and nonviolence--if we surrender our lives and our wills to God.

I’ve long wondered what the teachings of the spiritual classics about of abandonment to God mean in this time of permanent war, extreme poverty, white supremacy, fascism, and the real threat of nuclear war and catastrophic climate change. In light of the nonviolent Jesus,

I think if we surrender ourselves to God and do God’s will, we’ll have to step out of ourselves into the world and take nonviolent direct action through selfless service, nonviolent resistance to injustice, and public work for the coming of God’s reign of peace.

No matter how much we love God and want to follow Jesus, we’re all still trying to control God to some extent in order to do our own will, and that’s the problem. In my new book, I invite us to let go of control, let God run our lives, surrender to God’s will of universal love, and enjoy the ride with all its glorious social, economic and political implications, come what may. If we are truly surrendered to God, then God will use us to help disarm the world. That’s the journey.

You can get Universal Love at 30% discount at OrbisBooks.com or by calling 1-800-258-3858, and giving the discount code “JDT.” Please share this message far and wide. I hope you enjoy this special 2 part podcast and get my new book.

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For more excerpts from the books and other writings, go to https://substack.com/@fatherjohndear

May we all surrender to the God of Universal love and peace.

🌻, Fr. John

This week I reflect on my new book, Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace. This is Part 1 of 2 episodes.

In this first episode, I tell how the book came about. When the pandemic began, I joined the local gym and the young person who taught the class, whom I call Will, asked me to be his guru, so I started teaching him meditation. He called God, “Universal Love” and one day, Universal Love came to him in prayer and called him to be “an extension of Universal Love.”

Sections in the first part of the book include "The Difference Meditation Makes", "To Hell With Spiritual Pride", and "Experimenting with Nonviolence".

Over the years of spiritual direction and conversation that followed with Will, as we became friends and discussed all this, we also started doing writing practice at the local coffee shop on these themes, writings which one day turned into this book.

In this episode, and the first part of the book, I reflect on the importance of daily meditation, letting go of control, living in intimate, trusting relationship to God, learning to surrender everything to God, and trying from now on, to do only God’s will, not our will.

I conclude this episode with the story of my visit with Archbishop Tutu in Cape Town, South Africa, where he confided with me his thoughts on free will as the basis of understanding God and our work for peace, justice and nonviolence, a teaching I am only now beginning to understand.

Next week I dedicate the podcast to the second half of the book, and will be sharing excerpts and more on Substack as well.

Available now from www.orbisbooks.com or call 1-800-258-5838, or ask for it at your local bookstore!

More information at beatitudescenter.org

Onward in peace with the nonviolent Jesus,

🌻, John

This week my guest is my friend peace activist Ann Wright. She is a retired US Army Colonel who worked in the military for 29 years, 13 on active duty and 16 in the Army Reserves, as well as a retired US state department official.

In March 2003, when the US started massively bombing Iraq, she was one of three state department officials to publicly resign in protest of the US war on Iraq.

Since then, she has become a full-time activist working to end war, often working with organizations such as Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, International Peace Bureau, World Beyond War, NO to NATO, Hawaii Peace and Justice, and many other groups.

She travels full time to places of conflict around the world, such as Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Palestine, Cuba--to see the effects of US warmaking.

She also speaks out and writes about the need to resist war and pursue peace. She has been a coordinator with the Gaza Freedom Flotilla for 16 years and was jailed in Israeli prisons twice for being on Gaza flotillas. Visit: www.voicesofconscience.com

We discuss her public resignation over the US war on Iraq, and her work for peace in Afghanistan and Palestine and the abolition of nuclear weapons.

“I just could not be a part of what I knew was going to be a horrific death of so many people in Iraq,” she tells me about her resignation. “Never underestimate the power of trying to get people together to do something that will galvanize the rest of our community and the country. It's our own conscience we have to watch out for. We have to be able to say: ‘I've done what I could to try to stop the violence in our world.’ Be consistent and keep moving!”

Join us with this incredibly brave, resolute and inspiring peace activist!

beatitudescenter.org

🌻, John

This week I speak with Ched Myers, one of the world’s greatest scripture scholars, about his new book on the Gospel of Luke, called Healing Affluenza and Resisting Plutocracy: Luke’s Jesus and Sabbath Economics.

Many of us consider Ched’s great commentary on Mark, Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus (Orbis Books, 1988), the greatest book on scripture ever written.

An activist and a theologian, Ched and his partner Elaine Enns are ecumenical Mennonites based in southern California where they lead Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries (visit www.bcmonline.org). He begins our conversation by sharing his journey to radical Christianity through the Catholic Worker movement and our mentor Daniel Berrigan, and then we turn to Luke.

In his new book, Ched explores Luke from the perspective of “Sabbath economics,” the biblical practice of resisting economic disparity and the idolatry of wealth, greed, and war. We discuss Jesus’ first sermon in the Nazareth synagogue where he proclaims the Jubilee Year (Lk. 4), the parable of Lazarus the rich man and the poor beggar who dies and goes to heaven (Lk. 16), and Luke’s resurrection story on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24)

“The biggest single, core, root issue of violence is economic disparity--the cruel gulf between the have-too-muches- and the have-not-enoughs. Concentrated wealth underlies every form of violence and is ruining our planet. If we Christians are going to follow the Way, we need to dive into the scripture about Sabbath economics.”

Be inspired to be part of the "Sabbath Economy" !

beatitudescenter.org