Gulf Pine Catholic

12 Gulf Pine Catholic • March 29, 2024 Father John Dear: ‘Jesus shows way to peace through nonviolence’ BY TERRY DICKSON BILOXI -- Father John Dear is dedicated to the pursuit of peace through nonviolence. The 64-year-old priest has written 40 books on Jesus and peacemaking, spoken to countless audiences, traveled to different warzones and spent a lot of time in jail -- on 85 occasions to be exact -- all in the pursuit of peace and advocacy for the philosophy of nonviolence, often associated with the work of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Father Dear wrote his most recent book, The Gospel of Peace: A commen- tary on Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence (available from Orbis Books ). He vis- ited Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Biloxi March 16 to discuss the book. “It’s a commentary, which you don’t see anymore, on the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, as if Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are showing you how Jesus is more non-violent than they are,” said Father Dear. “I go through every sentence. There’s never been a book like this in history.” Father Dear is on a five-month tour of 65 cities in promotion of the book. “I feel like St. Paul,” he said. “I’m 25 cities into the tour now, and I’m talking about Jesus and nonviolence. Gandhi said, Martin Luther King said, and I say that Jesus is the greatest person of nonviolence in the his- tory of the world. He never hit anyone, hurt anyone, yelled at anyone but his nonviolence is not passive. He’s active and loving in trying to stop injustice, stop violence and welcome God’s reign. “My point is, if we want to follow the non-violent Jesus, we have to be non-violent too.” Father Dear points to the Sermon on the Mount as “one of the greatest teachings on nonviolence in the history of the world” and expresses an affinity for chap- ter 10 of Luke’s Gospel. “Jesus sends 72 disciples in front of him in pairs. What he said is, “Go, I’m sending you out toMississippi, only you’re to be lambs in the midst of wolves,” he noted. “Everyone who claims to be a Christian or a Catholic must be totally non-violent like a gentle lamb, even if we’re going to be eaten alive. The mission is to proclaim peace, to live and breathe peace, to heal everybody and to welcome God’s reign and God’s reign means no more war, racism, or poverty. It’s universal love and universal peace. “What’s so great about Luke 10 is that the 72 come back rejoicing, and Jesus starts rejoicing. If you really study the four gospels, it’s the only time in the gospels where he’s happy because they did what he wanted, in the spirit of Dr. King’s campaign of nonviolence.” Father Dear’s goal is “a non-violent Mississippi, a non-violent America and a non-violent world.” “We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us.” he contin- ued. “The world is in worse shape than ever. War, nuclear weapons, catastrophic climate change. That’s why I’m saying all of us really have to finally grow up and stop fooling around and become mature Christians and say, ‘Okay, I’m throwing all of my eggs in one basket with this guy. I don’t understand nonviolence but I’m going to try it anyway.’ That means really try- ing to root out all of the violence in us but publicly teaching and calling for a new culture of nonviolence. That’s the reign of God.” Father Dear believes his book is ideal for a Bible study and much more. “I hope that every bishop and priest in the United States will get it and use it for the rest of their lives and use it for their homilies because it goes to show that, whenever you think Jesus might be yelling or violent, He’s not,” he said. “I encourage everybody to read the Gospels for the next 30 years and nothing else in the Bible. We need to get back to the nonviolence of Jesus and really figure out how we are going to become more non-violent, and turn away from this culture of violence.” So, how did peace through non-violence become Father Dear’s passion? A native of North Carolina, he attended Duke University, explaining that he was “try- ing to get away from the Catholic Church” but then realized he wanted to give his whole life to Jesus and become a Jesuit, “which I did,” he said. “Just before I entered the Jesuits in 1982, I hitch- hiked through Israel for three months to see where Jesus lived,” he recounted. “The week I left, Israel invaded Lebanon, so there was this massive war going on and no tourists at all. The plane was empty.” Father Dear recalled how after arriving in Israel he camped out illegally for three weeks at the Sea of Galilee, near the Chapel of the Beatitudes at its north shore and, during his time there, he read intensely the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes for the first time, overwhelmed by its teachings, which included “blessed are the peacemakers and love your enemies.” “And, just as I was grappling with it [readings], I saw all these massive Israeli jets fall from the sky, breaking the sound barrier and they swooped down over the Sea of Galilee and dropped bombs 50 miles away,” he said. “I saw warfare at the place where Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies’ and, at that moment, I said I would spend the rest of my life teaching [about] the Sermon on the Mount.” These days, Father Dear runs the Beatitudes Center (www.beatitudescenter.org) where he offers Zoom talks with the greatest peacemakers in the world. He also offers educational resources on his website (www. johndear.org ), including practical advice for individu- als and families on how to follow the non-violent teachings and example of Jesus. “If we’re going to take Jesus seriously in this terri- ble moment we’re living in amidst the violence of the world, we have to do three things really well,” he said. “We have to be really non-violent to ourselves from now on. We have to give all the violence in us to God, let go of all of our hatreds and resentments and anger and wounds, and begin to become really peaceful peo- ple with non-violent hearts like Jesus’s Sacred Heart. You can’t be a jerk and follow Jesus. “Secondly, at the same time, you have to practice meticulous, inter-personal non-violence toward every human being in Mississippi and on the planet and the creatures and Mother Earth. Think of the one or two or three people who really push your buttons. They’re your teachers of non-violence because they expose all the violence in you. You have to figure out through your prayer and your studying of Jesus how to be really non-violent to them. “The third is you have to do something publicly in the global movement of non-violence, something for justice such as to end poverty or racism, something for peace such as to end war or militarism or something for creation such as to get rid of fossil fuels and protect Mother Earth. In other words, Jesus is a grassroots movement organizer, just like Gandhi and Dr. King as I was referring to in Luke 10, so you have to be a part of it. “You can’t just sit back and say I’m going to be peaceful. That’s not following Jesus. You have to be totally peaceful, and you have to get out into the culture and do something positive to welcome God’s reign of peace on earth and here in Mississippi.” Father John Dear discusses his new book, The Gospel of Peace: ACommentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke from the Perspective of Nonviolence , during a March 16 presentation at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Biloxi. Photo/Terry Dickson