microphone_2368382

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

Spotify
National Catholic Reporter
Apple Podcasts
Amazon Music
Podbean Podcasts
Podcast Index
Fountain FM
True Fans
youtube-logo-40x40

March 23rd, 2026

Episode #64, John Dear in conversation with Daniel Hunter on resistance

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks 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. [www.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 [see www.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.”
 
“We are seeing unprecedented collective action. For example, over 1.5 million people participated in the Disney boycott within hours of Jimmy Kimmel being removed from his show. Disney tracked who was more powerful–the government or the people—and saw that the people are more powerful so his show was restored… Authoritarianism does not care about polls or the number of activists protesting. Authoritarian power only cares about what it can make us do.”
 
“I’m really excited about March 28th, the National ‘No Kings’ day, and May 1st, ‘May Day Strong,’ which calls for no work, no school, and no shopping.
 
[see www.nokings.org and www.maydaystrong.org] This is a good moment. We’re getting 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.” Listen in and be inspired! God bless you!

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Jim Finely! For more information, visit here.

microphone_2368382

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

Spotify
National Catholic Reporter
Apple Podcasts
Amazon Music
Podbean Podcasts
Podcast Index
Fountain FM
True Fans
youtube-logo-40x40

March 30th, 2026

Episode #65, Jim Finley on God and the mystics

On this week’s episode of “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” John Dear speaks with his 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,” 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. “I saw Merton as a living mystic,” he tells John. “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: How’s it going? Then, how’s it going in your surrender to God who accessed your heart to lead you to this place? And finally, how’s it going in discovering the depth of the 2nd question percolating to the messy details of the 1st question?” 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.”
 
“The infinite presence of God is pouring itself out, whole and complete in the very presence of ourselves and others,” he concludes. “We can never lose God’s love. Jesus is God’s complete surrender to us. We have to accept that we are infinitely accepted.” Listen in to this wise teacher and be inspired for Holy Week to deepen in the contemplative life of mystical peace! God bless you!

Next week…

The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast welcomes Kerry Kennedy! For more information, visit here.

Upcoming Zoom Programs:

Sr. Helen Prejean, in conversation with John Dear, on the Holy Week Journey of the Nonviolent Jesus

Saturday March 28, 2026

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



John Dear on his new book, “Universal Love: Surrendering to the God of Peace”

Saturday April 18, 2026

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



Wes Granberg-Michaelson, “The Soulwork of Justice: Four Movements for Contemplative Action”


Saturday May 16, 2026

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



Kate Common. “Undoing Conquest: Ancient Israel, the Bible. And the Future of Christianity”

Saturday June 13, 2026

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



John Dominic Crossan and Michael Okinczyc-Cruz on “Jesus and Justice”

Saturday July 11, 2026

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



Joyce Rupp in conversation with John Dear on “Compassion and Prayer”

Saturday July 25, 2026

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



John Dear’s new book available February 17th, 2026

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

Sign up to receive the Beatitudes Center Newsletter

Fill out the form below and click subscribe.
This is completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time
 

We promise we will NOT share or sell your information to any 3rd party advertisers.

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

March 24, 2026

Dear friends, Christ’s blessings of peace to you!

     Sr. Helen Prejean called me the other day and shouted out, “Did you hear what Secretary of War Hegseth said?” She was referring to his call for a holy war, his announcement that God was blessing America’s armies, weapons, bombings, killings, and war on Iran and elsewhere. “I’m ready to talk with you about Jesus and Holy Week!” she said.

     This Saturday, March 28th, on the eve of Palm Sunday and Holy Week, Sr. Helen Prejean and I are going to walk through the story of the nonviolent Jesus and reflect on it, as he enters Jerusalem, engages in nonviolent action, offers his body and blood as the new covenant of nonviolence, and suffers arrest, jail, torture, and execution. He will go to his death telling Pilate that if his kingdom were of this world, his attendants would be fighting and killing to protect him, but that his kingdom is not of this world. In other words, Jesus is the king of nonviolence.

     Sr. Helen Prejean needs no introduction. A Sister of St. Joseph of Medaille, she has spent her life standing by the crucified Jesus, accompanying people to their executions. She is most known for her best-selling book, “Dead Man Walking,” made into an Oscar winning movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, but is also author of “The Death of Innocents,” and “River of Fire: A Spiritual Memoir.” I invite everyone to begin Holy Week with Sr. Helen and me, that together, we may accompany the nonviolent Jesus in his resistance to empire and be strengthened to go forward with our own.

Read More