Today I finished reading A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World by John Dear, S.J. and I feel that my life needs to be different. One cannot follow Jesus and not be concerned about peace and nonviolence at every level. I am much more conscious of sudden feelings of anger inside me, of the way I avoid conflict rather than try to be active to promote peace. I want to share two quotes from the Epilogue:
"So each day we pray: 'Your reign of peace come. Your will of peace be done.' We don't wait for some far off future...the Reign of God is at hand, right now, in this very moment. We pledge to live with the God of peace, follow the Christ of peace, breathe in the Holy Spirit of peace...."
"And so we walk the narrow path of Gospel nonviolence. We are becoming Beatitude people, Sermon on the Mount people, a new breed of Christians. We go forward filled with hope into the new life of resurrection, the promised land of peace. Each step forward brings blessing upon blessing upon blessing."
John Dear is a Jesuit who lives for peace; he is a prophet for today's world.
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