Here is a richly developed salute to peacemaking by someone who really walks his talk. John Dear has been on the frontlines of civil disobedience for two decades. A Jesuit priest and director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest and oldest interfaith peace organization in the United States, he has participated in nonviolent demonstrations at the White House, the Strategic Air Command Base, West Point Academy, Livermore Nuclear Weapon Laboratories, Conard Naval Weapons Station, and elsewhere.
In this prophetic work, he calls us to become peacemakers "within our own broken hearts and broken families, in our bloody city streets and corrupt government offices, in the war zones and refugee camps." The first section of the book, "The Depths of Peace," covers ways to nurture peace in our hearts through solitude, silence, listening, letting go, and intimate prayer. In "The Heights of Peace: The Public Journey," Dear makes clear the high cost of speaking the truth, resisting evil, disarming the world, and working for justice. The life of peace excludes no one and will not abide reason, sexism, hate, and exclusionary actions.
In "The Horizons of Peace," Dear challenges us to take seriously Jesus' call to love our enemies, build community, forgive seventy times seven, practice reconciliation, and live in hope. Throughout the book, the author pays tribute to the great peacemakers who have gone before us including St. Francis, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Dorothy Day. Gandhi, one of the great souls and leaders of peace, once said: "When the practice of nonviolence becomes universal, God will reign on earth as God does in heaven." Dear and others who are involved in this Great Work are an inspiration to us all.
