Seek Dialogue — Not Violence
Intolerance, hatred and violence are gripping our communities and tearing them apart. It is becoming a standard response by some against people who disagree with them or their group, or who do not hold the same opinions or values. Meeting hatred with hatred and violence with violence only provokes further retaliation and escalation of the situation. Take time to reflect on the following pearls of perennial wisdom:
"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind" — Mahatma Gandhi
"If there is to be peace in the world, it must begin with me" — Thomas Paine.
"We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves" —Dalai Lama.
"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love" —Francis of Assisi
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten we belong to each other" —Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
"Peace* I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" —Jesus of Nazareth
We are all created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), members of the human family, and called to be children of God. Any perceived separateness from God or from one another is a human-created illusion. For "in [God] we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Violence against anyone is violence against the dignity and wholeness of the human family.
Jesus opposed all forms of hatred and violence. As Pope Francis explained: 1
Jesus himself lived in violent times. Yet he taught that the true battlefield, where violence and peace meet, is the human heart: for “it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come” (Mk 7:21) . . . . But Christ’s message in this regard offers a radically positive approach. He unfailingly preached God’s unconditional love, which welcomes and forgives. He taught his disciples to love their enemies (cf. Matthew 5:44) 2 and to turn the other cheek (cf. Matthew 5:39). 3 When he stopped her accusers from stoning the woman caught in adultery (cf. John 8:1-11), and when, on the night before he died, he told Peter to put away his sword (cf. Matthew 26:52). 4
Our hope for change lies with embracing the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit to transform hearts and minds. Instead of violence and hatred, let us seek and promote respectful and meaningful dialogue with each other. This requires us to be open to receiving and understanding different perspectives and points of view from our own, and to allow the possibility that our pre-conceived thoughts, interests and understandings of issues could be wrong, or even changed or affected as a result. We must respectfully and actively seek to correctly understand what facts, thoughts, feelings, ideas, messages, or other information others are seeking to convey through their speech, writings, images, symbols, or other non-verbal communications. We should expect and request others to give us the same consideration. Our dialogue should always be conducted with respect and love in search of understanding, truth, and wisdom for the common good.
1. "A Message of His Holiness, Pope Francis, for the Celebration of the Fiftieth World Day of Peace, January 1, 2017: 'Nonviolence: A Style of Politics for Peace,'" assessed at https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/peace/documents/papa-francesco_20161208_messaggio-l-giornata-mondiale-pace-2017.html (September 12, 2025; internal footnotes omitted).
2 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:43-45).
3 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile,* go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow" (Matthew 5:38-42).
4. "Then Jesus said to him, 'Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword'" (Matthew 26:52)