In 1996, Jesuit activist John Dear spent several weeks on silent retreat in Thomas Merton's hermitage on the grounds of the Abbey of Gethsemani near Louisville, Kentucky. His journal from those days of silence and solitude invites us into Merton's own spirit of peace. The Sound of Listening takes us into both the journey of John Dear and Thomas Merton, and our own journey to peace and new life. As we enter these days of peace, we pray with John Dear the peace prayer of St. Francis and join our voice to his Updated Version of the Apostles' Creed. Together, we emerge ready for the struggle for justice, renewed for the journey of nonviolence, and enlightened to speak the good news of peace to a wartorn world.

John Dear is a priest, pastor, and peacemaker. He has served as the director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, traveled the war zones of the world, and addressed hundreds of thousands of people in thousands of lectures around the country. He has two masters in theology from the Graduate Theological Union in California. His many books include Living Peace, Jesus the Rebel, Disarming the Heart, The Questions of Jesus, and Mohandas Gandhi.