What can we do to stop the violence around us? What we can do is cultivate hearts of gentleness, tenderness, and compassion toward those around us, toward our world, and toward ourselves. We can awaken and orient our minds toward the coming Jesus, who seeks to turn us away from actions, economic choices, words, and thoughts that are destructive, hurtful, and violent. He comes to convert every ounce of our beings into instruments of peace, tools for cultivating peace gardens that germinate in our hearts and minds, and then spread life-giving seeds to our city, nation, and world.