“The definition of desolation is notoriously slippery,” Father James Martin writes. “It is not simply a period of dryness in prayer, which is common to everyone.”
James Martin, S.J.
The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, editor at large at America and founder of Outreach.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Father James Martin and Anthea Butler on the problem with the prosperity gospel
If we imagine ourselves as satisfying a God who will “give us” things only if we do the “right things,” then our relationship with God becomes less a friendship and more a chore.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
The mystical experience that brought Stephen Colbert (back) to the Catholic faith
This week on “The Spiritual Life,” Father James Martin speaks with Stephen Colbert about his experience of being a “fallen away” Catholic and returning to the faith.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Mary Karr on being brutally honest with God
“One of the things I find most appealing about the award-winning writer and poet Mary Karr is her forthright, almost brutal, honesty.”
Posted inFaith
Pete Buttigieg on identity and faith in public life
This week on “The Spiritual Life,” Father James Martin speaks with former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg about faith, fatherhood and his “Jesuit background.”
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Whoopi Goldberg on God, authenticity and ‘acting the fool’
Father James Martin reflects on his conversation with actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg about the importance of “laughing and dancing and and acting the fool” before God.
Posted inFaith, Podcasts
Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe and the importance of friendship in the spiritual life
Father James Martin reflects on his conversation with Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., who, he says, “changed how I looked not only at friendship, but also, the church.”
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
White smoke, a new pope and the sound of the Holy Spirit
Suddenly I heard the most beautiful noise I have ever heard in my life: the sound of tens of thousands of people cheering as they saw the white smoke pouring from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel.
Posted inConclave Diary, Faith
What name will the next pope take—and what will it mean?
The choice of a papal name is said to be the new pope’s first important decision.
Posted inConclave Diary, Faith
Father James Martin: The truth about the conclave? Nobody knows anything.
Much of what you hear about who the next pope will be, spoken with enormous confidence by people in the know, is often completely contradictory.