What the raising of Lazarus can offer religious orders as vocations drop, sisters age and ministries end
James Martin, S.J.
The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, editor at large at America and founder of Outreach.
Ross Douthat and Father James Martin on God’s role in suffering
God does not make us suffer in order to teach us lessons. Rather, if we are open to it, and with God’s grace, we will learn from experiences of suffering.
Martin Scorsese on imaginative prayer and being a Catholic filmmaker
You don’t have to be a world-famous filmmaker to get something out of imaginative prayer.
Is there an ‘upside’ to aging? Sister Joyce Rupp thinks so.
Nothing in my life has been as freeing as the realization that not everyone is going to love, like or approve of me.
What is spiritual desolation—and how does God get us out of it?
“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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
