James Martin SJ
My friend Susan told me yesterday about an interesting interview on National Public Radio with Jim Martin SJ. The name sounded familiar to me and I remembered reading about him and his book, My Life with the Saints, at Mark's You Duped Me Lord blog, so I decided to look him up on the web.
Father Martin is an associate editor of America, the Jesuit weekly magazine. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, he worked for six years in corporate finance before entering the Society of Jesus in 1988. As part of his Jesuit training, Father Martin worked at a hospice for the sick and dying in Kingston, Jamaica, with homeless men and women in Boston, with street gang members in Chicago, and, for two years, with East African refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. After the events of September 11, Father Martin served as a Chaplin in Lower Manhattan, near the site of the tragedy.
- John Carroll University
I wasn't able to access the NPR interview, but instead I found a three-part interview with Fr. Matin at Busted Halo, on the subject of his My Life With Saints - here's a bit of the first part ...
My hope was that people would come away from the book realizing that sanctity is not about perfection; it’s about being human. As Thomas Merton says, “To be a saint means to be myself.” A lot of books focus only on the saints’ accomplishments, as if the author thinks somehow that talking about their struggles would scandalize people. I think it’s in their struggles that the saints are most human, and that’s also where their lives intersect most with our own. What I hoped to do in this book was, in showing the saints to be human beings, people for whom I feel a great affection, to enable people to see holiness as something that’s a goal in their own lives as well .... The book took me 10 years to write, but there was never a question of whom I was going to include. One difficulty was the people I had to leave out, a choice which may be raising an eyebrow or two in heaven. Perhaps now they’re saying: “You’re praying to us but you didn’t include us in the book, huh?”.... people are looking for authentic witnesses to the gospel. Well that’s what the saints are.
***
For those obsessed with Da Vinci Code related info, see Fr. Martin's article in America, Opus Dei In the United States
Father Martin is an associate editor of America, the Jesuit weekly magazine. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, he worked for six years in corporate finance before entering the Society of Jesus in 1988. As part of his Jesuit training, Father Martin worked at a hospice for the sick and dying in Kingston, Jamaica, with homeless men and women in Boston, with street gang members in Chicago, and, for two years, with East African refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. After the events of September 11, Father Martin served as a Chaplin in Lower Manhattan, near the site of the tragedy.
- John Carroll University
I wasn't able to access the NPR interview, but instead I found a three-part interview with Fr. Matin at Busted Halo, on the subject of his My Life With Saints - here's a bit of the first part ...
My hope was that people would come away from the book realizing that sanctity is not about perfection; it’s about being human. As Thomas Merton says, “To be a saint means to be myself.” A lot of books focus only on the saints’ accomplishments, as if the author thinks somehow that talking about their struggles would scandalize people. I think it’s in their struggles that the saints are most human, and that’s also where their lives intersect most with our own. What I hoped to do in this book was, in showing the saints to be human beings, people for whom I feel a great affection, to enable people to see holiness as something that’s a goal in their own lives as well .... The book took me 10 years to write, but there was never a question of whom I was going to include. One difficulty was the people I had to leave out, a choice which may be raising an eyebrow or two in heaven. Perhaps now they’re saying: “You’re praying to us but you didn’t include us in the book, huh?”.... people are looking for authentic witnesses to the gospel. Well that’s what the saints are.
***
For those obsessed with Da Vinci Code related info, see Fr. Martin's article in America, Opus Dei In the United States
posted by crystal | 11:45 AM
10 Comments:
He sounds like a neat person--on the air and in print. Coincidentally, I entered a poetry contest sponsored by America recently. Wish me luck!
You don't need luck, Suze, you're good! :-)
I've always felt that putting saints on pedestals was a mistake. It turns them into almost a different species - mighty convenient for sinners...
I like the post.
Yesterday I posted about Blessed Damien of Molokai.The fragment below is about him from the site American Catholic:
"During the beatification homily, Pope John Paul II said: "Holiness is not perfection according to human criteria; it is not reserved for a small number of exceptional persons. It is for everyone; it is the Lord who brings us to holiness, when we are willing to collaborate in the salvation of the world for the glory of God, despite our sin and our sometimes rebellious temperament."
So, sainthood does not mean perfection.:-).
Hi Paula. I like Fr. Damien alos. I watched a movie about him once - very inspirational.
Hi Sherri. My favorite saint is Ignatius of Loyola. He had his share of foibles but what I really like about him was his belief that God wants a personal immediate love relationship with a person. Don't get me started on Augustine ... he's one of my least favorite :-)
Sherri, all I know about the incorruptibles, I learned from the X-Files (really :-). I wrote a short story, posted somewhere in my past blog posts, about a postulator and an incorruptible. I think one of the Jesuits, Francis Xavier, is supposed to also be an incorruptible.
The things I like about St. Ignatius is not his "otherworldly" attributes, but the way he was about Jesus/God. He fell in love, I think, and he showed, in his Spiritual Exercises, that we who want to, can also get to know Jesus and come to love him and expect the same and better in return.
I'm also interested in the saint book and I will eventually read it (probably after I finish the dissertation, like everything else).
Thanks for the article on the Opus Dei. It seems much closer to the scary truth than what John Allen has been saying. I don't know why Allen has swallowed the Opus side of the story hook, line, and sinker, and I think he's done the Church a great deal of damage by basically being a PR man for them. Terry Eagleton (obviously not the most objective voice) gave his book a scathing review in the April issue of Harper's.
Martin seems to be much closer to what I have experienced with the Opus Dei and what a very close friend who had been affiliated with me has told me. The forced confession is something I have personally experienced. It's funny that someone referred to them as "the Catholic Mormons." Utah-born that I am, I certianly see a connection between the two groups: aggressive recruitment and a desire to hide the more far-out aspects of belief and practice from the people they are recruiting until they're well into the conversion process.
Opus Dei is nothing less than a cult.
whoops... my friend was affiliated with "them," not "me"...
The slow recovery from grading final exams...
Liam,
In a way, Dan Brown made a good choice for his story ... Opus Dei does seem to have an almost sinister quality, and the secrecy doesn't help.
It must have been strange to grow up a Catholic in Utah. The Mormons are so different from most other christian denominations ... the idea that people eventually can become gods of other planets after death, if they're good :-) ... the plural wives ... they different way they see Jesus. The explorer Richard Burton visited Utah to meet Brigham Young - he was a bnig admirer.
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