James Martin SJ

Gabriel Is Surprised

by Jim Manney

Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, notes something unusual in a Renaissance depiction of the Annunciation: Mary is surprised, but the angel Gabriel seems to be surprised too. That’s the beginning of a fine Advent meditation. (If you can’t see the video, click here.)

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Desire for What You Want

by Jim Manney

Desire is a key concept in Ignatian spirituality; we’ve written about it frequently on dotMagis. (See, for example, here, here, and here.) When we find out what we really want, we find out what God wants too, because God has planted his desires in our hearts. But what if we don’t desire what we think [...]

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What’s Missing from the Jesuit Guide?

by Jim Manney

I thought that the “Almost” in Fr. Jim Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything was only a clever word in catchy title, but it turns out that the book really doesn’t cover everything.  The author had to drop a whole section on some of his Jesuit heroes for space reasons (St.Aloysius Gonzaga, St. Jean [...]

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What Do the Saints Have to Do with Me?

by Jim Manney

Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, has an excellent reflection for All Saints Day on The Huffington Post, titled “The Saints Were as Strange as You Are – And You Can Be as Holy as They Were.” Jim is the author of the excellent, best-selling My Life with the Saints.

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Halloween and All Saints Day Explained

by Jim Manney

What does Halloween mean?  Why does All Saints Day follow the next day?  Jim Martin, SJ, explains it all.  (Click here if you can’t see the video.)

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Built on a Rock

by Jim Manney

Jim Martin, SJ, comments on Jesus’ parable about the man who built his house on a rock: If you act on Jesus’s words (not just listen but act on them) you’ll be like the fellow who builds on rock. Your life will be steady, unshaken, permanent. Notice that Jesus does not say that you won’t [...]

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Getting Unplugged

by Maureen McCann Waldron

I was struck by the post here last week “Solitude in a World of iPad Apps” about an article by Fr. Jim Martin, SJ.  On the day it was posted here, I was ending an 8 day silent retreat at the Jesuit Retreat House in Colorado.  When I first arrived on retreat, I followed my [...]

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Solitude in a World of iPad Apps

by Jim Manney

I assume that everyone reading this is immersed in the “always on” world of the web, blogs, iPods, email, smart phones, iPads, and other devices. Pay heed to Fr. Jim Martin’s plea to disconnect every once in a while: Sometimes it seems as if we can no longer stand to be alone or be “out [...]

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Links for the Weekend

by Jim Manney

Paul Campbell, SJ, talks about his personal prayer practices. (“The most important thing I do is to see a spiritual director.”) Jim Martin, SJ, on sexual abuse and the Sacred Heart. How the St. Louis Jesuits changed liturgical music. (“One person credits them with wrecking the liturgy and the next person credits them with saving [...]

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Finding God in Our Desires

by Jim Manney

Do you know anyone with doubts about God?  Point them to three recent articles by Fr. Jim Martin, SJ, in the Huffington Post. Martin says that God can be found in a feelings of incompletion, common longings and connections, and unusual “mystical” experiences. These are expressions of desire: our desire for God and God’s desire [...]

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