Posts Tagged ‘Jesuit Father James Martin’

A prolific writer and the cultural editor for America Magazine, Jesuit Father James Martin also frequently contributes to the Huffington Post‘s Religion section. There, Fr. Martin shared a recent video from his own DVD series on the life of the saints where he explains the religious conversion of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, and his lasting contributions to those seeking spiritual guidance and a closer relationship with God.

You can watch it here:

As word got out that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a Navy SEAL strike team in Pakistan, television and the Internet quickly began to feature images of spontaneous celebrations outside the White House and at ground zero in New York.

Just as quickly, blogs and social media pages such as Facebook began to rage with debates: about the morality of bin Laden’s killing and how it was accomplished and about the appropriateness of the celebratory atmosphere. Others questioned the meaning of the “justice” described by President Barack Obama in announcing bin Laden’s death.

In one of the Catholic blog discussions, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor of the Jesuit magazine, America, captured some of the more charitable threads of the Internet debate:

“The Christian is not simply in favor of life for the unborn, for the innocent, for those we care for, for our families and friends, for our fellow citizens, for our fellow church members or even for those whom we consider good, but for all.  All life is sacred because God created all life.  This is what lies behind Jesus’s most difficult command: “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” wrote Martin.

“As a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him. And that command comes to us from Jesus, a man who was beaten, tortured and killed. That command comes from a man who knows a great deal about suffering. It also comes from God.”

To read Jesuit Father James Martin’s full blog post on the Christian Response, please visit America Magazine’s In All Things blog.

[Catholic News Service]

As word got out that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a Navy SEAL strike team in Pakistan, television and the Internet quickly began to feature images of spontaneous celebrations outside the White House and at ground zero in New York.

Just as quickly, blogs and social media pages such as Facebook began to rage with debates: about the morality of bin Laden’s killing and how it was accomplished and about the appropriateness of the celebratory atmosphere. Others questioned the meaning of the “justice” described by President Barack Obama in announcing bin Laden’s death.

In one of the Catholic blog discussions, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor of the Jesuit magazine, America, captured some of the more charitable threads of the Internet debate:

“The Christian is not simply in favor of life for the unborn, for the innocent, for those we care for, for our families and friends, for our fellow citizens, for our fellow church members or even for those whom we consider good, but for all.  All life is sacred because God created all life.  This is what lies behind Jesus’s most difficult command: “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” wrote Martin.

“As a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him. And that command comes to us from Jesus, a man who was beaten, tortured and killed. That command comes from a man who knows a great deal about suffering. It also comes from God.”

To read Jesuit Father James Martin’s full blog post on the Christian Response, please visit America Magazine’s In All Things blog.

[Catholic News Service]

During Vice President Joe Biden’s travels to Russia to meet with President Medvedev, his staff reached out to Jesuit Father Janez Sever asking him to celebrate Ash Wednesday with Biden and his staff. The Russian Jesuit accepted the opportunity with grace and humility “to make this Lent an effective moment in [Biden’s] life.” Sever reflected on his recent thirty day retreat experience for his homily during the service and encouraged Biden and his staff to remember that Lent is an opportunity for spiritual reflection when they should take time to listen to God and to examine their deepest desires. Many of Biden’s staff shared with Sever their background of having attended Jesuit universities. Sever also presented the vice president with a copy of Jesuit Father James Martin’s bestselling book “The Jesuit’s Guide to (Almost) Everything” as Sever finds Fr. Martin’s writing style approachable and inspiring to those seeking to find God in their daily lives. Biden told Sever that he was very familiar with Fr. Martin having had read much of the popular priest’s book and accepted Sever’s gift with thanks and appreciation.

This morning, Jesuit Father James Martin, cultural editor for America magazine and author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, appeared on the Fox & Friends show to discuss if the true meaning of Christmas is being lost due to consumerism and the focus on shopping in our society. Father Martin said during the program that “people feel really overwhelmed by the consumerism and they have a hard time carving out a spiritual space for Christmas”. During the interview, Martin discussed how using overtly Christian themes like “believe”, which are associated with Christmas and are now just being used to market goods, disassociates the religious aspects of the holiday.

You can watch the interview with Martin here.