Posts Tagged ‘Jesuit Father Jim Martin’

Jesuit Father Jim Martin, “chaplain” to the late night Colbert Report, recently stopped by the satirical show to answer some questions from political humorist and host Stephen Colbert about God’s job and job performance.

When asked what God’s job is, Fr. Martin said it is “sustaining the universe.” Colbert then asked if we can judge him. “No,” Martin said.

“I think we can try to understand the universe and God’s ways, but ultimately it is mysterious … things like famines, floods, natural disasters, these things have confounded theologians and saints for years,” Martin continued.

Martin said the question of why God allows these things to happen is really something we probably won’t be able to answer until the end of our lives when we meet God.

The comedian also asked Martin why God’s approval ratings are so low right now.

Martin said, “I think that frequently when people are thinking about God’s ‘performance rating’ or what they think about God, they are thinking of how things are in their lives. If you are a Christian … you look at Jesus and things didn’t always work out for him either.”

But Martin points out, “God would never destroy a relationship that he had created. So the relationship God has with you is something that’s going to endure forever.”

Like many, Jesuit Father James Martin watched the tsunami after the Mar. 11 earthquake in Japan unfold on T.V.

For years now, Americans have been used to television that shows “reality that is unreal,” said Fr. Martin, who is the culture editor of America magazine.

“A lot of these reality shows are based on watching people suffer — watching them suffer physically, watching them suffer financially,” he said. “It’s important to recognize that we don’t have to create suffering in this world. There is suffering in this world.”

Martin said that nonbelievers may well have an easier time digesting the images from Japan than believers, because “the nonbeliever does not have to grapple with: How does a good God let this happen?

“Most people can make sense of what theologians call ‘moral evil’ — evil that comes from human decisions,” he said. “But natural disasters and catastrophic illnesses really test the believers’ faith. There is no satisfactory answer for why there is such suffering in the world on a natural level.”

Martin said that no explanation can fully satisfy that question of why we suffer, and “anyone who says they have the answer is either a fool or a liar.”

For more thoughts from Martin on the question of suffering, visit the L.A. Times and America magazine.

Jesuit Father Jim Martin, author and cultural editor for America magazine, visited Loyola University Chicago earlier this month and gave a talk on “Laughing with the Saints: Joy, Humor and Laughter in the Spiritual Life.”

He said that people often approach their relationship with God with dead seriousness, but he said that “joy, humor and laughter share one’s faith in God.”

Fr. Martin said, “Humor sometimes seems to count as a strike against people in the church, when I think it should be seen as a requirement.

“I would bet that the man whose first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding feast understood the need for some high spirits in life,” he said.

“Live your own vocation joyfully,” he told his audience.

Jesuit Father Jim Martin recently turned 50, and to mark the occasion he tweeted 12 things that he wished he had known at 25.

Here are a few of Fr. Martin’s insights or read the full list here.

1. First up: Stop worrying so much! It’s useless. (i.e., Jesus was right.)
2. Being a saint means being yourself. Stop trying to be someone else and just be your best self. Saves you heartache.
3. There’s no right way to pray, any more than there’s a right way to be a friend. What’s “best” is what works best for you.
4. Remember three things and save yourself lots of unneeded heartache: You’re not God. This ain’t heaven. Don’t act like a jerk.
5. Your deepest, most heartfelt desires are God’s desires for you. And vice versa. Listen. And follow them.

During last week’s A Conversation with the Archbishop on Sirius Satellite Radio’s The Catholic Channel, Jesuit Father Jim Martin was interviewed by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan on Jesuit topics like America magazine, Fr. Martin’s books on saints and Ignatian spirituality, and Archbishop Dolan’s own experiences while taking an Ignatian retreat.

You can listen to the interview below. Archbishop Dolan’s radio program airs weekly on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 159.