New: "Father James Martin: Pope Leo’s message for LGBTQ Catholics." My reflections on my meeting with the Holy Father yesterday. outreach.faith/2025/09/fath...
Jesuit priest, editor at large of America Media, founder of Outreach, consultor for the Dicastery for Communication, author of "Come Forth." https://linktr.ee/jamesmartinsj
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New: "Father James Martin: Pope Leo’s message for LGBTQ Catholics." My reflections on my meeting with the Holy Father yesterday. outreach.faith/2025/09/fath...
Who can you ask to "come up higher" in your life? Most of us aren't callous enough shut outcasts out, but are there times when you could be more welcoming? A meditation on today's Gospel reading: outreach.faith/2025/08/who-...
Also available on Spotify and Apple: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
I can't tell you how helpful Ron Rolheiser's books have been in my life, especially "Sacred Fire," which talks in depth about "staying the course." So I'm delighted to share this conversation on "The Spiritual Life," which is packed with spiritual wisdom. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxB0...
Does Jesus know you? And do you know him? In today's Gospel, Jesus rejects some people from the reign of God by saying, "I don't know where you are from." Why does he say this? A meditation: outreach.faith/2025/08/does...
President Trump says he want to enter heaven. As a Catholic priest, I take that seriously. www.americamagazine.org/faithinfocus...
Our conversation is available on YouTube, as well as Spotify and Apple podcasts. All the links (and the links to all our episodes) are here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Dear friends: I'm delighted to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life," with the youngest woman delegate at the Synod: the remarkable Julia Oseka, who speaks about her Polish upbringing, finding God and what the church should know about young Catholics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGBp...
Dear friends: I'm happy to share an edited version of my talk to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the umbrella group for many Catholic Sisters communities in the US, on what the Gospel story of Lazarus might be able to teach us. www.americamagazine.org/faithinfocus...
35 years ago today, I professed my First Vows as a Jesuit, poverty, chastity and obedience, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Boston, along with my novice classmate Bill Campbell, SJ. I try my best to live those vows as fully as I can. And I thank God every day for my Jesuit vocation.
Does Jesus want us to be divided? Today he says he came to bring "division." But elsewhere, he prays we all "may be one." Jesus means that his presence will force a choice, which will naturally divide: Are you with him or not? A meditation today's Gospel: outreach.faith/2025/08/does...
Dear friends: Today is the publication date for my new book, "In All Seasons, For All Reasons," Vol. 2 from @litpress.bsky.social I hope this little book (very reasonably priced) helps draw you closer to God in prayer. litpress.org/Products/018...
We spoke today about what the story of the new life that Jesus gives to Lazarus might say to religious orders today. I was deeply moved to be among over 900 Catholic and especially moved to have them pray over me before my talk. Sisters are my heroes!
(Yesterday's keynote was Sister Simone Brambilla, the prefect of the Vatican dicastery for religious orders.)
I was so honored to speak this morning in Atlanta, Georgia, at the annual conference of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella organization for many Congregations of Catholic Sisters in the US.
Also available on Spotify, Apple podcasts and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Those links are here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Dear friends: I'm happy to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life" podcast, with the New York Times columnist and author Ross Douthat, who shares how he found God in a time of suffering, and discusses his new book on belief. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuow...
Your heart is like a room. Why not escort all the things that are crowding that room out the door? Then there will be room for Jesus, who is your treasure. A meditation on today's Gospel: outreach.faith/2025/08/wher...
Martin Scorsese on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola and imaginative prayer. You can find our conversation on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Martin Scorsese on imaginative prayer and being a Catholic filmmaker www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/202...
Links to this interview on Spotify and Apple (as well as links to all our episodes) are available here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Delighted to share our conversation with Martin Scorsese on "The Spiritual Life" podcast. The film director shares stories about growing up Catholic in New York and how the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius recently helped to "immerse" him in the Life of Christ. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Nf...
"There's more to life than a little money." What Marge Gunderson of "Fargo" and Jesus's Parable of the Rich Fool have in common. There's enough and then there's too much. A meditation on today's powerful Gospel: outreach.faith/2025/08/ther...
Also available on Spotify, Apple and other places. Links here: www.npr.org/podcasts/510...
Dear friends: I was so happy to be invited to Wild Card with Rachel Martin on @npr.org. Rachel asked me several surprising questions and I had a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU_r...
Happy Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, Founder of the Society of Jesus! May you find God in all things!
Sister Joyce Rupp, OSM, the well-known spiritual writer on the upside of aging. Listen to all of Sister Joyce's wisdom on the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life," now available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7et2...
Sister Joyce, the author of many wonderful books on prayer and the spiritual life (many of which I've used on retreats), is the latest guest on "The Spiritual Life" podcast, which is available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple.
Dear friends: I'm delighted to share our conversation with the amazing poet and writer Sister Joyce Rupp, OSM, on a spirituality of aging, of being free of the need to please everyone and embracing your true self. www.youtube.com/watch?v=y34u...
Is it okay to ask God for help? Absolutely. After all, the Our Father is, in part, a prayer of petition. And Jesus says, "Ask and you shall receive." But what happens when it seems that we're not receiving what we asked for? A meditation today's Gospel. outreach.faith/2025/07/is-i...
Jesus felt deep compassion, in his guts, for anyone who was poor, sick, hungry or struggling in any way. For the Christian, then, empathy is not a sign of weakness but of strength, as we follow Jesus along the road of compassion. (Image: "The Return of the Prodigal Son," by Rembrandt)
Sympathy is feeling how you would feel if you were suffering like the other person. Empathy is feeling how they would feel. Compassion is the willingness to suffer what they are suffering, alongside them.
In other words, Jesus himself felt compassion so intensely that he felt it in his guts. And his own parables invite us to feel that same compassion ourselves.
or the compassion of the loving father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:20).
That word is used repeatedly in the Gospels to describe Jesus's emotional reactions. Jesus himself also uses the same word in some of his most famous parables: for example, to describe the feelings of the Good Samaritan towards the man by the side of the road (Luke 10:33),
Basically, that word means that he felt compassion in his spleen, or as we might say, in his "guts," the seat of emotion in the Hellenistic world. It is an almost physical reaction to seeing someone suffer.
In Matthew 9:36, when Jesus sees hungry crowds, "like sheep without a shepherd," the Greek word used to describe his feeling is σπλάγχνον ("splagchnon").
Over and over in the Gospels, an important word is used to describe what Jesus feels whenever he sees someone who is poor, or hungry or struggling. Most English-language translations say that upon seeing suffering, Jesus's "heart was moved with pity."
Re: the idea that empathy or compassion is bad or even "toxic," a belief held even by some Christians today. There is problem with that belief, and that problem comes from Jesus himself....
Dear friends: I'm so happy to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life": a conversation with Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago, a church leader whom I first came to know at the Synod of the Bishops. He is a remarkable person...
I really enjoyed my conversation with Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago on the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life." His description of his encounter with desolation was so helpful. But what is desolation and how do we work through it? www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/0...
More about the podcast and links to all our episodes here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/56Dj...
Be sure to listen to the wisdom of the man his friends call "Archbishop J," now available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple podcasts!
...with a fascinating past and a deep grasp of the spiritual life. Especially compelling is the story of his 16-year bout of dryness in prayer and his sudden experience of God, which ultimately led to his vocation as a priest, and his insights on what it means to nurture an "adult faith."
Dear friends: I'm so happy to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life": a conversation with Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago, a church leader whom I first came to know at the Synod of the Bishops. He is a remarkable person...
Anyone preparing homilies for this weekend will notice that the First Reading is Abraham's bargaining with God to prevent God's wrath against Sodom and Gomorrah. Here is one of the world's most distinguished Old Testament scholars on what the sins of those cities were. outreach.faith/2024/03/rich...
For Martha, openness, honesty and intimacy lead to an even closer relationship with Jesus. It’s the same in our spiritual lives. A meditation on today's beautiful Gospel: outreach.faith/2025/07/let-...
Dear friends: Join us (after a two-week hiatus) for our Friday faith sharing and Bible study) at 3 PM ET on my Facebook page, when we'll discuss this Sunday's Gospel: Jesus's visit to the house of Martha and Mary (Lk 10). As ever, I'm looking forward to your insights!
LGBTQ+ friendly Catholic churches in NYC embrace inclusivity, becoming safe havens for all www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/l...
Liturgical Press did a beautiful job on this book and I'm also so happy that the price is so reasonable. I hope that you find it helpful, in all seasons and for all reasons! Pub date: Aug. 15, but available for pre-order now!
The book (the first volume came out a few years back) is drawn from my monthly columns on prayer in "Give Us This Day," which touch on a variety of topics, questions, methods of prayers and liturgical seasons.
It's very reasonably priced and Liturgical Press is also offering great bulk discounts for parishes and reading groups.
Dear friends: Yesterday I received the first (lovely!) copies of "In All Seasons, For All Reasons," Vol. 2. It's a short book that offers practical guidance on prayer and the spiritual life in general. Link here: litpress.org/Products/018...
And Apple podcasts! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
In addition to YouTube (link above) "The Spiritual Life" podcast is available on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3qll...
...the intellectual tradition of the church, the experience of Black Catholics, the appeal of Evangelical churches and the dangers of the Prosperity Gospel.
Delighted to share with you our fascinating interview with the amazing Anthea Butler, on the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life" podcast. Anthea speaks about her own history as a Catholic (and Evangelical)... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj9J...
Imagine today's Parable of the Good Samaritan from the perspective of the beaten man by the side of the road. His eventual salvation depends upon the person he considers to be foreign, different, "other." Does yours? A meditation on today's Gospel. outreach.faith/2025/07/your...
We can say that a mystical experience is one where you feel overwhelmed or even bowled over by God’s presence. As Stephen Colbert shows, sometimes it comes in a kind of dramatic, seemingly once-in-a-lifetime encounter where you are sure that this is God. www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/0...
Delighted to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life," with our guest Stephen Colbert. It's an open, honest, inspiring (and funny) conversation about his spiritual life, which touches on the loss of his father and two brothers at an early age, his... www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p9H...
..meeting with Pope Francis, and a life-changing encounter with a Gideon Bible. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Links here (as well as eps w Timothy Radcliffe, Whoopi Goldberg, Pete Buttigieg and Mary Karr): www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Delighted to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life," with our guest Stephen Colbert. It's an open, honest, inspiring (and funny) conversation about his spiritual life, which touches on the loss of his father and two brothers at an early age, his... www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p9H...
Today's Gospel, in which Jesus sends the disciples out defenseless, also shows us how Jesus invites us to deal with opposition, which he fully expects. outreach.faith/2025/07/how-...
So far, you can listen to conversations with Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP; Whoopi Goldberg, Pete Buttigieg @petebuttigieg.bsky.social and Mary Karr. New episodes drop on Tuesdays! (And we've got a great one coming up this week). You can listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple. See link above!
Dear friends: If you've got some free time this weekend, you might want to check out some of the episodes from our new America Media podcast "The Spiritual Life," where we speak to people about their experiences of God in their prayer and daily lives... www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
I'm delighted to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life" podcast, with the writer Mary Karr, who talks about her life as a "black-belt sinner" and, ultimately, a believer and maybe (as I see it) even a mystic. Our conversation is now available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUT6...
I was happy to help lead the first @OutrchCatholic retreat for LGBTQ Catholics, their families and friends, and those who minister to them. And the most surprising part of the retreat was the unbelievable welcome from the Norbertines at Daylesford Abbey. outreach.faith/2025/07/outr...
Also, audio (read by me): www.amazon.com/Come-Forth-P...
Dear friends: I just received word that "Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus's Greatest Miracle," a "deep dive" into the Raising of Lazarus, has been selected for an e-book and audiobook Prime Day Deal. Very reasonable prices for those on limited incomes. E-book www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1DSFWJ...
You can hear our whole conversation here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
Mary Karr on being brutally honest with God. www.americamagazine.org/faith/2025/0...
And remember, 93% have no record of any violent crimes. This facility, then, is comparable to the internment camps for Japanese Americans during the Second World War. But let's call it what it is: a concentration camp. Jesus wept.
Laughing in front of cages designed to hold migrants and refugees, many of whom came to this country fleeing extreme violence and poverty, and hoping to raise their children in a more compassionate country. And many of whom followed all the legal procedures to enter the country.
What would Jesus say about transferring wealth to the rich? No speculation needed. "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep" (Lk. 6: 24-26).
Our previous episodes, with Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP; Whoopi Goldberg and Pete Buttigieg are also available on all those platforms. Our podcast explores how people find God in their prayer and in their daily lives. www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
And Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
As well as on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/39gt...
I'm delighted to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life" podcast, with the writer Mary Karr, who talks about her life as a "black-belt sinner" and, ultimately, a believer and maybe (as I see it) even a mystic. Our conversation is now available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUT6...
Christians know that Jesus is the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity. But still, the question, "Who do you say that I am?" is one to ponder. So is: "Who is Jesus for you?" A meditation on the Gospel for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul: outreach.faith/2025/06/who-...
Congratulations to David van Biema for his Second Place win for "Best Multimedia Package" at the Catholic Media Awards last night for his Outreach profile of Sister Luisa Derouen, OP, who worked with transgender Catholics and their families and friends for decades. outreach.faith/2024/08/no-b...
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that allows parents to exempt children from LGBTQ stories on religious grounds, @jamesmartinsj writes that not only is telling stories important, they help us understand the world around us. Read more: outreach.faith/2025/06/lgbt...
A new excerpt from our conversation with @petebuttigieg.bsky.social on "The Spiritual Life," a new podcast available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts and anywhere you listen to podcasts. More info here: www.americamagazine.org/thespiritual...
More on the Sacred Heart here: www.americamagazine.org/faith/2012/0...
May Saints Margaret Mary and Claude pray for all of us on this special day. And may we always try to love like Jesus. Image: Sacred Heart Altar, Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City.
It's a day when we think about how Jesus loved--and loves--the world. One question I always ask myself on this beautiful day is: How can I love more like Jesus?
Through St. Claude, the devotion spread to Great Britain and then to the rest of Europe, and finally to the world.
Shortly afterward, St. Claude la Colombière, SJ, arrived (making his Jesuit tertianship nearby) and helped her to be confident in her spiritual experiences. (And isn't being Jesus's "perfect friend" a great way of describing discipleship?)
Initially, Margaret Mary's visions were dismissed by many of the Visitandine Sisters in her convent. But, nearing despair, in a vision she was told by Jesus that his "faithful servant and perfect friend" would soon come to help her.
...and it's also the 350th anniversary year of the apparitions to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in her convent in Paray-le-Monial, in 17th-century France.
Dear friends: Today is one of the most beautiful feasts (a solemnity, in fact) of the entire liturgical year, and an even more special day this year. It's the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...
And Apple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
Also on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7Mp3uKZ...
Happy to share the latest episode of "The Spiritual Life," a conversation with @petebuttigieg.bsky.social about spiritual wholeness, integrity, a father's love--and the Father's love. Also, did you know his own father was a Jesuit? www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIft...
What a joy to meet you all, pray with you and hear your beautiful faith journeys. And to all who couldn't come, we prayed for you! Our next big event will be our national conference next summer at Georgetown University. More about Outreach here: outreach.faith.
I was so grateful that so many people came from so far (Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Florida, among the places people traveled from) and that so many from the area signed up as "commuters."
The Norbertines at Daylesford Abbey went above and beyond in their hospitality, inviting us to sit with them in the cloistered area of their beautiful chapel and join them in daily prayers and Masses. (Our group were great chanters and singers!)