Things I Never Want To Do Again
"Be a jerk. You're tired. You're rushed. You've got a cold. You're late. You're angry about something your boss said. Yes, you are miserable. That doesn't mean you have to be a jerk to everyone else. It really doesn't. Sure, share your frustration and struggles with close friends, but don't make everyone else's life more miserable by passing on your misery. Once I joked to a friend, 'Boy, my life is such a cross!' 'Yes,' he said, 'But for you or others?' "
"Make fun of people. Nothing brings me lower than a few minutes of mocking another person. (Particularly if the person is not present.) But the snappy putdown has high value in our culture, and famous snubs are often repeated approvingly. Much of our current political climate consists in (sic) politicians mocking their opponents. (That's been a big help, hasn't it?) Malicious speech is an easy way to wound. If you feel powerless to resist badmouthing someone, ask yourself three questions: Is it kind? Is it necessary? Is it true?"
— James Martin: Essential Writings
U.S. Churches Need Help
"The church in this country needs help. It needs single and married Catholics, and it needs divorced and remarried Catholics. It needs Catholics who protest at the former School of the Americas, and it needs Catholics who pray at Medjugorge (sic). It needs Call to Action and it needs Opus Dei. It needs Commonweal and it needs Crisis. It needs conservatives and liberals, men and women, gays and straights."
— James Martin: Essential Writings
A Call to Holiness
"The primary difficulty in grasping the universal call to holiness is that many people feel that they have to be something else or someone else in order to be holy. A generous young mother who spends most of her waking moments caring for her children, for example, may say to herself, sadly, 'I'll never be like Mother Teresa.' "
— James Martin: Essential Writings
Define Ignatian Spirituality
"If anyone asks you to define Ignatian spirituality in a few words, you could say that it is:
"1. Finding God in all things
2. Becoming a contemplative in action
3. Looking at the world in an incarnational way
4. Seeking freedom and detachment."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
Religion Brings Humanity
"Religion can lead people to do terrible things. At its best, though, religion modifies our natural tendency to believe that we have all the answers. So despite what many detractors say, and despite the arrogance that sometimes infects religious groups, religion at its best introduces humanity into your life."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
Finding God Where You Are
"Do you find joy through nature? Look for God in the sea, the sky, the woods, and the fields and streams. Do you engage the world through action? Look for God in your work. Do you enjoy the arts? Go to a museum, or to a concert, or to the movies, and seek God there."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
Discerning the Voice of God
"What you 'hear' in prayer needs to harmonize with your religious beliefs, what fits with your understanding of God, and what you know about yourself. In other words, Does this make sense? In time, you will be able to better discern what seems authentically from God."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
Living Simply and Poverty
"But the two are inextricably connected: living simply means that one needs less and takes less from the world, and is therefore more able to give to those in poverty. Living simply can aid the poor.
"Entering into the lives of the poor also encourages simple living. You see how the poor are able to manage with so little. How they sometimes live with greater freedom. How they are often more generous with what they have. And how they are often more grateful for life than the wealthy."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
Ignatian Discernment
"The flip side of consolation is desolation. By this Ignatius means anything that moves you toward hopelessness. You are agitated or restless or, as Ignatius says, 'listless, tepid, and unhappy.' These feelings mean you are moving away from a good decision.
"Ignatian discernment means trusting that God will speak to you through these spiritual experiences about the choices you are considering. As Fleming writes, our hearts will gradually tell us which choices are moving us closer to God. All this is based on the belief that God does move our hearts and that we can grow in our sensitivity to God's voice within us."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
A Parable
"An elderly stone-carver was working in a medieval cathedral on a marble statue of a saint. He spent many days carefully carving the intricate folds of her dress, on the back of the statue. First he used a large chisel, then a smaller one, and then sanded it down with great care. Another stone-carver noticed what he was doing and realized that the statue would be placed in a dark niche, its back facing the wall, his friend's handiwork hidden. 'Why are you doing that hard work?' his friend asked. 'No one will see it.'
" ' God will,' he said."
— The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
Companioning St. Therese of Lisieux
"I find [Saint] Therese to be a companionable presence, a cheerful sister, a patient woman, and a lifelong believer. She is joyful, patient, and generous. She is someone whose company, had I known her, would have made me a better Christian. Most of all, she reminds me of those men and women I have met over the course of my life who are — to use an underused word — kind. So Therese is someone I like to read about, pray with, and pray to."
— My Life with the Saints
Humor is Holy
"In some religious circles joy, humor, and laughter are viewed the same way the crabby priest saw levity: as excessive. Excessive, irrelevant, ridiculous, inappropriate, and even scandalous. But a lighthearted spirit is none of those things. Rather, it is an essential element of a healthy spiritual life and a healthy life in general. When we lose sight of this serious truth, we cease to live life fully, truly, and wholly. Indeed, we fail to be holy."
— Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
Joy is Your Connection to God
"Joy is not simply a fleeting feeling or an evanescent emotion; it is a deep-seated result of one's connection to God. Although the more secular definition of joy may sometimes describe one's emotional response to an object or event, wonderful though it may be (a new job, for example), religious joy is always about a relationship. Joy has an object and the object is God."
— Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
God Has a Sense of Humor
"In my own mind, Jesus must have been a clever, witty, and even funny man. His humor nearly leaps off the page in some of his highly original parables, in his zippy asides to the Roman authorities, in his tart replies to the scribes and the Pharisees, and even in his off-the cuff remarks. If we look at his human side, it's hard to imagine someone being able to put up with the often spectacularly obtuse disciples without a sense of humor. If we look at his divine side, it's hard to imagine God not smiling at some of the absurdities of the world."
— Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
Humor Foster Good Human Relations
"Humor is important not only for those who work in an official capacity in an institutional religion, but in any work environment. Humor fosters good human relations and so naturally helps in many social settings, particularly when the group is faced with a difficult task. In his parables, for example, Jesus used a little mirth to help people understand difficult topics."
— Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
Gifts from God
"Joy, humor and laughter should be part of everyone's spiritual life. They are gifts from God and help us enjoy creation. 'A good laugh is a sign of love,' said Karl Rahner. 'It may be said to give us a glimpse of, or a first lesson in, the love that God bears for every one of us.' "
— Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
Humor Reminds Us That We're Not in Control
"If we don’t laugh at ourselves, God will remind us to. God invites us to laugh at ourselves and recall our limitations by revealing our own weakness. By recognizing the dumb mistakes we make, the silly things we do, and the pompous attitudes we strike, we can embrace a real poverty of spirit."
— Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life
A Mystery Worth Pondering
"There are also questions about the fully human, fully divine person that we cannot answer. What went on inside Jesus's mind? How does this humanity 'cooperate' (to use a dull word) with his divinity and vice versa? To what extent was the human person conscious of his divinity? These questions, like so much about Jesus, remain a mystery.
"But although Jesus's identity as the fully human Son of God remains a mystery, it is a beautiful mystery, the most beautiful one I know, and well worth pondering."
— Jesus: A Pilgrimage
Humility as the Gateway to Faith
"During the ride back to Jerusalem on the Number 21 bus, I thought about the exits and entrances. The image of the Door of Humility struck me, as did the legend on a small sign near the entrance to the Church of the Nativity:
"We are hoping that: If you enter here as a tourist,
You would exit as a pilgrim.
If you enter here as a pilgrim,
You would exit as a holier one.
"As I mentioned, you have to kneel to pass through the Door of Humility. That action is a striking image of the life of belief. For humility is the gateway to faith. Without it, we rely simply on our own efforts, without recognizing our dependence on God. Without it, we rely simply on our own reason, without opening ourselves up to the possibility of the miraculous. Without it, we cannot fully enter in the world that God has in store for us."
— Jesus: A Pilgrimage
Other's Opinions
"Jesus's freedom sprang from an unwillingness to let other people's opinions determine his actions. If he had succumbed to what other people thought, he never would have spoken in the synagogue, he never would have healed anyone, he never would have stilled a storm. He never would have raised anyone from the dead, for fear of offending those in authority. He never would have opened his mouth to proclaim the Good News."
— Jesus: A Pilgrimage
Desire and Conversation
"The story of Bartimaeus is not just a story about something most of us will never experience — a miraculous healing — it is also a story about something common to our experience: desire and conversation.
"Desire often gets a bad rap in religious circles because of two common misinterpretations. First, we think of desire only in terms of surface wants. ('I want a new car!') Second, we think of it only as sexual desire or lust. ('I must have you!') But without healthy desires we would cease to exist in any real way. We wouldn't want to study or learn. We wouldn't want to earn a living to support our families. We wouldn't want to help lessen suffering. And without sexual desire, we wouldn’t be here."
— Jesus: A Pilgrimage
