The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Latest Episodes:

How to read, interpret and pray with the Bible Nov 10, 2026

Show notes

The Bible is a complex library of history, wisdom and spirituality all communicating God’s intimate and inclusive presence. How can we study these texts to better understand them, and at the same time learn to pray with them? To discuss this, Jame Martin, S.J, welcomes Sister Barbara Reid, O.P. to “The Spiritual Life.” Sister Barbara is a Dominican sister of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a leading biblical scholar, who also specializes in feminist interpretations of Scripture. She was the first woman religious to serve as the president of Catholic Theological Union, in Chicago, where she continues to teach New Testament studies, and is also a former president of the Catholic Biblical Association. She is the general editor of theWisdom Commentary series, a collection of biblical commentaries and is the author of many books on biblical criticism, the New Testament and feminist approaches to Scripture.

Chapters:

00:00 Who is Sister Barbara Reid, OP?

7:16 Becoming a Dominican Sister

10:36 Daily prayer as a Dominican

15:15 Studying vs. praying the Scriptures

18:17 Sr. Barbara's journey with the Bible

27:00 What Christians need to know

31:48 "Compassion" in the Bible

35:58 Feminist approaches to the Bible

43:58 Tackling difficult Bible passages

47:04 Feminist approaches to Jesus

54:30 How Jesus upended gender roles

56:05 Audience question: Finding affirmation in the church

Read Maggi's spiritual advice column for this episode

Links from the show:

At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation

Wisdom’s Feast: An Invitation to Feminist Interpretation of the Scriptures

Choosing The Better Part?: Women in the Gospel of Luke

Taking Up the Cross: New Testament Interpretations through Latina and Feminist Eyes

How we read Scripture can help or hinder efforts toward gender equality

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Cardinal Czerny on migrants, martyrs, and working for justice Nov 03, 2026

Show notes

How can Catholics stand alongside people on the margins? On this week’s episode of “The Spiritual Life”, James Martin, S.J., speaks with Cardinal Michael Czerny about working for justice and facing life’s realities without losing hope. Cardinal Czerny, whose ministry as a Jesuit and now as a Cardinal has always focused on listening and ministering to the marginalized, was made an archbishop and cardinal by Pope Francis in 2019. In 2022, he was appointed prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and in May 2026, Cardinal Czerny helped establish a special Vatican Commission on Artificial Intelligence. As a cardinal, he participated in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. In this conversation, Cardinal Michael recalls ministering in El Salvador during the civil war, responding to the AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, and advocating for migrants and refugees around the globe.

Chapters:

00:00 Who is Cardinal Michael Czerny?

5:25 Jesuits martyred in El Salvador

10:10 The African AIDS epidemic and facing reality

14:38 Being a refugee; welcome refugees

19:03 God is always close

22:30 Cardinal Michael's daily spiritual practice

23:42 Migration and the crisis of management

28:54 How to help migrants and refugees

32:45 Hope is a precious commodity

34:14 Suffering, injustice and sin

38:36 The Vatican and A.I.

44:53 Audience question: How to advocate for justice

Read Maggi's spiritual advice article for this episode

Links from the show:

Remembering Cardinal Czerny’s courageous past in El Salvador

Cardinal Czerny awarded inaugural Pope Leo XIV Sustainability Medal

Cardinal Czerny on Pope Francis, Catholic social teaching and the legacy of Vatican II

Cardinal Czerny on sustainability, AIDS and AI

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Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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Can prayer and friendship overcome polarization? Oct 27, 2026

Show notes

Can Catholics come together in deeply polarized times? Fr. James Martin is joined by Tim Busch, a businessman, philanthropist, and one of the most prominent Catholic lay leaders in the United States. He is the co-founder and chairman of The Napa Institute, which brings together clergy, scholars, business leaders, and other lay Catholics to explore the Church’s mission in contemporary culture. He’s known for his “salon dinners,” where he brings together people with different perspectives from within the church to break down walls and build friendships.

Together, Tim Busch and Fr. Jim discuss:

Reaching out and listening to people, even when we disagree ideologically
Contemplative prayer for busy people
How our spirituality can help us remain open to people who believe or practice the faith differently than we do

Chapters:

0:00 We all can be pastoral to one another

3:32 Tim’s leadership with the Eucharistic procession

4:45 Salon dinners – bringing Catholics together from diverse perspectives

11:57 The impact of Legatus on Tim Busch

17:15 Contemplative prayer for a busy person

22:32: Experiencing God in daily life

25:15 How to find God while suffering

29:45 What’s the Napa Institute?

34:40 Bridging divides in the Catholic church

41:59 Audience Question: How do I know if I’m giving enough of my time and material resources to those in need?

Read Maggi’s spiritual advice column for this episode here: https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2026/10/26/tim-busch-spiritual-life-father-james-martin

Links from the show:

Support The Spiritual Life by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at americamagazine.org/subscribe

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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From refugee to Bishop: Michael Pham’s remarkable story of migration, vocation and advocacy Oct 20, 2026

Show notes

How can leaders in the church accompany migrants and refugees? Fr. James Martin, S.J., speaks with Bishop Michael Pham about how his background as a refugee has led him to accompany migrants today.

Bishop Pham fled Vietnam in 1980 with his older sister and a younger brother, arriving first at a refugee camp in Malaysia, before being sponsored a year later by an American family and relocating to Minnesota. He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s and started a master’s degree in aerospace engineering before shifting his course and pursuing the priesthood. Pope Francis appointed him as auxiliary bishop of San Diego in 2023. In 2025, Pope Leo XIV named him the seventh bishop of San Diego, making him the nation’s first Vietnamese-American diocesan bishop. Since then he has been a leader among U.S. bishops in advocating for migrants and refugees.

Together, Bishop Pham and Fr. Martin discuss:

His childhood in Vietnam and escaping conflict as a refugee
How Bishop Pham supports migrants today
How prayers and sacraments can sustain us while helping vulnerable communities

Chapters:

0:00 A church that walks with migrants

4:24 Bishop Pham’s story of fleeing Vietnam as a child

17:19 Separated from his family at a refugee camp

18:19 Prayer strengthened his family’s faith in hardship

22:55 Discerning the priesthood

31:18 Bishop Pham’s work with migrants today

39:39 The church’s response to migration centers on human dignity

42:00 Remember to celebrate the small blessings

45:30 Audience Question: How can prayer and sacraments sustain me through the work of helping vulnerable communities?

Read Maggi’s spiritual reflection here

Links from the show:

Support The Spiritual Life by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at americamagazine.org/subscribe

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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Bishop Mariann Budde on preaching the gospel in a political world Oct 13, 2026

Show notes

How do we navigate politics in our congregations, our prayers, and our lives of faith? Fr. James Martin, S.J., discusses these questions with Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC. Bishop Budde became the first-ever woman to hold her position after being consecrated as the ninth bishop of Washington in November 2011. In addition to being a bishop, she is a mother, grandmother, and author of books including, “Gathering Up the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice” and “How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith”.

Together, Bishop Budde and Fr. Martin discuss:

Preaching in a politically fraught time
Recognizing the humanity in everyone in a polarized country
Experiencing God in your daily life

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome Bishop Mariann Budde

3:51 What defines Episcopalian spirituality?

7:25 Matthew Shepard’s internment at the National Cathedral

11:44 How do you preach about politics?

22:33 Challenging a culture of contempt

28:50 Bishop Budde’s call to ordained ministry

33:35 What is liberation theology?

41:00 Spiritual practices that keep Bishop Budde grounded

47:49: Experiencing God in your day-to-day life

52:29 Audience question: How do we ensure our transgender child knows they are loved by God and by us?

Links from the show:

Read Maggi and Fr. Jim’s article reflecting on the themes of this episode

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Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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What role does conscience play in our spiritual lives? Oct 06, 2026

Show notes

What is moral theology, and where does it fit in our spiritual lives? Fr. James Martin, S.J., asks these questions to James Keenan, a Jesuit priest and one of the world's leading Catholic moral theologians on “The Spiritual Life” podcast. He is the Canisius professor of theology at Boston College, where he also serves as director of the Jesuit Institute and Vice Provost for Global Engagement. He has written and edited over a dozen books, covering everything from church leadership to moral life to bioethics, and more.

Together, they discuss:

- Moral theology in practice

- The role of conscience in our daily lives

- What happens when conscience and church teaching disagree?

Chapters:

00:00 Who is Fr. James Keenan, S.J.?

4:15 Mercy and vulnerability

6:10 Sin is "not bothering"

9:10 What sins are Jesus concerned with?

10:35 Becoming a moral theologian

15:15 Morality and birth control

18:40 What is moral theology?

22:30 What is conscience?

26:23 Conscience and church teaching

30:05 Understanding the Good Samaritan

41:00 Fr. Keenan's spiritual practices

45:10 Audience question: Conscience in difficult decisions

Spiritual advice column for this episode by Maggi and Fr. Jim: https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2026/10/06/father-james-martin-keenan-conscience-spiritual-life

Other links:

The liberating work of mercy: Banning ‘servile work’

Pope Leo’s powerful lesson in vulnerable leadership

James F. Keenan, S.J., on guidance for the LGBTQ Catholic conscience

Focusing on the individual is not enough to face today’s crises. We need collective moral agency.

The Moral Life

Support The Spiritual LifeJesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America magazine at americamagazine.org/subscribe

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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What does it mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus? Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

Fr. James Martin, S.J., welcomes Susan Stabile, a spiritual director and retreat leader in the Ignatian tradition onto “The Spiritual Life” podcast. Susan was raised Catholic, but spent twenty years practicing Buddhism (and was ordained a Tibetan Buddhist nun) before returning to Catholicism. She now serves as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of St. Thomas, as well as adjunct instructor in Theology at St. Catherine’s University, where she is also Co-Director of a Contemplative Practices initiative. Susan offers retreats, spiritual direction, and adult faith formation programs nationally, and is the author of Growing in Love and Wisdom: Tibetan Buddhist Sources for Christian Meditation. Together, Susan and Fr James discuss:

Her journey through Buddhism and back home to Catholicism
Having a personal relationship with Jesus
Spiritual direction as part of her return to the Church

Timecodes: 0:00 The difference between ‘talking about’ and ‘talking to’ Jesus 08:09 The pivotal experience in Susan’s spiritual life 17:28 What does a personal relationship with Jesus mean? 19:17 Engaging the senses in Ignatian contemplation 22:56 What Bible commentaries can do for our faith 30:50 How do I know this isn’t just in my head? 36:45 What happens in spiritual direction? 42:39 Key qualities in a good spiritual director 45:16 Overcoming spiritual hurdles 54:17 Audience Question: How do I discern whether an experience is coming from God or my ego? Check out Susan's book: Growing in Love and Wisdom: Tibetan Buddhist Sources for Christian Meditation

Maggi and Fr. Jim’s spiritual reflection article.

Spiritual Directors International website.

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: ⁠thespirituallife@americamedia.org⁠

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How do you face suffering with faith? Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

How do you maintain a friendship with God when life gets hard? What do you do when, in your mid-fifties and at the height of your career, you are diagnosed with an aggressive and incurable brain cancer? That’s the question that confronted Ann Garrido, our guest on, “The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.” podcast. Ann is an associate professor of homiletics at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis Missouri, where she also founded the school’s master’s program in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She has written several award-winning books including Redeeming Administration, Redeeming Conflict, and Redeeming Power.

Together, Fr. Jim and Ann discuss:

How to reflect on human suffering and “offer it up” as a prayer
Allowing oneself to be wooed by God daily, even when the future seems uncertain
What we can know about heaven

Timecodes:

0:00 “I am with you, and I am within you”

5:58 Where Ann’s life of teaching, preaching and ministry began

9:30 The hard theological questions born in Africa

15:42 How Ann was diagnosed with a glioblastoma

19:57 Noticing God’s presence and offering up her suffering

28:38 God woos Ann each day through the examen prayer

39:46 What we can know about heaven

51:00 Audience Question: How do we maintain a friendship with Jesus that allows us to remain joyful when life is so hard?

Check out Ann's recent book, Redeeming Power Maggi and Fr. Jim’s article reflection on “offering up” our suffering Preach episode featuring Ann Garrido

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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How Jesuit spirituality changed Andrew Garfield’s life Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

It’s been over ten years since the award-winning actor Andrew Garfield trained as a Jesuit priest with Fr. James Martin, S.J. Well, more accurately, since he trained to play a Jesuit priest in Martin Scorsese's film Silence. And the fruits of those Ignatian practices of prayer and contemplation have continued to bear out in his life. Garfield joins his long-time spiritual director, Fr. Martin on this episode of “The Spiritual Life” to reflect on:

-The importance of empathy in Garfield’s own spirituality of acting

-The ways God calls us to defend human dignity and fight for justice as portrayed in Garfield’s new movie, ‘The Uprising’

-What lessons from The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius have remained close to Garfield’s heart

-God speaking through our dreams

Timecodes:

0:00 Andrew Garfield

5:20 The spiritual themes of ‘The Uprising’

10:10 Is there a spirituality of acting?

14:30 His mother’s ability to attune to small miracles

18:30 The mystery of faith in ‘Silence’

21:30 Encountering Jesus in the Spiritual Exercises

28:10 How Andrew Garfield reflects on his day with the Jesuit examen

38:05 Does God and our loved ones speak through dreams?

42:20 Audience Question: How do I transform my pain to stop transmitting it to others?

Maggi Van Dorn’s producer’s notes on this episode

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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Music as a doorway to the divine with Matt Maher Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

“The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.” returns for its third season with what is sure to be a crowd favorite: a conversation with the legendary Catholic musician Matt Maher. A nine-time Grammy Award nominee, Maher has written some of the most widely sung worship songs across many Christian denominations, including “Lord I Need You,” “Your Grace Is Enough,” and his latest, “Gonna Be Alright.” Together with host James Martin, S.J, Matt reflects upon:

The profound conversion experience Matt had in his early 20s that led to his vocation as a praise and worship singer-songwriter.
The evolution of praise and worship music in the last century
The ways that “writing to task” and divine inspiration have shaped Maher’s songwriting
The ministry of being on the road with people and home with family

Timcodes:

0:00 In a didactic age of faith, we need to return to the experience of God

5:10 The conversion experience that led to Matt’s vocation as a Christian musician

12:39 Church music progression: from the St. Louis Jesuits to modern praise and worship

24:35 Writing out of the experience of the Eucharist

26:10 Any great song tells the truth

30:10 The practices that keep Matt spiritually alive

34:13 Discernment and detachment for creatives

38:28 Encountering God in relationships

46:54 Audience Question: I am often moved to tears at mass but don’t understand why?

Maggi Van Dorn’s producer’s notes on this episode

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org