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:

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

Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at:  [email protected]

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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:  [email protected]

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“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:

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:  [email protected]

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Founder of Homeboy Industries and best-selling spiritual writer, Greg Boyle, S.J., joins James Martin S.J. on the season finale of “The Spiritual Life” podcast. They talk about who inspired Greg to join the Jesuits, where he goes for spiritual direction each morning, bringing a mystical lens to reading the Bible, and how the community at Homeboy, the world’s leading gang intervention rehabilitation program, has made God’s love real to him.

Timecodes: 

0:00 Greg Boyle doesn’t know a bad person

5:20 How Homeboy ministries began 

14:17 How joy, humor and fearlessness attracted Fr. Greg to the Jesuits

20:20 Why you need a mystical filter to know the God of Love

24:45 You want to see Jesus so you can be Jesus to others

35:55 Hate is a symptom of bad health, not a bad person

47:00 Dealing with criticism and praise

50:31 Greg’s morning spiritual practice

54:45 Audience Question: How do we know for sure if God forgives us?

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Read Fr. Jim’s spiritual reflection on moral heroes

Fr. Greg Boyle’s books:

Tattoos on the Heart

Barking to the Choir

Cherished Belonging

Forgive Everyone Everything

Do you have a spiritual question for Father Jim? You can write to us at: [email protected]

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Hasan Minhaj is “down to catch a blessing,” wherever that may be. The Emmy Award-winning comedian joins James Martin, S.J. on “The Spiritual Life” podcast to share his Muslim faith, how laughter helped to save his life, and his hopes for interreligious dialogue and prayer. 

Timecodes:

0:00 How a traveling comedian looks to an ancient faith

4:11 Why laughter is important to the spiritual life

8:13 Hasan’s early childhood influences

9:35 The story of Islam 

13:26 Malcolm X & Dr. Sherman Jackson on being Muslim in America

26:02 An inter-faith dialogue on Jesus and the Trinity

30:22 Dealing with negative stereotypes about Islam

33:40 The call to prayer

37:58 Encountering God through acts of virtue

41:30 Islam does not depict God through images

44:15 Audience Question: Advice for someone who hasn’t lived a religious life and has doubts,  but still feels called to faith?

Hasan’s podcast episode with Fr. Jim: Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know

Read ⁠Fr. Jim's ⁠ spiritual reflection⁠ on this episode

Do you have a spiritual question for Father Jim? You can write to us at: [email protected]

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David Brooks is known as one of America’s leading public intellectuals, a longtime columnist for The New York Times and now a staff writer at The Atlantic. He joins James Martin, S.J., on “The Spiritual Life” podcast to share how he went from a mostly cultural Jew, to a “Jew-y” Christian in the land of faith. 

 Timeline:

0:00 Traveling to the land of faith

6:20 Our social and political problems are spiritual ones

10:04 Understanding the America’s religious revival 

11:46 Religious but not yet spiritual

14:05 David’s movement to faith

19:05 Dorothy Day and St. Augustine influences 

28:15 Unpacking  David’s mystical experiences

34:35 A new frontier in the Christian faith

37:33 Three Jewish women that paid attention: Simone Weil, Edith Stein, Etty Hillesum

47:50 Audience Question: How do we maintain hope in bleak times?

Brooks is the bestselling author of several books including:

 How to Know a Person: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/652822/how-to-know-a-person-by-david-brooks/

The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/217649/the-second-mountain-by-david-brooks/

The Road to Character:

https://www.acappellabooks.com/pages/books/343956/david-brooks/the-road-to-character

Bobos in Paradise

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Bobos-in-Paradise/David-Brooks/9780684853789

Read Fr. Jim's ⁠ spiritual reflection on this episode

Do you have a spiritual question for Father Jim? You can write to us at: [email protected]

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Radio host and author, Katie Prejean McGrady joins host James Martin, S.J., to talk about the religious revival sweeping across America, how youth ministers can share eternal truths without falling prey to black-and-white thinking, and a spirituality of family life. 

Katie is an award-winning Catholic author, speaker and host of The Katie McGrady Show on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel. She also hosts a weekly podcast, Family Mass Prep on Hallow with her husband Tommy. 

Timecodes:

0:00 “Jesus is constantly surprising me”

5:20 Is there a religious revival happening for young people?

10:00 Avoiding the dangers of black and white thinking in youth ministry

14:22 Katie’s “big Catholic” upbringing

17:40 Making spiritual sense of suffering

22:00 Ignatian contemplation with Jesus

30:40 The spirituality of being a parent

39:12 How parents can get their kids to mass

46:06 Audience Question: How can I fully participate in the Catholic liturgy when I find myself at odds with Catholic teaching?

Some of Katie’s books:

Room 24: Adventures of a New Evangelist

Follow: Your Lifelong Adventure with Jesus

Read Fr. Jim's spiritual reflection on this episode

Do you have a spiritual question for Father Jim? You can write to us at: [email protected]

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The American legal scholar and public intellectual, Professor Robert George, joins host James Martin, S.J., on “The Spiritual Life” podcast to talk about the practice of dialogue in the church and society, as well as his own rich faith journey. 

Raised in the heart of Appalachia, West Virginia, by his Syrian Antiochian Orthodox father and Italian Catholic mother, Robert’s childhood was solidly rooted in faith and inspired by the moral heroism of his father. 

In addition to his extensive professional accomplishments, including as the sixth McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, Professor George has long modeled civil dialogue with his friend and fellow interlocutor, Professor Cornel West. 

Timecodes:

0:00 Building trust for challenging conversations

5:27 Robert George’s Orthodox and Catholic “mixed” religious upbringing 

9:14 The impact of a father’s relationship with God

13:45 Robert’s father’s act of heroism

22:28 What Jane Austen’s characters can teach us about God’s ways

24:30 Praying slowly with attention

35:15 How Robert’s dialogues with Dr. Cornel West began

45:20 You’ll only allow someone you trust to challenge your deeply held beliefs

48:12 Audience Question: How can we better respond to God’s calls for improving the world?

Link to Father Jim’s spiritual advice column for this episode: https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2026/06/01/robert-george-james-martin-spiritual-life

Some of Robert George’s books:

Truth Matters: A Dialogue on Fruitful Disagreement in an Age of Division

In Defense of Natural Law

Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality

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As a lay minister to  L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics, a faith-based community organizer, and an immigration attorney, Yunuen Trujillo wears many hats.  And as a member of these marginalized communities herself, she knows their struggles intimately.  ”I feel that when we minister to immigrants or L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics, I'm ministering from a place of an open wound,” says Yuenen,  “But it's a good thing because when you connect with your wound, then you're able to be hospitable to the wound of other people.” Yunuen joins host Fr. James Martin, S.J., on “The Spiritual Life” podcast to share her journey of finding a loving and merciful God who walks with her in her fight for justice in many arenas. 

Timecodes:

0:00 Jesus teaches us about love through the parable of “the Good Samaritan”

3:17 Can I be gay and Catholic?

6:40 Yunuen’s intersectional vocation as an immigration attorney and lay Catholic minister

13:20 Yunuen’s spiritual resources for the daily battles

17:46 Navigating righteous anger without succumbing to rage

28:00 How Yunuen found a loving and merciful God

43:30 Being LGBTQ isn’t an ideology

46:34 Audience Question: How can you use prayer to help you look forward in life as opposed to revisiting old transgressions or wounds?

Read Fr. Martin's article reflecting on this episode here

Yunuen Trujillo’s books:

⁠ LGBTQ Catholics: A Guide for Inclusive Ministry ⁠

⁠Católicos LGBTQ: Una Guía para Pastoral Inclusiva.⁠

Yunuen is the founder of @lgbtcatholics on Instagram

Link to Father Jim’s spiritual advice article on this episode⁠: "Bringing your full (wounded) self to ministry"

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From country club caddy to the Catholic Worker to “The West Wing”, Martin Sheen has been on a long and fascinating spiritual journey. The Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning actor and activist shares the major turning points in his faith with Fr. James Martin, S.J. on “The Spiritual Life” podcast. They talk about some of the most important influences in Sheen’s life, including the Jesuit activist Dan Berrigan and film-maker Terrence Malick, and how the Mass continues to nourish his faith. 

Timecodes:

0:00 How Martin Sheen’s faith was shaped by the Catholic Worker

2:00 Understanding the ploughshare movement

3:43 Discerning what activism our faith calls us to

6:50 Martin Sheen’s Catholic childhood

9:00 An epiphany in Paris and how Terrence Malick became a spiritual guide to Sheen

12:20 “Peacework must be as devotional as war”

22:30 Encountering community and solidarity at the Catholic Worker

32:25 Sheen is nourished by the mass

42:13 How Catholicism informed Sheen’s role of Pres. Josiah Bartlet on ‘The West Wing’

45: Audience Question: How can working people today take a personal vow of poverty or overcome a consumer culture?

Links:

Martin Sheen's podcast

Link to Father Jim’s spiritual advice article on this episode: ⁠https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2026/05/18/martin-sheen-spiritual-life-james-martin

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