Quotes from James Martin

Don't let anyone take from you the freedom to become who God wants you to be.

FOR IGNATIUS AND HIS friends, finding God often meant noticing where God was already active in their lives. And we can notice God not only in peak moments, like the ones we just discussed, but also in daily events where God's presence is often overlooked. God is always inviting us to encounter the transcendent in the everyday. The key is noticing.

Jesuits take their cue from Ignatius in terms of a practical spirituality. One joke has a Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Jesuit celebrating Mass together when the lights suddenly go out in the church. The Franciscan praises the chance to live more simply. The Dominican gives a learned homily on how God brings light to the world. The Jesuit goes to the basement to fix the fuses.

The traditional first step is gratitude. You recall the good things that happened to you during the day, and you give thanks for any "benefits," as Ignatius wrote.

Unplanned occurrences are reminders to check your tendency to think that you're the one in control. In reality, it's someone else.... It is a vivid reminder that in ministry, no matter how hard you work, ultimately it's God's work, not yours. All this puts our work in perspective.

The second step in the examen is asking for the grace to "know my sins," to see where you have turned away from the deepest part of yourself, the part that calls you to God. Where did you act contrary to your better judgment or to God's voice inside you, to the divine spark within?

Jesus's hospitality to outcasts as well as Abraham and Sarah's

It costs when you live a life of respect, compassion, and sensitivity.

The Seven Storey Mountain,

the Portuguese adage holds true: God writes straight on crooked lines.

an awareness of who's in charge. Hint: not you.

Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.2

Every Sunday night in the novitiate our community gathered for "faith sharing," which meant speaking to one another about our spiritual lives: where we had experienced God in our daily lives and what our prayer was like. There were two rules. First, everything was confidential. Second, no comments were allowed after someone spoke, unless it was a question asked to clarify something.

GOD COMMUNICATES WITH US in many ways. But prayer is a special time when God's voice is often heard most clearly because we are giving God our undivided attention. Whether in Ignatian contemplation, lectio divina, the colloquy, the examen, or any other practice, the "still small" voice can be heard with a clarity that can delight, astonish, and surprise you. So when you pray, however you pray, and feel that God is speaking to you—pay attention.

Maybe one reason that the work seems dull is because you're not bringing it up before God in prayer,

twelve and thirty. Because only a single line is written about that long stretch of time, those years are called his "Hidden Life.

Our hearts cry out,

The fourth step of the examen is asking for forgiveness from God for anything sinful that you've done during the day.

Finally, in the last step of the examen you ask for the grace of God's help during the next day, and you can close with any prayer you like. Ignatius suggests the Our Father.

Compassion, perseverance, and forgiveness are all gifts.

Joy is the noblest human act. —ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

As I was deciding on what to select, George motioned me over to a shelf of merchandise. He held up an unusual Nativity scene. Placed between the Holy Family and the Wise Men was a barrier, a thin block of wood. The owner explained, "That is the wall that blocks off the Palestinian territories. Jesus was a Palestinian, just like us.

Real religion," said Macmurray, has a different maxim: "Fear not; the things you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.

You do know that the West Bank means the West Bank of the Jordan River, don't you?