Show Notes
This week on a special, interview-only episode of “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian talk with James Martin, S.J., editor at large for America, about his new memoir Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest.
Ashley, Sebastian and Father Jim discuss:
The differences in writing an autobiography vs. a book on prayer
Balancing ambition and meaning
Jim’s eventual decision to choose a life and career in the Jesuits
Links for further reading:
Buy Father Jim’s book here
Father James Martin: Lessons from mowing lawns, riding bikes and a fateful walk to school
Check out the book’s Spotify playlist here
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Timecodes
0:00 Jim Martin has a new book: “Work in Progress”
2:13 Why Jim decided to write an autobiography on his jobs
8:19 The importance of menial labor and service
11:45 Getting free of our desire to be liked and popular
16:36 How Jim learned to distinguish ambition v. meaning
21:14 The impact of Thomas Merton on Jim’s spiritual life
25:30 Jim’s first mystical experience in the beauty of nature
35:36 Called to the Jesuits
42:15 Jim would canonize Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J.
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