Father James Martin is the editor-at-large for the Jesuit magazine America and author of several books, including Jesus: A Pilgrimage, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, and Between Heaven and Mirth. He is also, in the words of Stephen Colbert,…
Christmas – remembering the stable
I really can’t say Christmas better than this. “On one night of all nights Christ did it, coming down the stairs of heaven with a child in his arms.” –Paul Scherer, Love is a Spendthrift “Almighty God, who now in…
How God changes our neighborhood
Have you ever driven through an old neighborhood and thought, “Why haven’t they just bulldozed this whole place? This is a mess! This is an eyesore! The people still living here should get a medal.” How do we respond to a…
When God moved into the neighborhood
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. – John 1:14a MSG Occasionally called the “forgotten Christmas story,” the first chapter of John describes the incarnation of Christ in philosophical prose. In contrast Matthew and Luke give…
Ministering to travelers on Christmas Eve
I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help overhearing her pain, frustration, and determination. The lady I sat down beside in the busy terminal was obviously troubled. As I took a load off and tried to find my boarding…
For such a time as this
In the Old Testament Book of Esther, we are told a story about how the very existence of a certain group of people was threatened because of the anger of one man towards them. This man made threats to wipe…
But is it true?
What’s going on at Rolling Stone magazine? If you have paid any attention to the national news lately, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the now-infamous story published by Rolling Stone purporting to expose the awful rape culture at the University of…
There is purpose
There’s an argument going on. Sometimes you have to listen closely, but it’s rumbling beneath the polite noise of our sophisticated society like the background radiation of the Big Bang, filling every black hole as it sweeps across an infinite…
I get tired of writing laments
Driving in to work yesterday morning I heard the news that the school in Peshawar, Pakistan had been attacked by the Taliban. They killed more than 130 children. They burned a teacher in front of the students in a classroom….