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

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: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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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: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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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: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

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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: thespirituallife@americamedia.org

Become a subscriber today at Americamagazine.org/subscribe
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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

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

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