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My Life With the Saints

4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 · rating details · 1,230 ratings · 191 reviews

One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year
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Winner of a Christopher Award
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Winner of a Catholic Press Association Book Award

Meet some surprising friends of God in this warm and wonderful memoir

James Martin has led an entirely modern life: from a lukewarm Catholic childhood, to an educationat the Wharton School of Business, to the executive fast track at General...more

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published March 1st 2006 by Loyola Press (first published February 28th 2006)

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Jan 14, 2013 Newengland rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished-in-2013, nonfiction

One of my reasonable goals for 2013 is to pay more attention to my neglected spiritual side. The urge has been there all along, but the last two months of 2012 increased the sense of urgency. "The world is too much with us late and soon," and all that. Reality needed to be checked.

So I scoured amazon for Thomas Merton-like writers. You know. Christians who aren't rolled in too much holy. Writers with a sense of humor and a sense of sin. Ordinary people like me who think too much for their own g...more One of my reasonable goals for 2013 is to pay more attention to my neglected spiritual side. The urge has been there all along, but the last two months of 2012 increased the sense of urgency. "The world is too much with us late and soon," and all that. Reality needed to be checked.

So I scoured amazon for Thomas Merton-like writers. You know. Christians who aren't rolled in too much holy. Writers with a sense of humor and a sense of sin. Ordinary people like me who think too much for their own good. The guy I settled on, James Martin, has written a slew of books about his order, the Jesuits (known in college basketball circles as "The Big East" or, now, "The Catholic Schools").

With My Life with the Saints, Martin did a neat thing. He wrote his memoir through the lens of selected saints. This means you don't learn a lot about the saints and you don't learn a lot about Martin -- but you learn enough to be dangerous at a cocktail party (where people talk about saints all the time).

OK, so I jest. The narrative style is yeoman and welcoming. Nothing fancy by any means. But it's personable. Certainly Martin's voice comes through and you count him as a friend by the end. The saints covered are Joan of Arc, Thérèse of Lisieux, Thomas Merton (huzzah), Ignatius of Loyola, Pedro Arrupe, Bernadette Soubirous, Mother Teresa, Good Pope John XXIII, St. Peter, Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, Joseph, the Ugandan martyrs, Aloysius Gonzaga, and Mary.

Without looking, I'm left with random observations -- Joan of Arc done in by the Feds, the Lisieux girl a shrinking violet, Merton the righteous writer and cool saint, Ignatius the founder of the Jesuits, Pedro the bureaucrat with heart, Mother Teresa the Albanian national who was canny about money, Gonzaga the 23-year-old goner, Pope John the jolly (and plump), St. Peter the rock (and prototypical "I am not worthy" sinner), Aquinas the fat scholar who married science with religion (the in-laws acted up at the reception), Francis the founder of the Franciscans, who stripped off his clothes in town square (streaking's antecedent in Italy, I think), and Mary the frightened but faithful.

More than that, yes, but these were initial impressions. And Martin does not pull punches about his own weaknesses and sins. He wisely advises that we NOT try to emulate saints but try to be "saintly" in our own ways. (He's speaking my language, but maybe that's because we Americans are such individualists). He taught me a new connotation for the word "indifference." The Jesuits see it as a positive thing. Thus, instead of "I don't care," it means "I'm as willing to do this as that, sacrifice this as that, volunteer for this or that."

A second, even wiser meaning for "indifferent" is being indifferent to people and things that used to annoy us, embarrass us, or injure our precious pride. I like that. It is the "grace of indifference" in that case. Instead of bitching and moaning about this loser or that, we shrug and accept them as human. We, too, have our annoying tendencies after all. We should count ourselves lucky if others react with the "grace of indifference" to our petty pride, odd quirks, and abundant weaknesses.

Finally, on a personal note, I swore off checking e-mail and a few websites (including this one) every weekday morning before getting ready for work. Instead, I got in the habit of reading a chapter of this book before getting into my walk-the-dog, make-breakfast, and shower routine. It was calming. It felt right. I was slowing myself down and reading about all these crazy sinners (at the core of every saint) who found different ways to commune with their spiritual sides.

So yeah. I think I'll continue. I have another Martin queued up for my second early-riser read, and then I might try some Buddhist or Hindu or Quaker or even plain old philosophy stuff. Maybe I'm kidding myself about the inner peace thing, but slowing down and thinking with some thinkers has proved helpful with that "world is too much with us" thing I mentioned up front. And it came none too soon....(less)

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Oct 23, 2007 Carole rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Every Person

This is a really great, life-changing kind of book. The author is a Jesuit priest and the book is basically a memoir of how various saints have played an important role in his own life. He also explains some of the theology about saints and why they are important and tells a little about the life of each saint that has played an important role in his life.

The main point of the book is that each saint has his or her own personality with individual strengths and weaknesses - and that this shows t...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Jeanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

My own experience with Catholic saints was better than most raised in the Catholic tradition. I always viewed them as adventurous fairy tales, having been exposed to the grim version of the Grimm fairy tales. This book is written by a Catholic priest who came into the priesthood without really knowing the canon of Catholic popular media like "The Bells of St. Mary's" or "The Song of Bernadette". Without having been influenced by the stranger aspects that can come with Catholic folklore, James Ma...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Joseph rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-philosophy

This is a personal account of the lives of many major saints as seen through Martin's biographical lens; his life adventure in search of something beyond the world offered by an Ivy League business degree. It provides a unique perspective - one of a personal relationship that the author has developed with the actions and values displayed by his favorite saints. Frequently, the saints evoke angelic images of people who were beyond human (think halos, angels and white robes). Well, this personal a...more

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Jan 15, 2009 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars

An absolutely fascinating book...and unlike any other book on saints I have ever read. Although it is nothing like a devotional, every page has a little nugget to help with your every day life as he relates the lessons learned from saints. He talks about how saints are important to us not because they all do great things for God, but because they are individuals whom God used to do seemingly small things in an extraordinary way.

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Jun 06, 2011 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you went to Catholic grade school, odds are that your classroom or library had multiple "lives of saints" books for your eight-year-old self to peruse. Full of lavish pictures of romantically dressed men and women, the books told stories about people who traveled to exotic places, fought authority in the name of justice, and performed the occasional miracle or two. And if that wasn't enough to make your eight-year-old-self love them, you might just have gotten hooked by the fact that there ar...more If you went to Catholic grade school, odds are that your classroom or library had multiple "lives of saints" books for your eight-year-old self to peruse. Full of lavish pictures of romantically dressed men and women, the books told stories about people who traveled to exotic places, fought authority in the name of justice, and performed the occasional miracle or two. And if that wasn't enough to make your eight-year-old-self love them, you might just have gotten hooked by the fact that there are as many women saints as men saints. I know I was.

But let's face the demographic odds of early twenty-first century America. You probably didn't go to Catholic school, and you probably think of it as kind of a fictional place in itself, in which the saints are just the imaginary icing on the disappeared cake of catholic community ties. Or something like that. James Martin suspects that's how you feel. *He* didn't go to catholic school and still seems a little bewildered to have wound up a Jesuit priest in spite of his secular upbringing. And I think he's writing a saints' lives books for people like him, who know the saints mainly as kitschy jokes in flowing robes, but who find themselves drawn to them even so.

A lot of what I remember and love most about the saints' lives is in this book -- the saintly confrontations with authority, the miracles, the exotic places, even the romantic clothes. One significant addition Martin highlights about the saints' lives, that I don't remember from grade school, is their healthy senses of humor. I knew John XXIII could be funny and I was sure Francis of Assissi had a few good lines in him, but in Martin's hand even Therese of Lisieux comes off as liking a good laugh now and then. And that might just be the weapon that keeps them all faithful in the end -- Martin manages to tell story after story of ordinary people who find themselves in the throes of far-fetched religious devotion, and are able to recognize the absurdity of it without losing their real sense of faith. Certainly that's the story Martin tells about his own spiritual journey from Ivy-League business major to Jesuit priest.

Each chapter couples the story of a saint or saints' lives with a moment in Martin's life when he first encountered them. Thus Ignatius of Loyola presides over Martin's first year in seminary, and Mother Theresa over the six months he spends in Jamaica working with the Little Sisters of the Poor. The usual suspects for twentieth-century Catholic devotion are in here -- Thomas Merton, Bernadette Soubirous, Dorothy Day. Martin throws in more than a fair share of Jesuits for obvious reasons. I think I found myself most surprised by two chapters on what I think of as "generic" saints -- Joseph and Peter, whose lives can be found only in the Bible, and aren't fleshed out by any additional information. Martin uses the life of Peter (full of premature outbursts and hotheaded embarrassments) to meditate on how God allows us to use even the worst in ourselves. He focuses on Joseph to talk about the hiddenness in the lives of most saints. Which is probably the truest aspect of most real saints' lives, the ones we know ourselves in our daily lives. All the same, it doesn't keep us from being attracted to the more flamboyant ones.(less)

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Jan 26, 2011 Webster Bull rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: faith

When I was in fourth grade at The Blake School in Hopkins, Minnesota, I met my first Catholic. He was a boy in my class, who invited me over to his house one day. I don’t remember a crucifix or a Madonna; I don’t remember the term catechism or CCD being mentioned; I don’t even remember my friend’s name or what he looked like. All I remember is Butler’s Lives of the Saints, on the bookshelf above his head.

I understood, perhaps from a comment that he made, perhaps by noticing Butler, that my fourt...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Becky Hirtzel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am NOT catholic, so all I know about most saints is which local high school or hospital was named after them. This is a wonderful book, written by Father James Martin. It tells the story of his call to become a Jesuit through the stories of the lives of some of his favorite saints. Each chapter focuses on one saint: he relates how he came to learn about this saint or why this saint is important to him, then he briefly tells the story of that saint, and also includes a short sample of the writi...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, christian, memoir, non-fiction

Our church decided to purchase 1,000 of these books and give them away to parish families this Christmas. I decided I had been lax on my spiritual reading, and endeavored to squeeze this one in during the holiday.

It was a wonderful book! James Martin is a Jesuit priest (and an excellent writer, I might add), who tells the reader about several saints who had an impact on his journey to becoming a priest and his own personal struggles. I had been introduced to several of these saints already, but...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Alice rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book with the women's spirituality group at Northeast PreRelease Center. It was so enjoyable! James Martin is humble, funny, knowledgable, and sincere. He showed how the Saints have been relevant in his life rather than telling you how they might influence yours. I learned details about several saints I knew nothing about, even some that have not yet been canonized. I admire the attitude that Martin has toward other cultures, the poor, and the Catholic church. He seems to recognize t...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Nancy Jurss rated it 4 of 5 stars

James Martin is a Jesuit priest and associate editor of America magazine. This book is a sort of memoir about his varied experiences during his training and the stories of the saints that inspired him along the way. Entertaining, humorous, and moving, Martin tells of saints that we all know of and others who he feels should be saints. He brings out their very human failings as well as the moments that inspired them to try and make their lives more in tune with what God wanted of them. Equally in...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Anthony Ventrello rated it 5 of 5 stars

It's been said that there are books that change your life, well this is mine. I've always had a good relationship with my saints, but I never went beyond my favorite saints, until I read this book. This book was like an answered prayer for me. I was introduced to many saints that I wasn't familiar with and it led me to discover new saints. Although I did not agree with some of Fr. Martin's choices such as Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton who will never become saints, I was pleased to learn more abo...more

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Nov 26, 2012 Mark Villaluz rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book gave me a real perspective on the Saints. Beforehand, they were impersonal, cold, and on the whole generally unappealing. But through this book, God showed me the great variety of characters in His holy family or as James Martin puts it, "actors in the play of the Gospel". They vary from the extremely pious (St. Gonzaga), the rebels (Dorothy Day), the fighters (Joan of Arc), the ethereal types (St. Bernadette, St. Francis, St. Therese), the scholars that shaped our thinking and practic...more

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May 30, 2009 Mary Harley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality

I've never really been interested to read what I've traditionally seen as a "lives of the saints" book. I have, however, taken time over the years to learn about specific people I've considered role models - Mother Teresa and Saint Francis, Dorothy Day and Pope John Paul, among others. In this book, James Martin writes a short chapter on each of 16 "saints" - some canonized, some blessed, some just admirable people you'd want to emulate in some way. Martin keeps the book interesting by moving it...more I've never really been interested to read what I've traditionally seen as a "lives of the saints" book. I have, however, taken time over the years to learn about specific people I've considered role models - Mother Teresa and Saint Francis, Dorothy Day and Pope John Paul, among others. In this book, James Martin writes a short chapter on each of 16 "saints" - some canonized, some blessed, some just admirable people you'd want to emulate in some way. Martin keeps the book interesting by moving it along in a sort of autobiography of himself - his spiritual and Jesuit formation, his own personal struggles with his faith and vocation, and his wanting to become a better person.
The thing I liked the best about this book was the realization that all these saints were (1) very diverse people, and (2) very human people. All the saints had doubts, all had fears. Some carried burdens of pride or arrogance, some were not accepted by society. Some had a very hard time giving up the things they did. Some parented illigitimate children, went through trajedies of abortion, betrayal, or other loss. But, these two points drive home the point Martin was trying to make. Anyone can be a saint ("all they have to do is want to become one!"). There is no cookie cutter of what a "saintly" person is like. Also, there is no excuse that "I'm not holy enough" - all of these people were far from holy at one time or another in their lives. The common thread was love and dedication for God, and a willingness to pray. How simple.
Mother Teresa encouraged many visitors to go home. "find your own Calcutta," she told them. And so in life, we're not all called to be Mother Teresas. Or Dorothy Days or Thomas Mertons. God has created each of us to be US and to listen to what "we" should do in any situation. And so the new saints of God's creation are being formed each day, to live as the individuals we are and as no other person has ever lived before... but as always, for God.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about these people in 10 or so pages each, as well as anyone who wants to jump start their spiritual life by reading about the experiences, struggles and rebuilding of others (including the author).(less)

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Jan 15, 2011 Lincoln Dall rated it 5 of 5 stars

As a Catholic priest, I have a very close devotion to the saints. James Martin is one of my favorite authors. He really personalizes the journey with the saints, how the community of saints has interacted with his own faith journey, how the saints have influenced the way he lives out his Catholic faith. Hopefully, after reading this book, the reader will have a great appreciation for the saints and will want to learn more about them. I usually speak about the saint of the day in my homily during...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Tiffany Reisz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wonderfully fun and light-hearted look at Father Martin's favorite saints.

I especially appreciate his inclusion of Dorothy Day who has yet to be canonized. She had an abortion as a young woman and can serve as a role model for Catholic women who are living with guilt or shame about the supposed sins of their past.

I fell in love with Pope John XXIII reading this book. I'd only read a children's biography of him years ago. A wonderfully inspiring man. Loved his humility. He'd wake in the night and...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

I read this book at the suggestion of my friend, Fr. Bill. The author is a Jesuit priest who describes his thoughts on, and relationship with, various Catholic saints at different points during his life. Fr. Martin writes clearly and well; he has led an interesting life, and it was illuminating to see how his relationship (for lack of a better word) with the saints helped him through difficult times, or offered him some insight into challenging situations. For Protestants, the whole Catholic sai...more

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Jul 05, 2010 Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality

This was a Father's Day present from my 1-year old Charlotte. Apparently she saw me reading Martin's "The Jesuit's Guide to Almost Everything" and found her way to Barnes and Noble to pick this up. Smart girl...
Gotta give it a thumbs-up because it's a book by a priest and it's not dry (actually has some funny parts) and not preachy. Furthermore I learned things about Saints I thought I knew and then learned a lot about some saints and to-be saints I'm glad I got to know.
The other reason I like t...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Jude rated it 5 of 5 stars

'My Life with the Saints' is a book for anyone seeking inspiration from the saints. Rather than a dry, heavy re-telling of the lives of saints, full of pious details that most modern readers will struggle to relate to, Fr James Martin SJ instead provides us with a beautiful and personal anthology of the saints.

This is no ordinary book about saints. 'My Life with the Saints', as the title implies, describes the life of Fr Martin and how he came to meet various saints. By writing about the saints...more 'My Life with the Saints' is a book for anyone seeking inspiration from the saints. Rather than a dry, heavy re-telling of the lives of saints, full of pious details that most modern readers will struggle to relate to, Fr James Martin SJ instead provides us with a beautiful and personal anthology of the saints.

This is no ordinary book about saints. 'My Life with the Saints', as the title implies, describes the life of Fr Martin and how he came to meet various saints. By writing about the saints in the order that he came to know them, you can't help but feel as though you are taking a journey with Martin, living his life with him, and thus discovering these saints with him. The way the lives of the saints are interwoven with anecdotes and relevant tales from Martin's own life serves to reveal the impact the lives of the saints can have on someone. The saints should, after all, be our inspiration and yet often they feel unfamiliar, so holy and living a life so different from our own that it can be hard to relate them to our modern lives. And yet Martin somehow makes them modern again. As a Jesuit priest, he has many diverse experiences to draw from and therefore manages to set an example of how we can discover the saints in the most unlikely of places and at the most surprising times.

Martin tells the lives of the saints like a good story: he gives you characters so fleshy you feel like you know them, situations so real that you can find yourself relating to them, and enough details to make you interested. The way he writes is almost as though he's talking to a friend, and he will have you wanting to cry in sympathy at times and laughing out loud at others.

The great thing about Martin's way of looking at the saints is that it shows you how YOU can be a saint. The way he describes their lives, with their various blessings and troubles, they could easily have lived in the 21st century (if you change a few key details of course!) and in that way he makes them more real. By making the saints real, it finally makes being one yourself seem achievable. He also makes it abundantly clear that by becoming a saint, we are not called to be Mother Teresa, or St Francis, or Dorothy Day, or countless other saints. We are called only to be ourselves. This, I think, is the real treasure of this book.

My favourite part, however, wasn't how much I learned about the saints, or realising that becoming a saint doesn't mean changing my personality. The best bit of this book for me was the inclusion of the real stories from real people. These are people Martin met, people whose stories intertwined with his around the time he discovered a particular saint, and somehow it was these people that inspired me the most. There were the women prisoners who spoke for hours in Spanish about Our Lady, not because she was the mother of God or conceived without sin or any of the other amazing things about her - it was Mary, the woman, a real person they as women and mothers could relate to. There were the refugees he met in East Africa who worked hard to become businesswomen and sell items to tourists, turning their lives around by using their God-given talents. There was the community of nuns he met also whilst in East Africa who served Christ by finding employment in all the menial jobs that no one else wanted and evangelising to those who worked with them. And how I could forget the Brother who worked with gangs in Chicago, standing in the middle of gun fights to stop the gangs from fighting. These people, these very real people who find God in whatever circumstance they happen to find themselves in, these are the saints that inspired me the most. These are the living saints, people who have already been inspired by the saints of heaven to follow God completely. These were the people who made the book even more fantastic and memorable.

I can't describe how grateful I am for this book. All I can say is this: Read it. Whether you're drawn to the saints or to the holy men and women of today, you'll find something in there that will truly inspire you.(less)

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Feb 27, 2013 mahatma rated it 4 of 5 stars

memang bagus.
panteslah kalau buku ini mendapat berbagai penghargaan.
[sebenernya itu sih alasan aku beli buku ini: karena direkomendasikan bagus oleh berbagai reviewer. biasalaah... beli buku dengan uang saku terbatas memang perlu selektif]

kumpulan renungan atas biografi para tokoh historis dalam gereja katolik roma ini digunakan untuk menerangi pengalaman hidup penulisnya sendiri. para tokoh historis itu tadi ada yang sudah dibeatifikasi, dinyatakan kudus, ada pula yang belum. tapi itu tidak mas...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone. Catholic or Protestant.

Recommended to Anna by: A Catholic youth counselor.

Shelves: cover-love, felt-like-i-learned-something, laughed-out-loud, roundhouse-kicked-my-heart, love-the-entire-cast, spiritual-religious, favorites

I read this when I was new to the faith and experiencing a very dark period of confusion. It seemed every Christian or every Christian advice I'd received was from the typical stereotype of a robust, somber, judgmental, and unfortunately dull believer. It got to the point I was having trouble believing I could be faithful and still enjoy life or even laugh without committing some kind of sin. I was also starting to fear being unique or even just being myself.

The first thing I noticed upon readin...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a lifelong (although not perfectly continuous) Catholic and now as a Religious Ed volunteer, one of my biggest revelations is the idea that saints are not holier-than-thou. Saints, for the most part, were pretty messed-up people at one or several times in their lives. I like to teach my children (both at home an at R.E.) that it's our goal in life to be saints. Kids will undoubtedly look at you with gaping mouths and disbelief when you tell them this, but if we're going to strive to be someth...more As a lifelong (although not perfectly continuous) Catholic and now as a Religious Ed volunteer, one of my biggest revelations is the idea that saints are not holier-than-thou. Saints, for the most part, were pretty messed-up people at one or several times in their lives. I like to teach my children (both at home an at R.E.) that it's our goal in life to be saints. Kids will undoubtedly look at you with gaping mouths and disbelief when you tell them this, but if we're going to strive to be something, shouldn't it be a saint? None of the saints made it their life's mission to be canonized...they lived their lives in service to God. That doesn't mean you have to live life as a pious sourpuss.

And that's Fr. Martin's point. Each chapter focuses on a saint who has influenced his life in one way or another. Fr. Martin, as the "official theological consultant" for Stephen Colbert (yes, really) writes in a very approachable and humorous style. People with misconceptions of priests or little to no knowledge of Catholicism probably wouldn't think the writer of this book is a priest if it weren't for the "SJ" behind his name ("SJ" stands for "Society of Jesus", or Jesuits, the order to which Fr. Martin belongs). And, OK, if not for the word "Saints" in the title and the saintly-looking crowd on the cover...

My church touted this book when it came out, having piles of copies available for $5 when it was released. I'm attached to my Kindle, though, and impulsively bought it in electronic form. Lo and behold, we Religious Ed-er's received a paper copy for Christmas. Is it rude to confess I re-gifted a book about saints? :) A quick and entertaining read and an introduction for people who think they aren't "good enough" to live a saintly life. All of us are and all of us are called to be. It's definitely not heavy-handed and it definitely does not apply exclusively to Catholics.

I'm a conservative Catholic, Fr. Martin is liberal. I follow him on Facebook, and we certainly disagree on many levels. But I definitely agree with him on finding inspiration in saints and in saints being ordinary human beings who answered a higher calling (whether they wanted to our not, in many cases). (less)

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Mar 02, 2011 Emilia P rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: churrrch, real-books

Oh hello James Martin.
Did you want to reiterate your biography again? Well, sure, go ahead.
Honestly I'm a bit burnt out on it. It's like reading Chapter 2 of any babysitters club book - yes, I remember you went to Jamaica and Africa dude. Cool. Now tell me about some saints.

The book was laid out saint by saint, interspersing the personal experience with the saint, both as an historical person and as a focus of devotion and example for others. The time span was pretty good -- some biblical, some...more

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May 19, 2012 Sydney Young rated it 5 of 5 stars

My husband will say, "What a surprise! Another book you love!" I guess I wouldn't love to read if I only read books that were average. No, I like to try to be pretty selective about what I read, and have learned not to invest the time if it's not worth it for me, regardless of what others think. I do think, with the amazing number of books out there, it is important to read it all, but also to read the best of the best. So, why is this book another home run for me?

I have been Protestant all my...more

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Feb 27, 2010 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

James Martin writes a great spiritual memoir of how he grew in his spiritual life with the help of saints' example. At once, a biography of the saints and memoir of his personal spiritual journey, Martin writes with a light-heart. For him, the saints represents the diversity of personalities that God works through and serve as a mentor of sorts through his spiritual growth.

Below are the saints he writes about and what it did in his life:

1) St. Jude is a patron saint of hopeless causes. As a chil...more

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Oct 06, 2010 Dennis Lid rated it 3 of 5 stars

The book is well written, a good summary of several saint's lives, and is obviously painstakingly researched. James Martin, S.J. has personalized the renderings of the saints lives with references to his own experiences. Yet, I find it difficult to retain a keen interest in reading the rest of the book, although I must admit that it gets more interesting as the book progresses. I have had to read it in fits and starts over a prolonged period of time and am determined to finish it. Right now I am...more

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Feb 04, 2011 booklady rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to booklady by: Karina

Shelves: church-documents, biography, hagiography, history, non-fiction, religion, spiritual, theology, 2011, favorites

My favorite books are those which introduce me to other books or people I want to read/“meet”/learn more about. James Martin S.J.'s My Life With the Saints is exactly that sort of book! Of course most of the saints he writes about are old friends so there weren't too many introductions per se. Still reading and hearing about how my favorite heavenly allies have helped others in their spiritual journeys was very comforting. I found myself nodding, smiling and thinking, “That sounds just like St....more

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Jun 08, 2009 Alexis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading Jesuit James Martin’s My Life with the Saints, brought home many key concepts for me. Some were just reinforcements of what I already know and understand, but there were other concepts, that I have felt before but could never describe, put into words, fully extrapolate, etc. You get the idea, I am sure. “Who trusts in God lacks nothing” was a Swahili proverb Martin cites at the start of one of the later chapters, and can really be seen as wrapping up the book’s entire message in a nice n...more

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Jun 01, 2007 Jes Pedroza rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ok. So, for those of you who don't know, I recently "re-claimed" Catholicism and began practicing. I wanted to learn more about the saints, mostly because I stare at their pretty stained glass windows during church and think, "I wonder what you were like St. Catherine" or "I wonder what you did in life St. Anthony".
"My Life with the Saints" paints a nice and highly accurate portrait of some of James Martin's fave saints. He has an interesting mix and shocks us with what a "saint" really is. I ha...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a great book and actually interesting, unlike most of the dry reads about saints. It isn't too "in your face" about religion, but rather mixes one man's story with the story of the lives of older and newer saints. I really liked that the tone of the book was that we should not aspire to emulate these religious figures but rather we should take their stories and let it inspire us to find our own story and spiritual journey. This book helped me to see Catholicism in a new light.

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About James J. Martin

James J. Martin, born 29 December 1960, is a Jesuit priest, writer and Culture Editor of the Jesuit magazine America.

Education and Career

Martin grew up in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States, and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1982 and worked in corporate finance at General Electric for six years....more James J. Martin, born 29 December 1960, is a Jesuit priest, writer and Culture Editor of the Jesuit magazine America.

Education and Career

Martin grew up in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States, and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1982 and worked in corporate finance at General Electric for six years. Dissatisfied with the corporate world, he became more deeply involved in the Catholic Church and decided to enter the Society of Jesus (more commonly known as the Jesuits) in 1988 and was ordained a priest in 1999. In addition to his work at America Magazine, Fr. Martin has written or edited more than 10 books, many of which are largely about his own experiences. He is a frequent commentator for CNN, NPR, FoxNews, Time Magazine, and other news outlets, and has written several op-ed pieces and blogged for The New York Times.

Theatre

Martin is a member of the LAByrinth Theater Company.His involvement with the LAByrinth Theater Company's 2005 stage production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and featuring Sam Rockwell, John Ortiz, Eric Bogosian, and Callie Thorne, is the subject of Martin's book, A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus, Judas, and Life's Big Questions (LoyolaPress., 2007). Publishers Weekly, which gave the book a coveted starred review, named A Jesuit Off-Broadway one of the Best Books of 2007.

Martin has written about anti-Catholicism in the entertainment industry. He argues that, despite an irresistible fascination with the Catholic Church, the entertainment industry also holds the most obvious contempt for the Catholic Church. He suggests that, "It is as if producers, directors, playwrights and filmmakers feel obliged to establish their intellectual bona fides by trumpeting their differences with the institution that holds them in such thrall."

Father Martin's best known book, My Life with the Saints (2006), was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the "Best Books of the Year" and was the winner of a 2007 Christopher Award.

In May, 2007, he received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Wagner College in Staten Island, NY.
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More about James J. Martin...

Books by James J. Martin

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life

Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life

Becoming Who You Are: Insights on the True Self from Thomas Merton and Other Saints

A Jesuit Off-Broadway: Center Stage with Jesus, Judas, and Life's Big Questions

In Good Company: The Fast Track from the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience

More…

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/163362.My_Life_With_the_Saints?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347221358l/163362.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/163362.My_Life_With_the_Saints?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]My Life With the Saints by James J. Martin[/url]

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