Rev. James Martin, the Jesuit author and educator, was working at General Electric in Connecticut when he started to feel the call to quit his job and commit to a spiritual life.
“It was a little scary,” Martin tells Connecticut Public’s “Where We Live.” “I didn't know anyone who had done that. I didn't know any priests.”
The decision to quit working at General Electric wasn’t the first time Martin showed a willingness to try something new.
His new book, “Work in Progress,” chronicles his early life and odd jobs – the formative years that would lay the foundation for a life of service as one of Catholicism’s most well-recognized communicators.
He recently joined Connecticut Public’s “Where We Live” to talk about the book, his discernment process, his ministering to LGBTQ+ communities and his advice for spiritual seekers of all faith traditions.
Interview highlights
His call to be a priest
I was working at GE Capital in Stamford, Connecticut. It was an exciting time to be at GE. I eventually found that the work that I was doing was very stressful. I also came into contact with a few managers who I found were pretty immoral and sort of mean. I thought, “I'm in the wrong place, and what am I going to do?” I studied business. I studied at Wharton, I was a major in finance, and I didn't see a way out.
And it wasn't until one night, I came home and I turned on PBS Channel 13, and there was a documentary about Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk. I thought, “Who is this guy, what is this and what is this monastic life, and what is religious life?” It was so captivating that it prompted me to go to a local shopping center to buy his autobiography.
That really was kind of the beginning of the call.
LGBTQ+ ministry
It started in 2016 after the Pulse nightclub massacre, and it led to a Facebook video, which led to a talk, which led to a book called “Building A Bridge." It was basically inviting the Catholic Church to reach out to the LGBTQ community in the wake of that murder. It's garnered a lot of critique, but mostly support. Because most people know LGBTQ people and want to include them in the church.
That really was a sort of litmus test for me in terms of how comfortable I could be with people not only disliking me, but really hating me. At the beginning (there were) really venomous attacks on social media. Part of (responding to) that is to ground yourself in the gospel message of inclusion and welcome. This is what Jesus did all the time. He's always reaching out to people in the margins.
His advice for those looking for spiritual direction
We don't have to be cookie cutter versions of everybody else. When we compare ourselves to other people, we always sort of find ourselves wanting.
We're all created with a certain purpose and a certain set of gifts and talents and challenges, and to really celebrate that.
A lot of spirituality is just about noticing where God already is in your life, right? That's no matter what faith tradition you are: be aware and pay attention to those experiences.
Everyone is living the spiritual life
It's easier to see where God was, than where God is and where God will be. We're all on this spiritual journey to understand ourselves, to understand how God loves us, to experience God's love and to give that love back to God and to other people.
I know that might rankle some people who consider themselves atheists and agnostics, and I'm not trying to sort of force any belief on them.
But I really think that life's journey is a life to try to understand who God is calling you to be, who God is calling us to be, and ultimately that ends with union with God right at the end of our lives.
We're all on this kind of spiritual journey to understand ourselves, to understand how God loves us, to experience God's love and to give that love back to God and to other people.
Learn more
Listen back to the full conversation on “Where We Live”: Rev. James Martin on work and life's spiritual journey.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
