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James Martin, SJ

@JamesMartinSJ

Feb 3

Croagh Patrick (meaning St. Patrick’s hill, or stack) is a mountain in County Mayo, Ireland, where, by tradition, St. Patrick spent 40 days in prayer and fasting. Often called the “Reek” (another word for rick or stack), it is not too far from Knock, where I spent a few days...

...last week with the Irish bishops, and so one afternoon, one of the bishops graciously drove me to this beautiful site, an important pilgrimage spot in Ireland. On the last Sunday of July, thousands of pilgrims, many barefoot, climb the entire mountain as an....

...act of penance and prayer. At the top of the mountain, there is an oratory dedicated to the saint (a church had been built here as early as the fifth century). Halfway up the mountain is a modest statue of St. Patrick, where the bishop and I...

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James Martin, SJ

@JamesMartinSJ

Sep 4, 2023

Gospel: Today we read a remarkable story about Jesus of Nazareth. He returns to preach in the synagogue in his hometown. Initially, people like what he has to say, which is, essentially, a proclamation of himself as the fulfillment of Scripture, as the Messiah. But when he...

...critiques them for their lack of faith, they not only reject him, they try to kill him, by throwing him off a cliff (Lk 4). There are many ways of looking at this story, usually called "The Rejection at Nazareth." The first is from the crowd's point of view. Jesus...

...was too familiar for them to see him as the Messiah. "Is this not Joseph's son?" they ask. Sometimes we miss God in front of us because God's presence comes through the overly familiar. Second, we can look at it from Jesus's point of view. He leaves Nazareth, rather than...

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James Martin, SJ

@JamesMartinSJ

Jul 21, 2023

With opposition to Pope Francis among some priests (and even bishops), it's worth remembering how some priests who found themselves at odds with their superiors reacted in the past. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, former superior general of the Society of Jesus, after suffering a stroke...

...was removed from his post in 1981 by St. John Paul II. His "vicar," or assistant, Fr. Vincent O'Keefe, SJ, an American Jesuit widely seen as Arrupe's choice for successor as superior general, was also removed from his position....

Arrupe's response? Even in his weakened state, Father Arrupe publicly declared his obedience to the Holy Father, instructed every Jesuit to be obedient and pointedly sent around this photo to every Jesuit house in the world. (It hung in my novitiate near the front door.)

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James Martin, SJ

@JamesMartinSJ

Jul 8, 2023

Gospel: Today Jesus uses the image of old wineskins and and old piece of cloth to illustrate the quality of newness of the reign of God (Mt. 9). You don't put a new patch on an old piece of cloth since the original cloth is already shrunken and, when washed, the new piece...

will pull away. Likewise, you don't put new wine in old wineskins because when the grapes ferment more, the wine will expand and burst the old skins. As C.H. Dodd said, Jesus used similes and metaphors from "nature and everyday life" to help people understand God's reign...

Here, the newness is all. God's reign is fully here, since Christ is the reign of God incarnate, but it is also not fully here, since, as we see, there is still war, violence, poverty and injustice in the world. This is the "already-not yet" quality of God's reign. But...

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James Martin, SJ

@JamesMartinSJ

Jun 30, 2023

I would have more sympathy with web designers who refuse to serve certain people because of deeply held religious beliefs, if those certain people weren't always same-sex couples. Do they, e.g., refuse to serve people who are divorced, which Jesus himself condemns (Mt 19:9)?...

Do the refuse to serve non-Christians (which would surely be illegal) who don't believe in the Incarnation or Resurrection? Could a Catholic refuse to serve a Protestant?

The response is usually, "Well, this is about objecting to their offensive practices, not their beliefs..."

In that case, besides refusing to serve divorced couples, they should refuse to serve couples living together before being married, as well as people who don't give to the poor or welcome strangers (Mt 25), people who call others names (Mt 5:21-22) and so on...

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James Martin, SJ

@JamesMartinSJ

Apr 14, 2023

Gospel: Can you see that small grey chapel to the left of this photo? That's called the Chapel of the Primacy of Peter, and it's where today's Gospel happened (Jn 21:1-14), in which the Risen Christ prepared breakfast for the disciples...

(who would have had this view of him from their boat). Inside the Chapel is a stone called the "Mensa Christi," the Table of Christ, where he is supposed to have cooked the meal. Just to the right is the Mount of Beatitudes, where, by tradition, he preached the Beatitudes...

If you look carefully you can see the Chapel of the Beatitudes crowning the small hill. Underneath it (that is, on the shoreline) is the Bay of Parables, where Jesus would have preached the parables from a boat not far from the shoreline...

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More from @JamesMartinSJ

James Martin, SJ

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James Martin, SJ

James Martin, SJ

James Martin, SJ

James Martin, SJ

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