James Martin

This was a great read! I would love to own a copy to have as a reference. I ended up with way too many post it flags to report on in a blog post because Father Martin's writing gave me so much to think about. Here are just a few things:

To read:
The Story of a Soul, St. Therese of Lisieux
Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola
Thomas More, Richard Marius
A Marginal Jew, John Meier

"...realizing from experience that some thoughts left him sad and others happy. Little by little he came to recognize the difference between the spirits that agitated him, one from the enemy, the other from God." p.83

"we should not be so attached to any thing or person or state of life that is prevents us from loving God." p. 84

"Can you be indifferent to your need to have things happen on your own timetable? Are you more concerned with how things appear rather than what is really best for you? Might God's timetable be a better one than yours?" p.86

"God does not demand that I be successful. God demands that I be faithful." - Mother Teresa, p. 170

"I let others waste their time dreaming about what might happen to me... The idea that one would be better off somewhere else is an illusion." -Pope John XXIII, p.186

"More often that not, God is most easily found by simply looking back over your life, or your week, or your day, and saying, 'Yes, there was God'. Finding God is often a matter of simply being aware, or simply remembering." p.355

"...we are called to bring Christ into the lives of others." p.355

"For those with faith no explanation is necessary; for those without faith no explanation is sufficient." p.379

"She's not meant to be Mother Teresa; she's meant to be herself." p.387

"Part of this process means that [you have] to let go of [your] desire to be someone else." p.388

"The beginning of sanctity  is loving ourselves as creations of God. And that means all of ourselves, even the parts of us that we wish weren't there, the parts of us that we wish God hadn't made, the parts of us that we lament. God loves us as a parent loves a child- often  more for the parts of the child that are weaker or where the child struggles and falters. Those weaknesses are often the most important paths to holiness, because they remind us of our reliance on God." p.389

 In the middle of reading My Life with the Saints I checked this short book also by Father Martin out from the library. Searching for God at Ground Zero is Father Martin's journal of counseling the workers at Ground Zero in the immediate days after September 11th. It is very well written and obviously very sad.

I am now a fan of Father Martin's writing and want to get my hands on his other books and writings in America as well.