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

How can leaders in the church accompany migrants and refugees? Fr. James Martin, S.J., speaks with Bishop Michael Pham about how his background as a refugee has led him to accompany migrants today.

Bishop Pham fled Vietnam in 1980 with his older sister and a younger brother, arriving first at a refugee camp in Malaysia, before being sponsored a year later by an American family and relocating to Minnesota. He graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s and started a master’s degree in aerospace engineering before shifting his course and pursuing the priesthood. Pope Francis appointed him as auxiliary bishop of San Diego in 2023. In 2025, Pope Leo XIV named him the seventh bishop of San Diego, making him the nation’s first Vietnamese-American diocesan bishop. Since then he has been a leader among U.S. bishops in advocating for migrants and refugees.

Together, Bishop Pham and Fr. Martin discuss:

His childhood in Vietnam and escaping conflict as a refugee

How Bishop Pham supports migrants today

How prayers and sacraments can sustain us while helping vulnerable communities

Chapters:

0:00 A church that walks with migrants

4:24 Bishop Pham’s story of fleeing Vietnam as a child

17:19 Separated from his family at a refugee camp

18:19 Prayer strengthened his family’s faith in hardship

22:55 Discerning the priesthood

31:18 Bishop Pham’s work with migrants today

39:39 The church’s response to migration centers on human dignity

42:00 Remember to celebrate the small blessings

45:30 Audience Question: How can prayer and sacraments sustain me through the work of helping vulnerable communities?

Read Maggi’s spiritual reflection here

Links from the show:

Why San Diego’s Catholic leaders are standing with migrants in court—against impossible odds

Pope Leo XIV, in first U.S. appointment, names San Diego’s new bishop

U.S. Catholics are facing an authoritarian threat. The church has been here before.

The U.S. bishops have made a (needed) statement on deportations. Now it’s time to act.

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How do we navigate politics in our congregations, our prayers, and our lives of faith? Fr. James Martin, S.J., discusses these questions with Bishop Mariann Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC. Bishop Budde became the first-ever woman to hold her position after being consecrated as the ninth bishop of Washington in November 2011. In addition to being a bishop, she is a mother, grandmother, and author of books including, “Gathering Up the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice” and “How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith”.

Together, Bishop Budde and Fr. Martin discuss:

Preaching in a politically fraught time

Recognizing the humanity in everyone in a polarized country

Experiencing God in your daily life

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome Bishop Mariann Budde

3:51 What defines Episcopalian spirituality?

7:25 Matthew Shepard’s internment at the National Cathedral

11:44 How do you preach about politics?

22:33 Challenging a culture of contempt

28:50 Bishop Budde’s call to ordained ministry

33:35 What is liberation theology?

41:00 Spiritual practices that keep Bishop Budde grounded

47:49: Experiencing God in your day-to-day life

52:29 Audience question: How do we ensure our transgender child knows they are loved by God and by us?

Links from the show:

Bishop Budde showed faithful moral courage. Catholics should follow her lead.

How We Learn to Be Brave

Gathering Up the Fragments: Preaching as Spiritual Practice

Read Maggi and Fr. Jim’s article reflecting on the themes of this episode

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What is moral theology, and where does it fit in our spiritual lives? Fr. James Martin, S.J., asks these questions to James Keenan, a Jesuit priest and one of the world's leading Catholic moral theologians on “The Spiritual Life” podcast. He is the Canisius professor of theology at Boston College, where he also serves as director of the Jesuit Institute and Vice Provost for Global Engagement. He has written and edited over a dozen books, covering everything from church leadership to moral life to bioethics, and more.

Together, they discuss:

- Moral theology in practice

- The role of conscience in our daily lives

- What happens when conscience and church teaching disagree?

Chapters:

00:00 Who is Fr. James Keenan, S.J.?

4:15 Mercy and vulnerability

6:10 Sin is "not bothering"

9:10 What sins are Jesus concerned with?

10:35 Becoming a moral theologian

15:15 Morality and birth control

18:40 What is moral theology?

22:30 What is conscience?

26:23 Conscience and church teaching

30:05 Understanding the Good Samaritan

41:00 Fr. Keenan's spiritual practices

45:10 Audience question: Conscience in difficult decisions

Spiritual advice column for this episode by Maggi and Fr. Jim: https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2026/10/06/father-james-martin-keenan-conscience-spiritual-life

Other links:

The liberating work of mercy: Banning ‘servile work’

Pope Leo’s powerful lesson in vulnerable leadership

James F. Keenan, S.J., on guidance for the LGBTQ Catholic conscience

Focusing on the individual is not enough to face today’s crises. We need collective moral agency.

The Moral Life

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Fr. James Martin, S.J., welcomes Susan Stabile, a spiritual director and retreat leader in the Ignatian tradition onto “The Spiritual Life” podcast. Susan was raised Catholic, but spent twenty years practicing Buddhism (and was ordained a Tibetan Buddhist nun) before returning to Catholicism. She now serves as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of St. Thomas, as well as adjunct instructor in Theology at St. Catherine’s University, where she is also Co-Director of a Contemplative Practices initiative. Susan offers retreats, spiritual direction, and adult faith formation programs nationally, and is the author of Growing in Love and Wisdom: Tibetan Buddhist Sources for Christian Meditation.

Together, Susan and Fr James discuss:

Her journey through Buddhism and back home to Catholicism

Having a personal relationship with Jesus

Spiritual direction as part of her return to the Church

Timecodes:
0:00 The difference between ‘talking about’ and ‘talking to’ Jesus
08:09 The pivotal experience in Susan’s spiritual life
17:28 What does a personal relationship with Jesus mean?
19:17 Engaging the senses in Ignatian contemplation
22:56 What Bible commentaries can do for our faith
30:50 How do I know this isn’t just in my head?
36:45 What happens in spiritual direction?
42:39 Key qualities in a good spiritual director
45:16 Overcoming spiritual hurdles
54:17 Audience Question: How do I discern whether an experience is coming from God or my ego?

Check out Susan's book:
Growing in Love and Wisdom: Tibetan Buddhist Sources for Christian Meditation

Maggi and Fr. Jim’s spiritual reflection article.

Spiritual Directors International website.

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

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How do you maintain a friendship with God when life gets hard? What do you do when, in your mid-fifties and at the height of your career, you are diagnosed with an aggressive and incurable brain cancer? That’s the question that confronted Ann Garrido, our guest on, “The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.” podcast. Ann is an associate professor of homiletics at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis Missouri, where she also founded the school’s master’s program in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She has written several award-winning books including Redeeming Administration, Redeeming Conflict, and Redeeming Power.

Together, Fr. Jim and Ann discuss:

How to reflect on human suffering and “offer it up” as a prayer

Allowing oneself to be wooed by God daily, even when the future seems uncertain

What we can know about heaven

Timecodes:

0:00 “I am with you, and I am within you”

5:58 Where Ann’s life of teaching, preaching and ministry began

9:30 The hard theological questions born in Africa

15:42 How Ann was diagnosed with a glioblastoma

19:57 Noticing God’s presence and offering up her suffering

28:38 God woos Ann each day through the examen prayer

39:46 What we can know about heaven

51:00 Audience Question: How do we maintain a friendship with Jesus that allows us to remain joyful when life is so hard?

Check out Ann's recent book, Redeeming Power

Maggi and Fr. Jim’s article reflection on “offering up” our suffering

Preach episode featuring Ann Garrido

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