‘My Life With the Saints’

Most Protestants are suspicious of Catholic veneration of saints, believing we are substituting fallible human beings for God in our prayer. Father Martin shows how saints can be rightfully used as models for living, as willing advocates in our needs, as comfort in our afflictions, or as a goad for us to live a life more committed to others than ourselves. The lives of saints are as varied as those in any community, but no one became a saint by living selfishly.

Most of the people Father Martin discusses (not all of them saints — at least not yet) are familiar to all Christians: Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Bernadette of Lourdes, Francis of Assisi, Peter, Mary and Joseph. Some are associated with Father Martin’s own order, the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits: Ignatius of Loyola, Aloysius Gonzaga, Pedro Arrupe and the Martyrs of Uganda.

Therese of Lisieux, Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day became famous through the books they wrote, but only Therese is officially canonized. Pope John XXIII is beatified, one step away from canonization, but more importantly to Father Martin Pope John’s life teaches us to enjoy the life we are given, to laugh and not take ourselves too seriously.

Along with the stories of saints, Father Martin also writes a memoir of his own development as a man and as a Jesuit and, while he’d be the first to say he is not a saint, his story is as involving as any spiritual heroes in the book.

His ministries take him from the gang-run streets of Chicago to the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, to refugee camps in Kenya. None of these places might rank high on most tourists’ must-see lists, but they become fascinating stops in Father Martin’s life. Over and over he describes the joy he finds in those who work with the poorest of the poor.

In another chapter he writes about his personal anguish when he must choose between a newfound love and his vocation. In a chapter on St. Peter, Father Martin reveals his struggle with a crippling hand condition which limits the time he can write with a pen or on a computer. Through identifying with Peter, whom Jesus called while aware of both his strengths and faults, Father Martin comes to terms with his physical limitations and spiritual imperfections.

In the final chapter, Father Martin reminds us that we will never be Mother Teresa or Dorothy Day or Pope John XXIII, not because we are not capable of imitating them, but because we are called to be the man or woman God intends us to be.

The call to sanctity, however, is the call God makes equally to everyone and he generously gives us individually the means to answer that highest call.