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Podcast: jesuitical
Episode:

Father James Martin on the summer jobs that shaped him
Category: Religion & Spirituality
Duration: 00:46:20
Publish Date: 2026-02-27 05:00:00
Description:

This week on a special, interview-only episode of “Jesuitical,” Ashley and guest host Sebastian talk with James Martin, S.J., editor at large for America, about his new memoir Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest. 

Ashley, Sebastian and Father Jim discuss:

  • The differences in writing an autobiography vs. a book on prayer

  • Balancing ambition and meaning

  • Jim’s eventual decision to choose a life and career in the Jesuits

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Timecodes

0:00 Jim Martin has a new book: “Work in Progress”

2:13 Why Jim decided to write an autobiography on his jobs

8:19 The importance of menial labor and service 

11:45 Getting free of our desire to be liked and popular

16:36 How Jim learned to distinguish ambition v. meaning

21:14 The impact of Thomas Merton on Jim’s spiritual life

25:30 Jim’s first mystical experience in the beauty of nature

35:36 Called to the Jesuits

42:15 Jim would canonize Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J.


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