Finding God in laughter

05-JUN-2012

Whether he’s discussing God’s ‘approval rating’ on The Colbert Report or writing books about Jesus’ sense of humour, or providing more serious analysis on CNN, The New York Times and other mainstream media outlets, Fr James Martin SJ has found a way of communicating the timeless messages of the Gospel that resonates with audiences today.

Province Express editor Michael McVeigh recently interviewed Fr Martin at the Americamagazine offices in New York, where he works as the magazine’s Cultural Editor.

M: You have a gift of being able to write in a way that connects with people. What’s your secret?

Well, I try to write for the person I was at the age of 27 when I entered the Jesuits: someone who knew nothing about Ignatian Spirituality. I didn’t know who the Jesuits were, I didn’t know who St Ignatius was, and I had never really prayed before. I didn’t go to a Catholic high school and I didn’t go to a Catholic college. So I know what it’s like to not know how to say the Rosary, and not know what a novena is.

It’s important to speak to people in accessible, inviting and down-to-earth ways. My model is Jesus. He used parables, and in those parables he would use simple things like mustard seeds, clouds, birds, or simple image of a woman finding a coin, a farmer sowing in the field – there’s no need for the Gospel to be abstruse.

How did you come to be a priest if you had so little contact with the faith?

I studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and received my undergraduate degree in business. Then I worked for six years at General Electric. In time, I started to feel like I was a square peg in a round hole. While business was a good career for my friends, it didn’t seem to fit me. So I just got more and more miserable.

One day I came home and saw a documentary about Thomas Merton. I went out and bought his book, The Seven Storey Mountain. His story just captivated me, and I felt the desire to do something like he had done.

What was happening on a supernatural level was that God was calling me through my desires: the desire to become a priest and enter religious life that was awakened by watching this documentary. On a natural level, I just saw something I liked. It seemed much more interesting and appealing than my life at General Electric. It seemed peaceful and beautiful and exciting.

Why join the Jesuits?

Well, I asked my local parish priest about the priesthood. Of course I had no clue about religious orders. I thought that a Jesuit, a Franciscan or Dominican was a different kind of priest – that they got a different degree or something. He said you should talk to the diocesan vocation office, and that I might want to talk to the Jesuits who were up the road, at Fairfield University.

So I went and met a Jesuit and something clicked. I felt that these guys were very normal and down-to-earth and appealing. I liked the idea of being a Jesuit and being something else at the same time: a Jesuit teacher or a Jesuit writer, for example,

Now, I wasn’t getting spiritual direction at the time. But I made a retreat that seemed to confirm what I was doing. Still, I entered religious life with a very shallow understanding of what I was getting myself into. But here I am, 25 years later!

It seems that your vocation has only deepened since then?

Eventually I realised that Jesuit spirituality fits me. It’s very practical and down-to-earth. I also love Ignatian contemplation. The style of prayer that the Jesuits use, of placing yourself in the Scripture scene, suits me.

But I entered with very little research, as I said. There was a novice in the same entrance class with me who had been doing research on religious orders for years. He was from Czechoslovakia, and he settled in Boston, had spent a couple of months with the Dominicans, a couple of months with the Franciscans, a couple of months discerning with the Trappists, and a couple months with the Jesuits before joining them. But he left before Thanksgiving, and I’m here 25 years later.

Where is your joy in your ministry? Is it sitting behind the computer typing, or is it getting out and talking to people?

Well, I love to write. And I don’t think I’ve ever had writer’s block. I try to write only when I have things to say.

And I love writing about Ignatian spirituality. I loved writing my last book on joy, humour and laughter as well. I’m currently writing about Jesus – I could write about Jesus from now until the end of time. I love the idea of sharing with people the story of Jesus, and inviting them into his story.

Many years ago I read for the first time John O’Malley’s book, The First Jesuits. To my mind, it’s the best book on the Jesuits. It looks at the early Jesuits in a witty and stylish way. He says that the phrase that occurs most frequently in the early Jesuit writing is ‘to help souls’. That’s what I try to do in my work – to help souls.

I like the public speaking side of my work as well. And, needless to say, I enjoy my priestly duties, like celebrating Mass, presiding at baptisms and weddings. And I enjoy preaching a great deal. I feel that the Spirit is especially moving within me when I talk about the Gospel--whether I’m writing about the Gospel or preaching.

Your latest book looks at the place of humour in our religion. It’s a topic I haven’t really seen explored before. What inspired you to write about it?

Jesus used humour in his preaching all the time, although some of it doesn’t translate to today’s audiences. For example, the idea of building a house on sand (Matt 7:26) would have been, according to several Scripture scholars I spoke with, hilarious to people of the time.

There’s also the first time he meets one of his eventual apostles Nathaniel (John 1:46), and Nathaniel teases Jesus for coming from such a small town in Nazareth. ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth,’ he says. Rather than getting angry with him, Jesus says, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ He seems delighted by his sense of humour.

What are the things that you know will move people in your writing?

First, honesty. That’s the key. Honesty about your own personal spiritual struggles, about your own foibles and flaws, and about the spiritual life. For example, I’ll be honest about times I’ve struggled in prayer, or times that I’ve struggled in my life, in my vocation. I think that’s attractive to people.

Second, telling a good story. That is important, as is remembering that humour needs to be part of it. You can’t approach writing as if it’s medicine – that this is something that people should read. You have to make it interesting and attractive for them, the same as Jesus did. The parables were interesting stories. The prodigal son is an interesting tale. You want to know what happens at the end – it’s kind of a shock.

Third, meeting people where they are. Jesus met people on different paths – he met the Roman centurion, the woman at the well, and he met the sick, tax collectors and prostitutes. He didn’t say that in order to listen to him they needed to come to him on his terms.

That’s what I try to do in my writing. And a little self-deprecating humour never hurts.

And finally, a funny story from Fr Martin’s latest book.

Cardinal John O'Connor of New York was once at a fundraising dinner and the master of ceremonies got up at the end of the evening and proceeded to thank everyone who had helped with the dinner, but kept forgetting their names. Every time he forgot a name he would pull out a little note card to help him remember. ‘I would like to thank our fundraising chairman, Mr….(and he'd pull out his note card)….Smith. ‘And I would like to thank our communications director, Mr…(and he pulls out the card) Jones.’ ‘And I would like to thank our board chairman, Mrs… (and out comes the card) Johnson.’ Finally, he said, ‘And now Cardinal O'Connor will come to the dais, and give us his benediction.’

And the cardinal got up and said, ‘Almighty God, we thank you for all the blessings you have bestowed on us and we do this in the name of your son….(and he pulls out his note card)…Jesus Christ.’

Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything are published by HarperCollins. Earlier books, including My Life with the Saints and A Jesuit Off-Broadway are available throughLoyola Press.