Before you know it you're swept under his writerly wing, and riding along on his mystery tour of saints he wants you to know — and befriend. And through some transitive literary property, it works.
-- Chicago Tribune
It isn’t often that a new and noteworthy book comes along in this genre, but we have reason to celebrate My Life with the Saints. It is earmarked for longevity. It will endure as an important and uncommon contribution to religious writing.
-- America
In a volume that is part spiritual memoir, part inspirational guide, Martin, a Jesuit priest and associate editor at America, applies the teachings of great saints to everyday life. Martin is interested in holding up the saints not as paragons but as exemplars of holy struggle. All the saints, he writes, struggled in one way or another. . . . Martin’s final word for us is as Jungian as it is Catholic: God does not want us to be like Mother Teresa or Dorothy Day. God wants us to be most fully ourselves.
-- The Washington Post Book World
Martin takes a splendid idea and develops it masterfully by weaving stories from his life into those of his favorite saints. Martin’s animated style and wide-ranging experiences will make this a book readers of diverse backgrounds will enjoy.
-- Publishers Weekly
The saints are given to us as patrons and companions. James Martin tells us how they have been resources for him in every time of need. In delightful prose he recounts incidents, both perilous and funny, that have prompted him to turn to the saints, and in doing so shows us a new way of living out a devotion that is as old and universal as the church.
-- Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ
This wonderfully written volume interweaves the spiritual pilgrimage of a young Jesuit and his discovery of the saints of the Catholic tradition. Readers of this book will receive both the abundant gift of good writing and the more abundant grace that flows from the witness of the saints. Enthusiastically recommended.
-- Lawrence S. Cunningham
The saints’ stories and their relevance to Martin’s own spiritual journey form the spine of this remarkably engaging book. A mix of history, memoir, social commentary, and spiritual exercise, My Life with the Saints reveals the familiar and not familiar stories of a handful of holy people.
-- U.S. Catholic
In a cross between Holden Caulfield and Thomas Merton, James Martin has written one of the best spiritual memoirs in years. With help from the saints who have inspired and guided his way, he recounts a journey that is as entertaining as it is profound.
-- Robert Ellsberg
