Q&A: Fr. James Martin on Failure, Faith, and Finding God at Work

The Jesuit priest reflects on how ordinary jobs, early mistakes, and unglamorous labor shaped his conscience, compassion, and understanding of God’s presence.

Dear friends —

Every once in a while, a conversation slows you down.

Not because it offers easy answers or tidy resolutions — but because it forces you to look again at the parts of your life you’ve already rushed past. The jobs you thought were dead ends. The mistakes you still wince at. The seasons where God felt distant, silent, or entirely absent.

That…