Saturday, February 06, 2021

Learning to Pray with James Martin & Stephen Colbert

 


Stephen Colbert and Fr, James Martin 

The other night Stephen Colbert of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert had a conservation with Jesuit priest, Father James Martin. Colbert offers humorous and often biting takes on world events and was a fierce critic of Donald Trump. He is also a Christian, a Roman Catholic, who is unapologetic about including his take on faith and religion on his show. He has been interviewed by Father Martin on his Faith in Focus show and Martin has been Colbert's guest several times.

Martin has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ2 persons and not surprisingly has ended up being the recipient of lots of anger from some Christians. He has also been received by Pope Francis for open conversation of the topic, and is welcomed by many RC's who are grateful for his message of acceptance and inclusion. 

He has written a new book called Learning to Pray: A Guide for Everyone, and that's what he discussed with Colbert. It's refreshing to hear two Christians chatting about prayer in an intelligent way, without reservation, in such a public forum. Martin offered that there is no one way or right way to pray, which reminded me of the old adage, "pray as you can, not as you can't." He identified a number of prayer approaches as possibilities he addresses in his book. 

I have so many excellent books on prayer that I probably won't purchase this one, but it sounds as though it would be worthwhile, and I'm thankfull for spiritual leaders such as Father Martin. 


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