Ruminations of the Saint Boniface Book Club

At the end of the work day I checked the blog and I noticed that the book list had a comment. Not too many people know about this blog yet, so I was very eager to check about who had left a comment. To my surprise, Fr. Jim Martin, SJ was the first to leave a comment! Jim Martin is the author of two of the books we will be reading.

A few things about Jim. I first knew of him a while back while reading America Magazine. His articles were always the best! A few months back I picked up his book, My Life With the Saints. As I began reading My Life With the Saints, I immediately fell in love with it and in many ways, this book club had its genesis in wanting to share that book. I started buying that book for friends and giving it as a gift for a birthday, graduation etc. Several of my closest friends and I started tossing around ideas and thoughts that came from the book. The more we spoke about the book, the more I was determined to read more of Martin's works. To this day, I don't think I have met a person who did not enjoy reading that book. Within the book Jim writes about the book club be ran in an NY parish. (That planted a seed about starting this book club. After some research, thought, prayer and discussion, I based the dynamics of this book club on Jim's model)

Although I have never personally met Fr. James Martin, I feel that through his literature I have come to know him on a personal level. His work is very honest, down to earth, and says volumes in the simplicity of his writing style. In many ways I identify with his experiences and in many other ways I look up to him and see in him the very same qualities I would want others to see in me. In some ways, I feel very connected to him. Several weeks ago I found out that Jim and I share a mutual friend... which only added to the connectedness. I am very excited that Jim took the time to comment on our blog.

Jim will be here for the Religious Ed Congress in the Spring. (Jim, perhaps, if your time allows, we can have dinner with our mutual friend).

Here is the text of his comment:

Wow. Thanks for including not one, but two, of my books. I hope that your group enjoys them! And the others are all huge favorites of mine--including, of course, the Gospel of Matthew.Please greet all the saints in Anaheim, a place that I love visiting every year during the L.A. Religious Ed Congress!

Peace, Jim Martin, SJ