Br. Guy Consolmagno on praying as a scientist

The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.

America Media

Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Host James Martin, S.J., welcomes Br. Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit brother, astronomer and the former director of the Vatican Observatory, to “The Spiritual Life” podcast. With a Ph.D. in planetary science, Br. Guy has spent his career studying meteorites and asteroids, exploring the origins of the solar system, authoring more than 250 scientific publications and making science accessible to the public. Br. Guy has written several books exploring faith and science issues, and his most recent book is, “A Jesuit's Guide to the Stars: Exploring Wonder, Beauty, and Science.” This fascinating conversation covers: The challenge of loneliness no matter your vocation The notion of the “evil spirit” in Ignatian spirituality and analogies in science The Big Bang and why we shouldn’t base our theology off current scientific understandings How being a scientist influences Br. Guy’s prayer life and where he sees God most clearly Five lessons learned as director of the Vatican Observatory: https://www.americamagazine.org/faithinfocus/2025/09/11/vatican-observatory-guy-consolmagno Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org Become a subscriber today at Americamagazine.org/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Body, mind, and spirit.
0:03.0	We believe if one needs help, so do the others.
0:06.4	As part of Catholic Health Care's holistic approach to treating the whole person,
0:10.8	here, people are not viewed as symptoms or insurance claims.
0:14.8	And when we treat the body, mind, and spirit, we believe the whole person will thrive.
0:20.5	Catholic Health Care, learn more at
0:22.8	wecare, you flourish.org. Sponsored by the Catholic Health Association.
0:32.5	Welcome to the spiritual life. I'm Father Jim Martin. On this podcast, we reflect on how people experience
0:39.0	God in their prayer and in their daily lives. And I am joined by my very talented producer,
0:45.1	Maggie Van Doren, who I always love seeing Maggie, good to be with you.
0:48.3	It's always great to be with you, too, Jim. We have an incredible guest on the spiritual life this
0:53.7	week. We were talking to Guy Consolmagno.
0:57.8	How did you first meet Guy, Conselmanyo, or I should say brother Guy, Consolmagno?
1:02.4	I met Guy when we were both in what's now called First Studies, that was then called
1:07.5	Philosophy Studies, at Loyola University, Chicago.
1:13.4	And we were in the same group, the same cohort.
1:14.9	Just a great guy.
1:16.4	I've always really liked him.
1:20.7	I'm sure he gets down, but to me, he's always upbeat and fun. And when I found out he was an astrophysicist, you know, with a PhD, it really blew me away.
1:27.1	And so we've been friends ever since,
1:29.4	and I admire him and like him as a public figure as well. He's a great explicator, as you will
1:35.1	find, on faith and reason. Yeah, that's right. And a bit more bio on Brother Guy. He is a Jesuit
	...

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