Blessed Columba Marmion (Catholic caucus)

Catholic Exchange ^ | October 3, 2007 | JosephMary

[koinonia]

"The kingdom of God is built up in SILENCE; it is, before all things, INTERIOR, and hidden in the depths of the soul. Undoubtedly grace possesses a virtue which nearly always overflows in works of charity, but the principle of its power is entirely within. It is in the depths of the heart that the true intensity of the Christian life lies, it is there that God dwells, adored and served by faith, recollection, humility, obedience, simplicity, labour and LOVE."

"It is not our PERFECTION which DAZZLES God, since He is surrounded by shining Angels. No! It is our MISERY, our POVERTY, our avowed UNWORTHINESS, which draws down his Mercy upon us, and brings us his ATTENTION."

Blessed Columba Marmion (1858-1923) was a Benedictine monk who wrote several works that are considered spiritual classics. During his lifetime he was a much sought after spiritual director, retreat master and confessor for people in many paths of life including even a Cardinal.

He was born in Dublin, Ireland, to an Irish father and a French mother. Given the name Joseph Aloysius, he entered the Dublin diocesan seminary in 1874 and completed his theological studies at the College of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome. He was ordained a priest on June 16, 1881. Several years later he entered the Abbey of Maredsous in Belgium.

He would eventually author Christ the Life of the Soul (1917), Christ in His Mysteries (1919), Christ the Ideal of the Monk (1922), and Union With God: Letters of Spiritual Direction by Blessed Columba Marmion (c. 1933, posthumously).

[koinonia]

A Master of the spiritual life. His writings are classics. In Christ the Life of the Soul he writes:

“No piety would be truly Christian if it did not include in its object the Mother of the Word Incarnate. Devotion towards the Virgin Mary is not only important, but necessary, if we wish to draw abundantly at the source of life. To separate Christ from His Mother in our piety is to divide Christ; it is to lose sight of the essential mission of His Sacred Humanity in the distribution of grace. Where the Mother is left out, the Son is no longer understood.”