Beloved of God and Men

In the hundred years that have passed since Blessed Columba Marmion's death in 1923, his contributions to the Church as handed down in his books, letters, and example have only become increasingly relevant and necessary. It was a great blessing to the Church, then, when Pope St John Paul II beatified Columba Marmion on September 3, 2000. As the pope said: 'Marmion left us an authentic treasure of spiritual teaching for the Church of our time. In his writings he teaches a simple yet demanding way of holiness for all the faithful, whom God has destined in love to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ.' Twenty-three years later, this statement still rings true.

The essays contained in the present volume are a testament to this fact for they demonstrate the great breadth of souls that Blessed Marmion speaks to even down to our own day and age. From Marmion's doctrine based upon our spiritual adoption by the Father to the centrality of Christ's mysteries lived and participated in through the Church's liturgy; from his firm foundation in Scripture, to his absolute adherence to the teachings of the Church; from his exposition of the beauty and goodness of the religious life to his care for the universal call to holiness; and from his soaring insights into the great heights of Truth to his dwelling in the particularities of each individual and each circumstance, Marmion has something to say to 'all the faithful'. With a heart attuned to and beating with the heart of the Church, to each of us Marmion offers Christ, 'Christ today, yesterday, and forever' (Heb. 13:8), Christ contemplated, loved, and lived, not with a theoretical knowledge, but with a real and lively faith. The Church is gifted but rarely with souls so comprehensive as to reach all of Her children, but there is no doubt that Blessed Columba Marmion was one such soul: a soul beloved of both God and men.