Abbot Columba Marmion, a Benedictine who was born in 1858 and died in 1923, has been said by some to be the greatest spiritual writer of the twentieth century. Some of his work has even been compared that of Saint Therese of Lisieux. He wrote a number of books and was renowned as a preacher and spiritual director during his life, and further collections of his work have been published since his death.[1] It would take volumes to cover his spiritual thought as a whole in any real depth at all. What will be undertaken here is only a relatively short, and inevitably incomplete, study of the principle theme covered by Abbot Marmion, namely the divine adoption. The divine adoption of Christians as children of God the Father was such a dominant point in the thought of Abbot Marmion that he is sometimes referred to as the doctor of the divine adoption.[2] Even this more specific topic cannot be considered as deeply as one might like in a paper of this length, but what will be attempted here is at least an overview of the doctrine of divine adoption as expressed by Columba Marmion and the spiritual riches which he drew from it and spread to others.

Abbot Marmion's development of divine adoption essentially starts out with the point that absolutely all holiness comes in some way from the Father. It is through becoming the adopted children of God that we become holy. This is not like any human adoption, since it actually changes us in ourselves, giving us a participation in the divine life. It is true that we are not children by nature, but rather by an adoption through grace, but this is an adoption that makes us children of God in truth, not in name only. Abbot Marmion emphasized this in writing "In a very real, very true sense, we are divinely begotten by grace. With the Word, we can say: "O Father, I am Thy son, I came out from Thee."[3] It is important to remember, however, that we cannot say this in the same way that the Word can say it, and that we can only say this with Christ the Word, not by ourselves as mere creatures. These two points will be referred to again in slightly greater depth a little later. Suffice it to say that, in the sense stated, we can and must become real children of God, and this will form the center around which basically everything revolves for Abbot Marmion spiritually speaking.[4]

According to Abbot Marmion, this grace that makes one a child of God which is of such central importance was first received by Adam both for himself and on behalf of the entire race. However, Adam lost this grace for himself and for all humanity with his sin. After that, rather than being born as children of God, men have been born as enemies of God. In the divine plan, though, humanity was not thus to permanently lose the opportunity of being adopted children of God. The holiness of the Father, from which all holiness is derived, is communicated to the Son, and His Son became Incarnate and died for the sins of humanity.[5] In the redemption, mankind once again received the incredible gift of the divine adoption. We can become analogously by grace what Christ is by nature as the Son of God. This is only possible for us, however, in union with Christ. Unless one is configured to Christ, God the Father will not see him in His Son.[6] By being a part of Christ, by being in the Mystical Body of Christ, we are actually in some sense caught up in the Trinitarian life itself to the extent that we are united to the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.[7]

It should be clear from what has been said that Abbot Marmion's spiritual thought must, of necessity, be particularly and profoundly Christocentric. Christ is the Way, the only way possible, to the Father. In the context of divine adoption our goal is to join ourselves as much as possible to Christ and thus participate more in the divine life and become more fully children of God. As a result, obviously, our entire spiritual life must revolve around Christ. The grace of the divine adoption depends on Christ in that it is won for humanity by His merits, it is applied through His sacred humanity, it tends to produce features of Christ in us, and the more we depend on Christ, the more grace we receive.[8] Not only is it Christ who brings us to the Father as children of the Father, but it is also through Christ that God the Father reveals Himself to us and manifests His love for us. Even in loving the Father we love what has been revealed to us through Christ, indicating the absolute centrality of Christ and the total focus on Him that should be present. As Abbot Marmion once said in reference to his own life, "For me: Jesus is everything."[9]

The gift of divine adoption, which has been restored to us by Christ, is first given to the individual human being at the time of his baptism. It is in this sacrament of Christian initiation that one first receives sanctifying grace and begins participation in the divine life by rising with Christ, thus becoming a child of God. This sacrament, then, was naturally especially dear to Abbot Marmion. He declared "All spiritual life ought to be the development of . . . the spirit we receive at baptism through the virtue of Jesus Christ."[10] In much the same way that we are born as children of God in baptism, we grow as children of God in Confirmation. However, this sacrament is not to help us grow out of our childhood of divine adoption but rather to help us grow in this childhood. This is not to say that Confirmation is not to develop a spiritual maturity, but Abbot Marmion points out that such maturity should only deepen our childlike attitude toward God the Father.[11] Holy Orders also add a further element to the divine adoption for someone who receives them, since he is made in a special way "alter Christus" and thus a child of God.[12]

The Eucharist must be considered separately from other sacraments to fully appreciate Abbot Marmion's consciousness of its value. The centrality of the Eucharist in the Church and among the other sacraments is brought out clearly in the context of considering the doctrine of divine adoption. In this life the ultimate fulfillment of divine adoption is the Eucharist, through which we are most completely and wholly united to Christ. When one receives Christ into his soul in this sacrament worthily, it is then that he is most fully a child of God and most beloved to the Father, because it is then that the Father can most truly look at His creature and child by grace and see in him Jesus, His Son by nature.[13] It is not surprising then that Abbot Marmion encouraged daily reception of the Eucharist, and taught people to pray when they thus received Jesus, "O Jesus, You are the Son of God, the perfect, adequate image of Your Father; You know Your Father, You are wholly His, You behold His Face; increase within me the grace of adoption which makes me the child of God; teach me to be, by Your grace and by my virtues, like You and in You, a worthy child of the Heavenly Father."[14]

The divine adoption, which reaches its greatest fulfillment in this life on our part when we receive the Eucharist, never actually attains perfection on our part in this life. On God's part, of course, it is always perfect. This can be seen from the abundance of graces and gifts that are constantly rained down on His children through Jesus Christ. However, on our part in this life the adoption never reaches perfection.[15] This could be looked at from a negative perspective, seeing this lack of perfection as a limitation imposed by our imperfect human nature. There is a certain truth in this, and Abbot Marmion does mention it, but he also takes a more positive view of this situation. The very fact that we cannot attain perfection in this life in our role as children of God means that there is no limit to how far one can advance. No matter how much or how little progress one has made in this line one always has the same goal of developing in conformity to Christ. It is not until death that we are fixed at a point of perfection in our state as adopted children of God. At that time faithful perseverance will be rewarded with the fruition of our divine adoption in the Beatific Vision.[16]

Since we have received this incredible gift of divine adoption, the question arises of what our initial reaction to this should be. Abbot Marmion specifies that we should react with gratitude, joy, and confidence. The basis for our gratitude should be obvious, considering the gift of divine adoption that God gave us at baptism. Abbot Marmion emphasizes the importance of frequently thanking God for this and of showing our gratitude through fidelity to our baptismal promises. We should also be joyful in response to the divine adoption, because of the love God has shown for us and the blessings in which we are called to share. Above all, according to Abbot Marmion, we are to have a simple and childlike confidence in our whole spiritual life in the knowledge that we are children of God.[17] This precludes anything that results from not putting ourselves in God's hands. Abbot Marmion went so far as to advise someone, "Put your trust in God alone . . . avoid examining yourself too much. It is enough that God knows you."[18] While this is obviously not meant to discourage proper self-examination, it is a good example of the importance he placed on perfect confidence in God.

The spirit of confidence that we are to have because of the divine adoption especially applies in our prayer to the Father. Since we would expect a human father to always do what he thinks is best for his child, we should think the same and so much more of our Father in heaven. Not only does He love us more even than we love ourselves, He also knows perfectly what is good for us, so we should pray to Him with complete confidence.[19] The paternal love of God for us also helps to explain why we should reveal our thoughts and desires in prayer to God, even though He already knows them. Marmion wrote that this is the case, "Because He wills that we should act towards Him like good children who go in all confidence to recount all their difficulties to their father."[20] Nor should we be afraid to approach the Father because we are aware of our own weaknesses, but rather we can take comfort in thus approaching Him with a consciousness of our true lowliness. In a beautifully consoling passage Abbot Marmion wrote, "It is not our perfection which is to dazzle God, Who is surrounded by myriads of angels. No, it is our misery, our wretchedness avowed which draws down His Mercy."[21]

It was pointed out earlier that Abbot Marmion's thought was deeply and profoundly Christocentric. This Christocentric character involved with his concentration on the doctrine of divine adoption naturally also applied to the practical level of the spiritual life. When asked in what the spiritual life consists, Abbot Marmion replied with one word: "Christ."[22] To him the whole spiritual life really was that simple, and at the same time that beautiful and profound. In everything we do in our life we are to strive above all else to imitate Christ. This does not primarily refer to individual actions of Christ, though these of course are very worthy of imitation, because depending on one's circumstances and state in life it might or might not be possible for a particular person to appropriately imitate particular actions of Christ. The primary point of imitating Christ is an imitation of Christ's inner life, which is indeed manifested by His actions in general. Without this, according to Abbot Marmion, all other pretended spirituality is useless at best.[23]

The most basic aspect in which it can be said that we should imitate Christ is in His disposition toward the Father. God loves us with a tremendous paternal love, which is the model for all human paternal love. Thus it is essential that we return His love as much as we can, with a love that should exceed the love we would have for even the best of human fathers. At the same time God the Father, the First Person of the Blessed Trinity, obviously must also be given the utmost reverence of which men are capable.[24] Abbot Marmion points out that in the purely human terms to which we are accustomed, there seems to be a certain tension between love and reverence which makes them seem to us to be opposed. Christ in His life is the perfect example to show us how to reconcile and balance these things in our relationship with God the Father. In addition, since Christ in His humanity is easier for humans to grasp, so to speak, than God the Father, it is easier for us to develop the kind of personal love that we are to have for the Father through him. In this way Christ leads us to His Father by showing us how we to both love and revere the Father.[25]

If we love and revere God the Father as we should, we will want to be in perfect conformity with the will of God. For us, this means following the will of Christ. It is crucial to have some sense of abandonment to the divine will, which is the ultimate development of the confidence in God discussed earlier. It is necessary to become an instrument of Christ. Abbot Marmion saw this a particularly important for those involved in spiritual guidance and direction, saying once that, "The director is the instrument of Jesus Christ. The more he is united with Him, the more he renounces his own will to follow in everything the inspiration of Jesus Christ . . . For my part, I will try to act in absolute dependence on Jesus Christ."[26] What is stated here in reference to spiritual directors was considered by Abbot Marmion to be the ideal towards which all Christians should be striving. All people, as children of God, must be willing to allow themselves to be guided by the will of Christ. Abbot Marmion saw it as being of the goal for a child of God to reach the point where he could say in the words of Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."[27]

Since the doctrine of divine adoption calls us to be like Christ in every possible way, it is clear that we must suffer with Christ. Abbot Marmion was fully aware of and deeply concerned with the problem of human suffering. The confidence that we are to have in our spiritual life is certainly not a confidence that all will be well in an earthly sense. Rather than giving any such overly optimistic view of our earthly life, Abbot Marmion stresses the necessity of suffering so that we can join ourselves to Christ in this regard. Since it was precisely in Christ's suffering and death that He redeemed us, it would be nonsensical to expect that we could unite ourselves to Christ and thus be truly children of God, without suffering.[28] Also, he makes the point that we should try to be glad of suffering and love penance because our sins, even our forgiven sins, are obstacles to intimate familiarity with God our Father if we have done no expiation. Although we cannot really merit the gift of divine adoption of ourselves, through suffering we can participate in the merits of Christ that gained it for us, and atone for the sins that make us unworthy of it.[29]

It might at first seem that the Holy Spirit could not possibly be given a proportionately significant role in the spirituality of Abbot Marmion to the other members of the Trinity. After all, the entire doctrine of divine adoption centers on our relationship as children of God the Father, and the perfection of this relationship by configuration with Christ. However, it is still clear that Abbot Marmion was from ignoring the role of the Spirit, and was thus careful to maintain a proper balance in his considerations on the Trinity. It is in fact by the workings of the Spirit dwelling in us that we are enabled to have the traits of Divine sonship that we have in Jesus.[30] Furthermore, as regards the impulses of the Spirit in us, we should always allow ourselves to be guided by them, with a proper sense of discernment of course. This too is to be done in imitation of the life of Jesus among us, because He also was moved by the Holy Spirit. As Abbot Marmion put it: "Possessing in Himself and Himself alone--as to the hypostatic union--this Holy Humanity, the Word never operated or wrought anything in His Human Nature save through His Spirit."[31]

Although relatively little is said explicitly about devotion to Mary in the teaching of Abbot Marmion, and she does not at first glance seem to be closely connected to theme of divine adoption, Abbot Marmion indicates that he finds devotion to Mary to be of great importance due to her role in this very theme. His Marian devotion is, like everything else in his spirituality, profoundly Christocentric, but this of course makes the person of Mary more important rather than less so. At the very least, we owe to Mary a debt of gratitude insofar as she was the chosen and willing instrument of God for bringing into the world Christ, through whom the gift of divine adoption was restored to us.[32] There is more than that, though. Since Christ is the Son of Mary, in order to be like him we too must be children of Mary. Christ had indescribable filial love and reverence for Mary, and it is thus our duty as His followers to have as much love and reverence for her as we can. Marian devotion thus seems not only important but indeed indispensable in the spiritual life. Abbot Marmion goes so far as to say "God will recognize as His true children only those who, like Jesus, are children of Mary."[33]

The work of Abbot Columba Marmion in spiritual matters, particularly on the doctrine of divine adoption, has certainly received some high praise, as was noted at the beginning of this paper. After considering Abbot Marmion's central theme of the doctrine of divine adoption, and the necessity of configuration with Christ that flowed from that in his thought and life, the basis for such recognition can be seen. The thought of Abbot Marmion is clearly both beautiful and profound, probing the mystery of our relationship with God. Any study of our mysterious status as children of God must have a great deal of depth. At the same time, his insights, with all their depth, eventually give a certain simplicity to the spiritual life. Abbot Marmion does not give people any complex system by which they can attain sanctity, nor does he come up with a new and innovative approach to spirituality. Rather, he returns to the original and most basic part of Christianity and finds a single necessary element to sanctity, namely Christ as the Son of God the Father. "All sanctity consists in being by grace what Jesus Christ is by nature, the child of God."[34]

Bibliography

Delforge, Thomas. Columba Marmion. Translated by Mary St. Thomas. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1965.

The Holy Bible. Revised Standard Version. Catholic Edition. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1966.

Marmion, Columba. Christ in His Mysteries. Translated by Mary St. Thomas. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1939.

________. Christ the Life of the Soul. Translated by a nun of Tyburn Convent. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.

________. The English Letters of Abbot Marmion. Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1962.

________. Suffering with Christ. Edited by Raymond Thibault. Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1954.

________. The Trinity in Our Spiritual Life. Edited by Raymond Thibault. Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1953.

________. Union with God. 3d ed. Edited by Raymond Thibault. Translated by Mary St. Thomas. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1957.

Philipon, M.M. "The Doctor of the Divine Adoption." In More About Dom Marmion, ed. trans. the Earl of Wicklow, 111-128. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1949.

________. The Spiritual Doctrine of Dom Marmion. Translated by Matthew Dillon. Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1956.

Thibault, Raymond. Abbot Columba Marmion. Translated by Mary St. Thomas. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1942.

Tierney, Mark. Dom Columba Marmion. Dublin: Columba Press, 1994.

Notes

[1] M.M. Philipon, "The Doctor of the Divine Adoption," in More About Dom Marmion, ed. the Earl of Wicklow (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1949), 128.

[2] Thomas Delforge, Columba Marmion, trans. Richard Stewart (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1965), 41.

[3] Columba Marmion, The Trinity in Our Spiritual Life, ed. Raymond Thibault, trans. Mary St. Thomas (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1953), 10.

[4] M.M. Philipon, The Spiritual Doctrine of Dom Marmion, trans. Matthew Dillon (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1956), 219.

[5] Columba Marmion, Christ the Life of the Soul, (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1924), 17.

[6] Raymond Thibault, Abbot Columba Marmion, trans. Mary St. Thomas (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1942), 391.

[7] Delforge, 42.

[8] Columba Marmion, Union with God, 3d ed., ed. Raymond Thibault, trans. Mary St. Thomas (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1957), 41.

[9] Columba Marmion, Christ in His Mysteries, trans. Mary St. Thomas (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1939), 393.

[10] Delforge, 43.

[11] Columba Marmion, Suffering with Christ, ed. Raymond Thibault (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1954), 117.

[12] Marmion, Christ in His Mysteries, 89.

[13] Ibid., 53.

[14] Ibid., 54.

[15] Marmion, The Trinity in Our Spiritual Life, 13.

[16] Marmion, Christ the Life of the Soul, 399.

[17] Ibid., 167.

[18] Columba Marmion, The English Letters of Abbot Marmion, (Baltimore: Helicon Press, 1962), 192.

[19] Marmion, Suffering with Christ, 114.

[20] Thibault, 388.

[21] Delforge, 42.

[22] Marmion, Union with God, 51.

[23] Philipon, "The Doctor of the Divine Adoption," 120.

[24] Marmion, Christ in His Mysteries, 382.

[25] Ibid., 383.

[26] Mark Tierney, Dom Columba Marmion, (Dublin: Columba Press, 1994), 87.

[27] Philipon, "The Doctor of the Divine Adoption"; Galatians 2:20 RSV Catholic Edition.

[28] Marmion, Christ the Life of the Soul, 198.

[29] Ibid., 204.

[30] Ibid., 113.

[31] Thibault, 399.

[32] Marmion, Christ the Life of the Soul, 372.

[33] Philipon, The Spiritual Doctrine of Dom Marmion, 202.

[34] Marmion, Christ the Life of the Soul, 75.