Thursday, April 28 : Blessed Columba Marmion

Jesus has been constituted head and king over all God’s heritage because it is he who, through his blood, has restored to us the rights of this heritage: “The Father (…) has given all things into his hand” (Jn 3:35) We abide in him by faith and love; he abides in us by his grace and merits; he offers us to his Father, and his Father finds us in him. (…) God grants us to find in the son of his delight the wellspring of all grace and all perfection: “How has he not also, with him, given us all things ?” (Rm 8:32) Shall we not, therefore, abandon ourselves in all confidence to this all-powerful will, which is love itself and has not only fixed the laws of our perfection but is the principle and source of it ? (…) Grâce acts sovereignly, it leads to a high degree of holiness, but only where it meets with no obstacles to its action; the Spirit of God acts powerfully but only where it is not opposed, “grieved” – speaking still in the language of Saint Paul (Eph 4:30) – and where the created powers are surrendered to him. (…) For supreme as is God’s will, wide as it his power, infinite as is his love, God expects of us that we should remove all that impedes his grace, that the soul should remain in that attitude of humility and confidence whereby it hopes for everything from God.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team