Christ: The Ideal of the Monk

This is not a book about spirituality for monks and nuns only. Columba Marmion believes that Christian discipleship means imitating Christ the Monk no matter your form of life. Christ is the sublime ideal of all holiness, the divine model presented by God himself. By faith, we accept this holiness into our lives – but we can also (in fact we must) allow Christ Jesus to become what Marmion calls “the very life of our souls.” This powerful book explores a spirituality that is possible by examining the light of the Gospels and the writings of St. Paul and St. John, offering joy and spiritual understanding to all Christians.

Christian holiness consists in the complete and sincere acceptation of Christ by faith, and in the expansion of this faith by hope and charity. Many of these pages explain the religious life such as St. Benedict understands it. This work presents a two fold aspect: The necessary detachment from created things in order to cleave to Christ; the way of detachment, thus embraced, leading to the life of union.