Joy is the echo of the Eucharist within us

Blessed Columba Marmion (1858–1923) was an Irish Benedictine monk and Abbot of Maredsous in Belgium.  He was an important spiritual writer of the modern Church (some might say the ‘pre-modern’!).  He emphasised that Christ's life is communicated to believers above all through the liturgy and sacraments.

He was born on the northside of Dublin in Queen Street which is now known as North Brunswick Street. Before becoming the renowned Benedictine abbot of Maredsous, Blessed Columba Marmion served as a young curate in Dundrum Parish from 1881 to 1882. There, in the ordinary work of parish ministry and the celebration of the sacraments, the future spiritual master first exercised the priesthood that would later inspire Catholics throughout the world.

An entry in Wikipedia says about Blessed Marmion:

Marmion's work as a parish priest "daily brought him into contact with a cross-section of humanity", and he was "called upon to advise, teach, console and give every kind of spiritual and material aid". He "possessed an extraordinary facility for adapting himself to other people", and above all "in comforting others and putting them at their ease".  During this period he began to learn "the delicate art of spiritual direction in which he was later to excel.

His motto as Benedictine abbot was Magis prodesse quam praesse (lit. 'to be useful rather than to command').

In Christ, the Life of the Soul, published in 1917, Blessed Marmion repeatedly presents the Christian life as a participation in the life of Christ. Holy Communion is not merely a devotional practice but a real encounter with the living Christ in which the believer's union with Jesus is deepened.

In Christ in His Mysteries (1919), He emphasises that the mysteries of Christ's life are not simply past historical events. Through the liturgy, and especially through the Mass, believers are drawn into these mysteries here and now.

in Christ the Ideal of the Monk (1922), He stresses that prolonged contact with Christ in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament is a school of contemplation where the soul learns to think, love and act like Jesus.

For Blessed Columba Marmion, the Eucharist nourishes the supernatural life we receive in Baptism. Through Communion, the Christian is strengthened in his or her identity as an adopted son or daughter of God.  Among the sayings commonly attributed to Blessed Columba Marmion are:

All holiness consists in this: to be sons of God and brothers of Jesus Christ.

And

Joy is the echo of God's life within us.

Putting it together we could say that, in harmony with Blessed Marmion’s emphasis, joy is the echo of the life of Jesus within us, communicated through Baptism, nourished by the Eucharist and brought to fullness in union with the Father.

Icon presented and blessed in 2018 at the Church of the Holy Cross, Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland