Reading A Light to the Gentiles, a classic biography by the renowned spiritual writer and psychologist, Adrian van Kaam, has as much potential to change each reader's life as the light of divine grace changed the life of Venerable Francis Libermann, son of a Rabbi and a Christian convert whose destiny rested in the hands of Divine Providence. It is clear that the author's love for Libermann deeply affected his own understanding of the dynamics of purifying formation, illuminating reformation, and unifying transformation. The "Jew of Saverne" understood the Paschal Mystery as few Christians have. Libermann carried the cross--his "crucifying epiphany" with the joy of his "resurrection epiphany," letting go of the "old man of flesh" and becoming a new man in Christ Jesus. This is at once a work of exquisite scholarship and a labor of love that highlights the brilliance of a founder of a religious community, a great educator, and evangelizer, a suffering servant, and a man of immense gentleness and compassion for abandoned souls everywhere. No other life of Libermann so fills our spirit, heart, mind, and soul as this one.
