Martin John Miller was born in Oregon, Illinois on February 15, 1965. He is a country boy from the heart of the Midwest. During his youth he worked on farms and in a road construction equipment factory. Later he played semi-professionally in a rock band. When it came time to set aside the guitar for continuing his education, he chose to study political science at Illinois State University. After graduating in 1987, Miller went on to study at Marquette University and received a graduate degree in political science in 1989. He got involved with Opus Dei at Illinois State University during his senior year. Shortly after his university studies, he worked full-time for Crawford Foundation in New York. After his time in New York, he moved to Chicago and began work with Castlewood Foundation. While in Chicago, Miller was also the director of Opus Dei youth activities for boys, and organized programs for Youth Service International. The programs included service projects in Mexico in the summers of 2000 and 2001. During the Jubilee Year of 2000, Fr. Miller organized trips to Rome for World Youth Day and the Holy Land with young men from the Midwest and the East Coast.

Fr. Martin studied theology in Rome and Spain from 1994-1999. He completed his doctoral thesis in fundamental theology at the University of Navarre in 1999, on "The Concept of Dogma in Vatican II." His thesis was published in part by the University of Navarre Press in 2000.

While studying in Pamplona, Fr. Miller assisted a quadriplegic priest, Fr. Luis de Moya, who opened up new horizons for him regarding service, personal attention to the needy, and priestly dedication. Miller mentioned that Fr. Luis celebrates Mass each day and hears confessions, though he can only move from the neck up (see his web page, www.fluvium.org). Stemming from the time he spent with Fr. Luis, Fr. Miller encourages everyone to be vigilant to the needs of others. Through service to those in need, a bounty of graces become available.

Miller says that he looks forward to serving the other members of Opus Dei, and the whole Church, though now in a different way, through his new profession. All the members of Opus Dei share the same vision and vocation to personal sanctity and the spreading of the Gospel in their everyday lives. Fr. Martin states, "My specific condition as a single, male, numerary member of the Work has 'set the stage' for the possibility of cooperating with the Prelate of Opus Dei as a priest in the spiritual formation of the other members, including us priests, who need as much, if not more, formation and direction than anyone else. The call to Holy Orders is wholly supernatural, another reason to marvel at God’s goodness and mercy."

When asked how the up and coming canonization of Blessed Josemaría would have an impact on him, Miller stated, "I think that the canonization of the Founder of Opus Dei will be the perfect occasion for even more people to respond to the call to sanctity in their own lives. Pope John Paul II has argued that sanctity for everyone in the Church is the great "challenge" for the third millennium. Perhaps now in a more intense and serious way, God is particularly encouraging the Christians of the U.S. to pray for the sanctity of all bishops, priests, and deacons––that they be holy shepherds and untiring witnesses to the Gospel. With God, it will be so.