Mystical Transformation
Published on: 13 December, 2014
By: David Torkington
When the Bishop slipped and broke his nose, he cancelled his pilgrimage to Lourdes and decided to grace our school with his presence for ‘speech day’ instead.
Duns Scotus and the Immaculate Conception
Published on: 8 December, 2014
By: David Torkington
Blessed John Duns Scotus saw so clearly that God had planned that his son, for whom the world was created, would be made flesh to live in and rule over that world as Christ the King. From this Duns Scotus argued that the very moment that God had made this decision, then that decision included…
The Power of Love
Published on: 5 December, 2014
By: David Torkington
I had a cousin called John who was a bit of a rake. If he wasn’t genially propping up the bar at the rugby club, he was engaged in a similar exercise at the golf club. He drank too much, smoked incessantly and generally ended up late at night gambling. Even though he was quite…
Power in Weakness
Published on: 29 November, 2014
By: David Torkington
There’s always some wiseacre on the interview panel who suddenly says, “And what do you think your biggest weaknesses are Mr Torkington?” He usually chooses the moment when your confidence is at its height and you’ve been presenting yourself as Mr Total Competence, who could do the job in his sleep. Suddenly you’ve got to…
The Waiting Game
Published on: 17 November, 2014
By: David Torkington
St Catherine of Siena said that patience isn’t so much a virtue as the test of all true virtue. If you haven’t any patience at all its ten to one you haven’t any virtues either that are worth writing home about. That brings us all down to size doesn’t it? It made me reflect on…
As the Philosopher said to the Archbishop!…
Published on: 13 November, 2014
By: David Torkington
For the early Christians, the spiritual journey to which the faithful had committed themselves, was not directed to entering into exotic transcendental experiences, but to entering into Jesus Christ, who was alive and present to all of them every day of their lives. They were quite adamant that his sublime moral teaching, that they all…
Mystical Theology and Liturgical Renewal
Published on: 2 November, 2014
By: David Torkington
The most mischievous feature of Quietism was the suspicion that it threw on the contemplative life as a whole
Mystical Contemplation is For All
Published on: 17 October, 2014
By: David Torkington
Sometime ago I wrote a blog on what I called ‘mystical premonitions’ or ‘touches of God’, nevertheless I would like to write something further to make myself a little clearer. In that blog I used St Augustine to make my point, this time however I would like to make my point by describing common experiences…
Feast of St Francis of Assisi 4 October 2014
Published on: 4 October, 2014
By: David Torkington
The very moment a person is sufficiently purified of the selfishness that keeps the pure unadulterated love of God out then that love comes flooding in instantly, not just into the mind, where it had already been partially experienced before, but into every part of the personality. The receiver swoons with the sheer delight of…
The Beginning of Contemplative prayer
Published on: 3 October, 2014
By: David Torkington
In my last blog I tried to distinguish between true contemplative prayer and its counterfeit, but now I want to show how authentic contemplative prayer begins, by describing the prayer that usually precedes it. But before proceeding let me make two important points. Firstly I want to make it clear that contemplation is a pure…
True Contemplation and its Counterfeit – Part two
Published on: 16 September, 2014
By: David Torkington
I have yet to come across any Christians who belonged to ‘The World Community for Christian Meditation Movement’, inspired by Fr John Main, who have not been thoroughly good people. They don’t just take the external practice of their faith seriously, but also put aside regular time for daily going into ‘the inner room’ to…
True Contemplation and its Counterfeit – Part one
Published on: 2 September, 2014
By: David Torkington
Normally the word contemplation is used to describe the mystical awareness of God working through the Holy Spirit, in believers as they are being gradually transformed into the image and likeness of Christ.