The Transforming Union or the Mystical Marriage
Published on: 18 August, 2014
By: David Torkington
The final stage in the mystic way is usually called the Transforming Union or the Mystical Marriage. Now it doesn’t suddenly begin because God does something other than what he’s been doing all along – it begins because what he’s been doing all along finally destroys everything in us that’s been keeping him out. Many…
Praying in the Dark Night
Published on: 14 August, 2014
By: David Torkington
For the last post I made a few suggestions from my own experience about how to pray in the Dark Night when the prayer once used can no longer help. I chose the prayer Jesus himself made upon the Cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’? When I felt in the pits…
The Cloud of Unknowing
Published on: 11 August, 2014
By: David Torkington
Everybody who prays seriously and consistently for any length of time will eventually find themselves on the other side of first fervour, at the threshold of the mystic way. This is the moment when the vast majority who come this far in prayer, usually pack it all in – I know I nearly did. All…
Into the Dark Night
Published on: 3 August, 2014
By: David Torkington
For many of us the first brief glimpses of God came through His creation. It might have been through a beautiful sunset, a breathtaking stretch of countryside. It might have come through gazing upon a single blade of grass, an insect crawling through the undergrowth, or a caterpillar climbing up a rose bush. When your…
From Mystical Premonition to Contemplation
Published on: 20 July, 2014
By: David Torkington
Sometime ago I was speaking about what I called Mystical premonition or touches of God when one of the audience asked “Are we talking about something that is a particularly Christian experience, or does everyone experience God’s touch?” “It’s for everyone,” I replied emphatically. “God loves everyone, not just Christians, but Christians do respond in…
Liturgy
Published on: 9 July, 2014
By: David Torkington
In ancient Athens there was no such thing as taxation. There was no income tax, no capital gains tax, no value added tax, no inheritance tax – no tax at all, at least as we know it. I know it all sounds too good to be true, because even Utopians need roads and bridges, civic…
Mystical Marriage
Published on: 22 June, 2014
By: David Torkington
Some years ago I had lunch with friends in London. On my way out they introduced me to their father who was busy working in the garden. Without thinking I asked him what he was doing and he replied –“I do be digging the garden.” Some months later I met a nun who taught Irish…
Pentecost – The Coming of the Kingdom
Published on: 10 June, 2014
By: David Torkington
Throughout his life on earth Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom he promised had not yet come . The question is then, when would this kingdom come? St John gives us the answer, as an aside when Jesus was celebrating the feast of the Tabernacles. It was the final day called ‘The Day of…
The Prayer that Jesus learned
Published on: 6 June, 2014
By: David Torkington
The first prayer that Jesus would have learnt from his mother, like all other Jewish children, was called the ‘Shema Israel, part act of faith, part prayer. Its first words proclaimed belief in the One God who should be loved ‘with the whole heart and mind and with one’s whole strength’. This embodied the essence…
Repentance
Published on: 14 May, 2014
By: David Torkington
FATHER – R – Repentance- On the feast of Pentecost the Jews celebrated the day on which God had given the Law to Moses. However the first Pentecost after the Resurrection was the day on which God gave his new law – the law of love. This law was not primarily a list of rules…
‘Only You Have Been Keeping Me Out’
Published on: 12 May, 2014
By: David Torkington
An Examination of Conscience When we begin to experience God making his home within us, we are beginning to experience the most momentous and the most moving moments possible on earth. They are not just moments of blissful happiness, but moments when we enable the love of God to surcharge our weak human loving, so…
A Reflection – Eastertide
Published on: 8 May, 2014
By: David Torkington
It was almost twenty years ago that I was offered my first free holiday. It came like a bolt from the blue. All I had to do was to meet up with a group of pilgrims from the Outer Hebrides, bundle them on to a plane at Luton airport, and deliver them in one piece…