Through the Looking Glass – A Christmas Message
Published on: 25 December, 2017
By: David Torkington
I saw my grandfather forty years after he died. I loved him with all my heart, not because he gave me toys, bought me ice cream or took me to the funfair, but because he loved me so much. I was only eight years old when he died of a heart attack and I cried…
The Crib of Greccio – Bringing Christ back into Christmas
Published on: 19 December, 2017
By: David Torkington
That St Francis put Christ back into Christmas is one thing, but it is quite another thing to suggest that he put Christ back into Christianity.
St Francis of Assisi – Part 13 – The Canticle to Brother Sun
Published on: 19 November, 2017
By: David Torkington
After St Francis h received the Stigmata he travelled all the way back to Assisi on a donkey for he could not walk. Nor could he see or hear much, because he was filled with such sublime joy …
From Toy Town With Love
Published on: 6 November, 2017
By: David Torkington
Love cannot be forced on anyone, and if that is true of our love, it is the same with God’s love that is at all times being poured out from the loving heart of the Risen Christ.
St Francis of Assisi – Part 12 – Francis Receives the Stigmata
Published on: 3 November, 2017
By: David Torkington
Francis set out for La Verna, the mountain which had been given to him by Count Orlando dei Cattani as a place of retreat ten years before. It was here that he began to pray as never before…
St Francis of Assisi – Part 11 – A New Rule
Published on: 15 October, 2017
By: David Torkington
“Then Francis lifted up his voice and cried out, ‘Lord answer for me’ and then everyone heard the voice of Christ. ‘Francis there is nothing in this rule of yours that is not mine …..
Are you a self-made man who worships his maker?
Published on: 8 October, 2017
By: David Torkington
Like most European Catholics I was born and brought up in the aftermath of the Renaissance influenced by a spirituality that owed as much to the rise of humanism as to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
St Francis of Assisi – Part 10 – The Desire for Martyrdom
Published on: 5 October, 2017
By: David Torkington
For the first three centuries after the death of Christ, martyrdom came to be seen as the perfection of the Christian life.
The Trouble With The World is Me
Published on: 7 September, 2017
By: David Torkington
In his book, Small is Beautiful, Schumacher said, “Although people go on crying out for solutions, they become angry when they are told that the restoration of society must come from within and not from without.”
Tristan and Isolde and the Three in One
Published on: 24 August, 2017
By: David Torkington
What on earth was I going to talk to her about I was thinking when, discovering that I was a Catholic writer, she made everything simple for me. She asked me to explain to her the mystery of the Holy Trinity!
Practice makes Perfect
Published on: 15 July, 2017
By: David Torkington
Although we do not like to admit it, even to ourselves, we still believe that prayer happens suddenly, or never happens at all.
The Big Bang
Published on: 27 May, 2017
By: David Torkington
There may be evidence for a Big Bang, but there is no evidence that there was simply nothing, ‘no thing’ whatsoever before it.