Something in the path made him stumble, and he caught himself. Before him rose a heavy oak door, set in a tower of granite. It was like the keep of a medieval fortress, the heart of communal life in a bygone age. He grasped the wrought-iron ring with both hands and gave it a turn. [...]
It was after about eighteen months of perseverance that something quite dramatic happened. Not only that but it was quite evident to me that it was not the “numinous” that I was experiencing, but it was God, at least the experience of his love that was enveloping me. The whole atmosphere at the student house [...]
To see someone’s face and to know his or her name is to have knowledge of the person. When God shares his name with us and takes on our flesh in the Incarnation, he enables us to look upon his face. What is in a name? Shakespeare famously muses in his work Romeo and Juliet that [...]
Without any human help, it was my own desperate need to find God that enabled me to persevere in the Dark Night in which I found myself when first fervour left me flat. However, in case I give the impression that first fervour is of little consequence and can easily be bypassed, this is not [...]
At first, contemplation is called dark or confused contemplation because our heart’s desire needs to be purified and refined in many months, if not years, before the Love of God becomes tangible. Then, renewal is on the way as the Holy Spirit comes to those whose patience and perseverance in adversity enables them to receive [...]
Friendship with Christ will only become perfect when we reach heaven where we will see him face to face. This life is a search for the face of God, since “now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am [...]
Our Blessed Mother wants nothing more for us than to have a true relationship with her Son. In the current storm of misinformation, our Lady acts as a shield to protect the orthodoxy of our faith that keeps our eyes and hearts fixed on Christ. After a previous attempt, I wish to promote another title for [...]
The priest or religious who takes a vow of Chastity, binding them to Christ as to their spiritual married partner, will be lost without daily access to the contemplation that is for them the indispensable means of uniting them with him. From the very beginning, the faithful have been taught that the Church is the [...]
As institutions crumble around us, our constructed selves are stripped away, and we are more and more reduced to the most basic and existential thing: namely our relationship to God. Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection's method for “practicing the presence of God” consisted of keeping up a continuous dialogue with Him in one’s heart. Brother [...]
As a member of the Angelic Warfare Confraternity, one offers 15 Hail Marys daily for themselves and fellow members. These are not offered as a transaction (I do this, and God will make me pure in exchange). Instead, they are offered as an invitation. For most saints, the patron-to-beneficiary link is fairly straightforward. There is more [...]
Making the spiritual ascent into God is rather like trying to run up a downward escalator. The moment you stop moving steadily forwards is the moment when you start moving steadily downward. Going forwards means finding daily time to do what St Peter told his listeners to do when he was the first to announce [...]
Learning to love is more important than anything else because it guarantees the happiness that nothing else can. That is why the whole of the spiritual life and the mystic way is dedicated to teaching how love can be learned, sustained and perfected. I once attended a conference titled “The Moral Malaise” during which the [...]
What happens to the muscles of our bodies can happen to the muscles of our hearts too. This can happen with ever greater intensity when spiritual weightlifting is practised in prayer, in the mystic way. The difference between conversion and repentance is so important that it needs further explanation. I hope to do this by [...]
In this book I am not just trying to view God’s Plan, but our personal and unique part in it. God can only enable us to participate in his plan to the degree to which we are prepared to respond to his call as the Apostles did, and those who radically chose to follow him [...]