The love that continually flows out of the Risen Lord to fill us now, is the same love that flowed into him throughout his life on earth. It is the same love that was brought to perfection after his death, and the same love that reunited him with his Father, enabling his Father to send [...]
Who would not get depressed when it seems you are unable to pray anymore, and the Scriptures that meant so much before move you no more, and your moral behaviour seems to be deteriorating with each passing day? It is essential that, at a time when it is so difficult to find a competent spiritual [...]
God’s love is deepest in us, as the very ground of our being. It is here in our deepest self that our desire to love and be loved that will only ultimately be satisfied in God, rises to enter into him. Inspired by and supported with as much of God’s love that our weakness can [...]
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer is an important cultural artifact, whose influence on English language and literature rivals that of the Authorized Version of the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare. You will recall Parson Thwackum in Henry Fielding’s classic novel History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749). Mr. (never, in proper ecclesiastical usage, Reverend) Thwackum [...]
A classic technique in sitcoms and movies is for the story to open at a climactic or bizarre moment, and then to rewind and use first-person narration to explain how the protagonist ended up there. The giveaway is usually a line like: “Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got here.” Since I entered the [...]
All must go through purification to attain union with God. In this life it is called the Dark Night of the Soul; in the next life, it is called Purgatory. No one can avoid it. Mystical theology teaches how this purification is brought about in this life. When studying Philosophy, I had a brief flirtation [...]
The Transfiguration on Mount Tabor was a pre-enactment of what would happen to Jesus after the Resurrection, when he was glorified. The event not only pre-enacts what happened to Christ at his glorification, but what will happen to us too when the Holy Spirit penetrates us as Jesus was penetrated by the glory of God. [...]
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 [...]