Section IX – Outline of the Book and Thesis Statement
When considered as a whole, David Torkington’s Never Too Late to Love presents not a series of disconnected reflections but a unified spiritual itinerary. Its purpose is to restore Christians to the original contemplative path taught by Christ, lived by the early Church, and embodied most perfectly by Our Lady. The book’s architecture is intentional. Each chapter draws the reader deeper into the mystery of divine love.
At its foundation, Torkington identifies four practices that shaped the life of the early Church: repentance, sacrifice, daily meditation on the life of Christ, and the Eucharist all movements of love are offered and perfected in the self-gift of the Son to the Father (pp. 37-38, 48-50, 161-63). This fourfold rhythm constituted the contemplative architecture upon which Christian life was built. These practices are not advanced disciplines but the ordinary means by which the soul is purified, expanded, and made capable of receiving God.
The early chapters describe how the Apostles themselves were formed in this way of life. Several theologians have noted that the contemplative character of the Gospels particularly Luke and John and Matthew bear the imprint of Mary’s own recollection. She who “pondered” the mysteries in her heart also taught the Apostles to ponder, to meditate, and to allow grace to transform their affections and desires (pp. 45-48). Through her influence, they learned that prayer is a relationship, and that meditation matures slowly into contemplation.
[As the book progresses, Torkington draws the reader into the deeper movements of the spiritual life: the transition from meditation to infused contemplation, the purification of the senses and the spirit, and the emergence of the infused virtues that reshape the soul into the likeness of Christ. None of this is innovation. It is the perennial structure of the Church’s mystical heritage. Saint Thomas Aquinas locates contemplation at the summit of Christian existence, describing it as the highest act of the human person ordered toward God.¹ Saint Teresa of Avila teaches the same progression, showing how discursive prayer yields to the simple, loving gaze granted by grace.² Torkington stands firmly within this lineage, translating classical wisdom into accessible language.]
Central to the book is a historical and theological diagnosis. Over many centuries particularly beginning with the Renaissance the God-centered spirituality of the early Church was gradually overshadowed by a man-centered spirituality focused on technique, self-improvement, and activism. The suspicion of authentic contemplation during and after the Quietist crisis further obscured the Church’s contemplative identity (pp. 39-43). The result is a modern spiritual landscape in which many Christians lack formation in the interior life.
Against this backdrop, Torkington’s thesis emerges with clarity:
Christian life is ordered toward contemplative union with God, and Mary is the primary teacher who leads the Church into this union through repentance, sacrifice, meditation, and Eucharistic love.
This thesis is not an abstraction. It is grounded in Scripture, tradition, the Fathers, Aquinas, the Carmelite doctors, and the lived example of Our Lady. By structuring the book around these movements, Torkington offers a path that is traditional, attainable, and deeply rooted in the mystical heart of the Church.
Citations
¹ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II–II, q. 180, a. 1–4.
² Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (ICS Publications, 1989).
Reflection Question: Ask Our Lady to teach you, the same way she taught the Gospel writers. The Gospel writers were not ready to write their tremendous works the day after Pentecost, even with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Mother is the gentle teacher of the child. Families are atomized. Women shouting out the abortions, anti-mother. Also anti- teacher. Only way to rediscover, reality Mother’s heart is the safest dwelling place of the children’ education. Pondering within a Mother’s heart.
Beg our Lady, receive us as her children and instruct us as her children.
Mary from time to time teaches with bells and whistles, in general, a lead by example, quiet.
Preoccupied with productivity, wont be able to hear her. Invitation, cohesive way of growth of spiritual life.