X. Final Section Suffering, Transformation, and the Call to Contemplative Union
One of the deepest harmonies between David Torkington and the contemporary masters of the spiritual life is their shared conviction that suffering, far from being an interruption to the Christian journey, is the place where God prepares the heart for contemplative union. Torkington teaches that the soul cannot be drawn into the depths of divine love without undergoing purifications that loosen its attachment to self-will. The Apostles themselves experienced this transformation. Their natural vigor and confidence had to be surrendered before the wisdom of Pentecost could take root (pp. 37- 40). This purification is not a diminishment. It is the work of divine love enlarging the heart for greater charity. “It does not destroy the person,” Torkington writes, “but frees the heart for a deeper, more selfless love” (pp. 142-47).
Fr. Jacques Philippe echoes this truth in his reflections on the Beatitudes. Poverty of spirit, meekness, and mourning are not simply moral categories. They are the spaces where divine love reshapes the interior life. Poverty of spirit opens the heart to receive everything from God. Mourning becomes blessed when it breaks the illusions that close us in on ourselves.¹ In both authors, suffering becomes the narrow but fruitful door through which the Holy Spirit enters more deeply. It teaches humility, disposes the soul to surrender, and prepares it for the infused virtues that flow from contemplation.
[This insight forms the final movement of Torkington’s teaching, and it leads naturally to the book’s central thesis. The Christian life is ordered toward contemplative union with God. This call is universal, not reserved for a spiritual elite. It is the life Christ gave to the Apostles, the life Mary lived perfectly, and the life the Church was formed to embody. The fourfold rhythm of repentance, sacrifice, daily meditation on Christ’s life, and Eucharistic participation was not an optional spirituality. It was the original Christian life (pp. 37-38, 48-50, 161-63). Torkington’s purpose is to restore this rhythm in an age that has largely forgotten it.
Seen from this perspective, the spiritual decline of the modern era becomes not a discouragement but a summons. The Church has leaned heavily into activism, technique, and programs, often at the expense of the interior life. Torkington argues that such efforts cannot produce the transformation Christ desires. Only contemplation, grounded in charity and formed by daily fidelity, can reorder the heart. The great saints have always known this. Aquinas taught that contemplation is the highest act of the human person because it orders the intellect and will to God as their proper end.² Teresa of Avila insisted that prayer is the place where love matures and where discursive effort yields to a simple, loving gaze upon God. Torkington stands within this lineage, offering it anew to a world hungry for depth.]
This path is profoundly Marian. Mary reveals that the contemplative life is not an escape from the ordinary but the sanctification of it. Her meditation on the mysteries of Christ shaped the Apostles, guided the early Church, and continues to guide believers today. Her humility accepted suffering as the crucible of purified love. She stands beneath the Cross as the perfect contemplative, receiving Christ’s self-gift and allowing it to transform her heart. In Mary, the Church recognizes her own vocation: to become a community formed by love, purified by sacrifice, sustained by prayer, and united to Christ in the Eucharist.
The same truth appears in Philippe’s treatment of the Beatitudes, where suffering united to Christ becomes the place where divine intimacy is prepared. “The Beatitudes,” he writes, “are the portrait of Christ reproduced in the disciple.”³ Torkington’s teaching reveals the same dynamic. Love is perfected in surrender. The interior life expands through purification. Contemplation emerges from fidelity, not technique.
And now, the choice rests with the listener. The contemplative life does not arrive by chance. It begins with a decision a decision to turn toward God, to make space for silence, and to reorder one’s day around receiving and returning love. Torkington’s title carries its deepest meaning here. It is never too late to love. No age, no history, no wound can obstruct the grace that God desires to give. The door of contemplation stands open. Mary stands ready to teach. Christ stands ready to pour His love into the heart that makes itself available.
A final question for reflection:
Where is Christ inviting me to take one concrete step toward a more contemplative life, and how can I respond with love today?
What can we do, set aside time, meet Him where He is. Suffering, mercy of God, learns more from failure than success. God can turn that loss or suffering school of salvation.
Natural evil, but spiritual good, permits it, does not cause or will it.
Ex/ exercise, military drill sergeants. Suffering produces an enduring strength.
God chastises His son, and binds up the wounds.
Everything, all things to the good for those who love Him. We receive joy & suffering with the same gratitude. Love both the joys and sorrows, both given for our greater good.