TORONTO -- Canadian peace activist and former hostage James Loney finally returned home Sunday and said now that he's free again, he wants to slip into "an abyss of love."

Loney told reporters at Pearson International that he wants to reacquaint himself with his partner after four months of captivity in Iraq.

He said he also looks forward to normal life and washing "a sink full of dirty dishes" after what he described as a "terrifying, profound, powerful, transformative and excruciatingly boring" experience.

"During my captivity I sometimes entertained myself by imagining this day... always I ached for it," Loney said as he read from a prepared statement.

"For 118 days I disappeared into a black hole and somehow by God's grace, I was spit out again," he said.

"Since my release and rescue from captivity I have been in a constant state of wonder and bewilderment and surprise as I slowly discover the magnitude of the efforts to secure our lives and freedom," Loney said.

"I am grateful in a way that can never be adequately expressed in words."

Loney and two colleagues from the Christian Peacemakers Team were rescued from Baghdad last week.

A fourth member of CPT who was kidnapped with them exactly four months ago was killed this month.

Loney and fellow Canadian Harmeet Sooden were flown from Baghdad on Saturday to an unspecified Middle East country before completing their long-awaited journeys home via commercial airlines. Sooden was travelling to New Zealand, while the third surviving captive, Pat Kember, is already home with his wife in London.