The Archdiocese of Toronto has its new Archbishop, Thomas Collins, installed yesterday. That link takes you to the Archdiocesan page, with links to a lot of things, including video of the Mass and his homily.
It’s quite beautiful, actually, using the image of the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem as the theme (Archbishop Collins is apparently a specialist in the Book of Revelation):
Only a short distance from this cathedral there are many theaters. The performers and the audience spend a relatively brief time within them, and then at the end of the performance leave the world of illusion and go through the exit doors into the world in which they really live: Toronto. That primary, external world is the governing context for what takes place within the secondary world of the theater, for the performances on stage are an artificial construct, designed to reflect some aspect of the life which occurs in the real world outside.
That primary world – of Toronto, of Ontario and Canada, and of this planet – which gives meaning to all that happens on a theatrical stage, is in turn itself dependent upon a greater reality, which is its governing context. Eventually we all exit from this life, as we do from any theater, and we do so through the doorway marked death. What we find beyond that doorway is the real world which is the essential reference point for our brief life on earth. John Henry Newman expressed this fact through his epitaph: it is at the end of our life that we move from shadows and illusion into the truth.
It would be foolish for actors or audience to think that the props and costumes of the artificial world are what ultimately matters. It would be even more foolish for us to live unaware of the greater world from which this earthly one derives its meaning. Throughout the Bible the inspired authors use the image of the New Jerusalem, the City of God, to give us insight into that greater world.
In a sense the New Jerusalem lies ahead of us in time. It is the destination of our earthly journey, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. As we reflect on the profound question asked by children on any long trip – “Are we there yet?” – it is clear that the answer must be “No.” Even a quick glance at the daily news reveals that we are far from experiencing life as it is meant to be. The symphony of God’s creation has been disrupted by human pride. We do not yet share fully in the community of shalom where people live as they are meant to, in peace with God and one another. We will experience that in the New Jerusalem, the destination of our journey, but we clearly are not there yet.
As we disciples of Jesus confront this world of violence and of all too frequent disregard for the dignity of the human person, the New Jerusalem is not, however, simply a future goal.
Read the whole thing. Congratulations, Toronto!
Read Previous Post
