 |
Thursday - 05/23/2013
|
|
St. Paul Jubilee 2008-2009 |
|
Exploring the Catholic Catechism |
|
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church |
Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010
Week of November 18, 2002
Collins explains the spiritual ladder
By RENATO GANDIA
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton
Discipleship and scholarship are like climbing up a ladder to the unseen world, guest speaker Archbishop Thomas Collins told 33 graduates at this year's Newman College convocation, Nov. 9.
"We live with one foot of the ladder in this world and the other in heaven," Collins said.
He described how a school of theology is a spiritual ladder to the unseen world arising out of the community of the disciples and reaching into the mysteries of faith.
"We live with one foot of the ladder in this world and the other in heaven."- Archbishop Thomas Collins |
"This theological college is rooted in the local Church because it depends on the spiritual and material support of the community of faith which it serves."
But the other end of this spiritual ladder is planted in the unseen world of divine providence and grace, which form the essential context for the life of discipleship, emphasized the archbishop.
Present at the graduation were Justice Cecilia Johnstone, the college chancellor, Dr. Christophe Potworowski, college president, Franciscan Father Don MacDonald, dean of theology, Father Louis-Paul Gauvreau, rector of St. Joseph Seminary and Dr. Dan Kingdon, vice dean of theology.
In his address, Collins likened the study of theology to touching the mysteries of faith through the use of mental faculties.
"We touch the mysteries of faith that surpass the capacity of our mind and that is the beauty of it"
Studying theology requires pauses from the distracting world of busyness. It also engages contemplation not simply to marvel at the mysteries of faith, but so graduates go back refreshed and illuminated for the apostolic life, said the archbishop. "If Newman is a ladder to the unseen world, it is also a kind of institutional Sabbath."
As a scholarly community, students and faculty at Newman have the particular mission of using God-given gifts to see the path ahead and to see the enveloping context of divine providence revealed only to the light of faith, he told the audience.
Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 -- Western Catholic Reporter
Our mission: To serve our readers by bringing the Gospel to bear on current issues in the Church and in secular culture through accurate news coverage and reflective commentary.