Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: January 2014

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Christ the Builder of Eternity

Currently I am reading Abbot Vonier's book The Life of the World to Come. It is a book on eschatology elaborating on that part of the creed regarding the life of the world to come. Chapter 6 is titled Christ the Builder of Eternity and he has a wonderful theme of this temporary life being a quarry where Christ uses each of us and selects the "Elect"' using the image from the Book of Revelation to build the Heavenly Jerusalem that will be revealed at the end of time:

There is one feature in this immense labor of the Son of God which, if properly envisaged, may become for us the source of great mental peace. It is in keeping with all the canons of orthodoxy in the doctrine of divine grace and predestination to hold that the plan of the heavenly Jerusalem is a thing fixed from the very beginning, with no casual alterations or additions as time goes on. In other words, mankind here on earth is merely the quarry from which are taken the materials for the city of the living God. When the city is completed, any prolongation of mankind's existence here on earth will lose its meaning. The race of men living on this planet is entirely subservient to the needs of the divine Builder of the heavenly Jerusalem as the quarry is subservient to the needs of the edifice that is being erected miles away. When once the building is completed the quarry is closed down.... The heavenly Jerusalem is evidently meant to be a great surprise, something prepared in secret, and shown in its final glory only at the appointed time. The completed city is not said to ascend from earth to heaven, but, on the contrary, it comes down from heaven, where it had been in course of construction, as behind a screen, during the long centuries of Christ's activities.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.