"And I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

Mural of the New Jerusalem Diocese of Phoenix

I hope this is the beginning of a project that will grow and produce spiritual fruit.  The idea of this project is to consider the reality of the "New Jerusalem" and the possibility of casting a reflection or icon of the New Jerusalem in the present world.

Why is the reality of the New Jerusalem important?

When Christ came into the world he came to save us, not individually but as a people. As a community.  In the Nicene Creed we read: For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,...For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states in paragraph 166:

• Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. The believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.

Unfortunately, many sects within Protestantism have corrupted this understanding with their overemphasis on Sola Scriptura.  Because the Bible is believed to be the sole authority of Faith in Protestantism, certain protestants believe that their possession of the Bible and their individual interpretation of it brings them to salvation.  Therefore in the Protestant Mind, salvation is for individuals--and that by their own declaration of being saved, they create a confederation of saved individuals..., but not a community of faithful.  That is why today their are thousands of sects proclaiming their own creeds.

But Christ did not come to save only Harry and not Larry.  He came to save all--For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life--Christ came to gather a people unto and into himself.  As St. Paul says in Galatians: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We also read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 810:

• Hence the universal Church is seen to be 'a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Because Christ, in his salvific mission, created a community, then Christ, in his salvific mission must have created a place for this community to assemble and worship--to be.

THAT PLACE IS THE NEW JERUSALEM.