Finding Solitude in the Heart of Montreal with “The Illuminated Crowd”

Eight years ago, I took the train to Montreal to go and pray with “The Illuminated Crowd” sculpture which was created by Raymond Mason in 1985. Mason wrote about it saying: “A crowd has gathered, facing a light, an illumination brought about by a fire, an event, an ideology – or an ideal.  The strong light casts shadows, and as the light moves toward the back and diminishes, the mood degenerates; rowdiness, disorder and violence occur, showing the fragile nature of man.  Illumination, hope, involvement, hilarity, irritation, fear, illness, violence, murder and death – the flow of man’s emotion through space.” The sculpture includes more than 60 life-size figures and is a powerful image to behold.

I somehow assumed that they were seeing God. Over the course of three days, I was able to recognize my friends, neighbours, and family in some of them; it was only on the last day that I was able to see myself in those depicted before me.

It was a powerful experience and over the years I was never quite able to get it out of my mind.

I returned to Montreal a few weeks ago but this experience of sitting and being with the sculpture was vastly different from my visit in 2013. It is situated in the heart of the downtown area of Montreal – close to McGill University and where there is a lot of road work and construction taking place. In fact, the road running north-south in front of the sculpture is fenced off with workers behind the fence doing whatever it is that road workers do. I went to visit the sculpture around 8am before it got too hot and humid and found I was able to sit in solitude in the midst of the city. The sculpture sits before the entrance to a tall officer tower and yet I was not aware of others coming and going around me. In fact, I felt at peace as I took pictures and sat there writing some notes about some of the figures that stood out to me. I had the impression of sitting and being one with them and was quite comfortable with those at the front and the back.

Richard Rohr OFM maintains that “light is not something you necessarily see, it is something that allows you to see other things.”  Perhaps I too was illuminated as I joined this diverse group of people.

My first day’s visit to the sculpture was like a re-introduction to each of them that included a feeling of wholeness (perhaps due more to the healing that I have experienced in my life than to what the artist tried to convey). I was there at the front, in the middle and at the back of the sculpture, my past as well as the present. As I took more pictures, I saw it all in a new light, quite different from first experience with it.

Barbara Holmes from the CAC says that: “The Universal Christ helps us to see that we can follow the embodied Jesus, accept the suffering fact that ‘in this life, you will have trouble’ [John 16:33], [while also] knowing that all creation is moving and evolving toward more diversity, creativity and wholeness.”

Returning the second day and third day I saw not only myself, but all of humanity, the good and the bad, the common and uncommon, the great and the small. There was with it all a glimpse of heaven in the now, with all of us coming together – not just a few from the front of the line, but all of us with our joys and gifts, our baggage, and sorrows. We were together on the same journey: becoming human, Christian, and yes saints.

I saw the figure of Zacchaeus there in the midst of the sculpture, climbing on the shoulders of another so that the illumination might shine on him. I wonder if he heard Jesus call his name and tell him to come forward to meet him.

I recognized within the crowd the masked man, whose violence wore no mask, and the men and women who had given their all – many of them for the wrong reasons and yet I had no doubt that they all would be able to move towards the front and stand in the light and so see with new eyes. St. Eugene himself was there, his spirit alive in the midst of this life, along with others opening and sharing their space for these who were truly the poorest of the poor, so they could take their place in the light.

Judas was there along with many of the women of the Old and the New Testament; stepping out of the darkness and into the light; and all of us making room for the other up front. And there was no one there who was greater than another.

Standing with the Illuminated Crowd I found myself experiencing forgiveness that encouraged deeper love; embraced and embracing others; experiencing a growing freedom that can be found hidden in the gift of immense love.

By Eleanor Rabnett