In an alternative life, Cardinal Thomas Collins might never have been a bishop, an archbishop or a cardinal. He might very happily have remained a professor of New Testament with an intense interest in the Apocalypse of John. He would have dedicated himself to the formation of the next generation of priests at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont., and happily translated the wisdom he encountered in academic study into homilies that resonate with the worries and hopes of ordinary Christians.