Undaunted Joy #134

Of Beauty and Worship

Last December, on a cold cozy evening by the tree, my husband read that Notre Dame was scheduled to reopen by the following Christmas. “We should go,” he said. My husband never says extra words so I knew he was serious. Then he added, “ we should see if the D family want to meet us there.”

The father in D family went to law school with my husband. He also lived in Portland the last year I lived there and was formative in my conversion to Catholicism. He and his wife are our oldest son’s godparents and we are their youngest son’s godparents. They would be the perfect family to share this experience. We were absolutely delighted when the D family said they were in.

As the year progressed, we realized going to Christmas Mass at Notre Dame might be a more exclusive affair than our credentials would provide. We saw information on reservations and lottery systems. But we continued our plans to France and simply resigned ourselves to seeing the Cathedral from the outside and attending Mass at another church nearby.

This is what we planned until December 23rd we saw that there was a 4pm mass at Notre Dame on Christmas Eve. It was even earlier than the one at nearby St Severin where we had planned to attend. We could try to get into Notre Dame and if we couldn’t there was always a back up plan.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, around 230, 7 out of our group of 9 were resting at the apartment after a morning of shopping for food and gifts, when we received a text from Mr D and his oldest. They had gone to Notre Dame to see if they could get in for confession, but got a spot in line for 4pm Mass instead. Everyone put on their shoes and jackets and ran down to get in line before the doors opened.

At 3pm the doors opened and more than a thousand people poured into the Cathedral for the first Christmas Mass at Notre Dame in 5 years and we were part of it.

We could not stop smiling as we sat waiting for Mass to begin. The church looked magnificent. It is restored in such radiant beauty. It is difficult to imagine how they were able to accomplish all this. We could hear the murmuring of so many languages around us. To know we were about to celebrate Mass with people from all around the world was overwhelming. And it was a glorious Mass, a foretaste of heaven. Of being together as one in beauty with our Savior.

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I return to Seattle next week and I will be able to focus more on writing including this Substack. Thank you for indulging me during my vacation. I didn’t want to miss posts, especially for those of you who are paid subscribers. I have big plans for 2025, including traveling to promote my book Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight. Let me know if your church, school, or club would like to host me!