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Something amazing happened at the end of last year. As 2024 draws to a close, the world celebrates the rebuilding of the glorious Notre Dame Cathedral, which was engulfed in horrific flames just five and a half years ago. The bell rang at a reopening ceremony in Paris for the first time since the fires.
The pleasant sound reminded me of something no less beautiful than the Gothic monuments of France: a poem that evoked the builders. This memory in turn led to a revelation. This is fitting as Epiphany, the Christian festival celebrating the revelation of God as a human being in Jesus Christ, is just around the corner.
Written by the Welsh poet John Ormond and published in the journal Poetry Wales in 1965, “The Cathedral Builders'' is a lyrical reminder of a very simple truth that has a profound impact. It is often ordinary people who create the most extraordinary beauty, especially when the scale of the project is large.
Notre Dame Cathedral holds first mass since 2019 fire, attracting thousands of spectators
Ormond celebrates the sacred work of the countless artisans who built the cathedrals of medieval Europe. Their true identity is known only to history, but it was built through their toil. Most of them knew that they would not live to see the final fruits of generations of massive efforts. They climbed the ladder anyway.
In Ormond's uplifting yet simple language, befitting the earthly men's work, during the day they “lift up their hewn rocks to the sky” and in the evening they “come down to dinner and a little beer.” Kudos to the unheralded worker. So understood, a cathedral is no more sublime than its humblest builder. Each is an icon of the other.
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As I reflect on the 2,000 or so workers it took to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral within French President Emmanuel Macron's ambitious five-year deadline, I remember the “Builders of the Cathedral.” I did. Unlike the artisans of the Middle Ages, the majority of these artisans lived to see their loving mission completed.
But like these ancestors, they created lasting beauty by pledging their lives to something greater than themselves, outside of themselves. In 2019, with the embers still burning, life imitated art when the builders of the cathedral once again chose to make their lives art. Notre Dame Cathedral is their masterpiece.
That choice, I believe, is exactly the noble kind that the second-century theologian St. Irenaeus had in mind when he said, “The glory of God is that man be fully alive.” Masu. Aesthetic achievements aside, is there a lesson for the rest of us who don't have the talent to make the clerestory leap? I think so.
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Most of us are not called to build cathedrals of stone, but we are all called to build cathedrals of our lives. Some acts will be exalted, such as the spire at the top of the cathedral. For example, a soldier who sacrifices his life in battle to save his comrades. Other acts are simple, with mortars on low sidewalks seemingly smiling down at strangers passing by.
Five-and-a-half years after the Gothic masterpiece was destroyed in a fire, priests and clergymen arrived at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris to attend the inaugural Mass with the consecration of the high altar. On Sunday, December 8, 2024, the cathedral reopens after restoration in Paris, France. (Sarah Maysonier/Pool Photo via AP)
But everything, big or small, is an act of love, an act of wishing the other person good, and we will surely break the figurative stone with a stone and build a cathedral in our lifetime. It may not be as tangible as Notre Dame de Paris, but it's no less real and no less adorable. Furthermore, what humans cannot see is not invisible.
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Therein lies the beauty of the “Builders of the Cathedral” and what is most inspiring about Notre Dame's exemplary builders. By reminding a weary world to see the small in the big and the big in the small, they not only build better cathedrals, but also build more important things: the blues of a fulfilling life. Provide photos.
That's my epiphany as Epiphany approaches. I am grateful to the poet John Ormond, to the brave workers of Notre Dame de Paris, and to all those who gave their lives to build this cathedral. They remind us that there is beauty in both the lofty and the simple.
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