December 2024

They said it is impossible. As they stood in the acrid air near the soot and smoldering embers following the destructive fire, they said it is unthinkable - impossible - to rebuild and restore the magnificent 850-year-old cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris.

Many of us watched and waited five years for the rebirth of the magnificent monument honoring the mother of Jesus. The closer we came to Christmas, I and others, pondered the metaphors as a miracle grew out of the ruins. Consider these metaphors,* and the lessons we can learn to apply to our lives. Consider these as personal resolutions for 2025.

Set Audacious Goals; Goals Outside Ourselves

On the night of the fire, “with air still acrid with smoke,” French President Emmanuel Macron issued a challenge in the form of a promise. “We will rebuild Notre Dame. Because that’s what the French expect and because it is what our history deserves,” Macron said as he stood outside the ruins.  “How, then, did thousands of people find the motivation to do the impossible?” The people who rebuilt Notre Dame were motivated by a bold vision and a cause bigger than themselves.

Some People See only Problems. Open to Improbable Possibilities

Macron: "Make possible the unthinkable."

Bring the Light Within; the Darkness will Disappear

A few steps beneath the cascading statues of the cathedral’s magnificent façade, dark gives way to light. 

Have Patience. Don’t Give Up

Five years after the flames roared and the world held its breath, Notre Dame cathedral is coming back to life.   

Clean Away the Grime in our Soul; The Scarred and Wounded can be Transformed

Years of grime have been removed, restoring the vibrant colors so that once more, lipstick reds and lapis lazuli blues bathe the cathedral’s interior when the daylight shines through.

And the fiery colors of those famous windows will surely be all the proof needed that Notre Dame – scarred and wounded but transformed – lives on. 

Expect a Miracle

Some Parisians hailed the return of the almost-life size statue of the Virgin Mary to Notre Dame, which also took place in November, as “miraculous.”

Consider the Soul of Our World, Our Nation, Our Peoples, and Our Selves

Emmanuel Macron: I saw these guys, these firemen, I mean, just going beyond their own capacities with such energy and-- and commitment. And I think this is exactly-- this is a sort of metaphor of-- what our societies, and especially our-- our democracies, need. Make possible the unthinkable.

Interviewer: What words come to mind when you first walk in?

Philippe Jost: The light. The light is very-- breathtaking. And the space. In this monument there is a soul. A-- soul. And we feel that when we enter now. We feel that.

Live a Happy Metaphor

This cathedral is a happy metaphor of what a nation is and what the world should be,” said President Macron. 

*Italics link to the source. Bold italics reflect my imagined metaphors.

by Jan

It is amazing! The videos I have seen of the reopened Notre Dame Cathedral have been stunning, even jaw-dropping. To think of how much has been accomplished in just five years: first, stabilizing the damaged structure, then cleaning, repairing, re-building, restoring. Walls and windows, statues and frescoes, furniture and light fixtures, roof and spire – the list goes on and on. What an achievement!

Even the walls themselves seem to have come alive, with stones cleaned and paint refreshed. The formerly dark church has become lighter and brighter, glowing with wonder.

Before all this work, the first task was to define the task: was it simply to restore the cathedral to the way it was before the fire? Or was it to renovate the cathedral? “Restore” according to Merriam-Webster, “implies a return to an original state after depletion or loss,” while “renovate suggests a renewing by cleansing, repairing, or rebuilding.” It may be a subtle distinction, but “restore,” it seems to me, primarily looks backward, while “renovate” looks forward to the future.

Although much in the Cathedral of Notre Dame has been restored, it appears to me that the cathedral has truly been renovated. While some traditionalists are grumbling (about the new altar, for example), renovation, to me, seems fitting. The cathedral, after all, is a church where people gather to worship the living God; it is not a museum where people come only to admire the past.

And what about you and me? As we make our resolutions for the new year, is our goal to restore some lost version of ourselves ("Oh, to be forty again!"), or is it rather to look forward, building on what we have already accomplished? I doubt that the world really needs the 1985 version of myself, all over again. My task is to make the 2025 version of myself as bright and useful and inspiring as I possibly can.

by Bill