The Source of Our Joy: On the Reopening of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame

by Monsignor Laurent Ulrich, appearing in Volume 47

This morning, the pain of April 15, 2019, is erased. In a way, and even if the shock caused by the fire may have been lasting, the pain was already overcome when prayer rose from the banks of the Seine and from hundreds of millions of hearts around the world.

Prayer was already the sign of a hope still astonished by itself, but real. The immense people of those who seek God could already sing: “take off your robe of sadness and misery, and put on the finery of the glory of God forever, wrap yourself in the mantle of God’s justice...”(Baruch 5:1-2)

And here we are around this altar that, in a few moments, I will consecrate before you so that it may be the table of Christ’s sacrifice, the place where he gives his life for all. The material chosen by the artist, bronze, enters into a frank dialogue with the stone building; this is the first shock that grips us. And this block of the altar, as if born of the earth for the sacrifice, is prepared as a fraternal table for the Lord’s meal. It forms with the ambo, in an exchange without confusion, the table of the Word and that of the Eucharist. As for the lines of both pieces of this furniture, their purity, their simplicity, are extremely accessible, even welcoming; a power of life, a peaceful force emanate from this very simplicity, responding to the Church’s request that the components of the liturgy be all marked by noble simplicity.

It is Christ himself whom we place here at the center of our Eucharist, at the center of our assembly; Saint John Henry Newman designated the altar as the center towards which all our gazes, our gazes as believers, converge.

With what love we will surround this altar! It is certainly not a magic object, but it is an instrument by which we learn to see Christ in our midst, as the solid rock on which our faith rests, as the Calvary where we discover how far self-giving and total love go, and as the table around which Christ forms his disciples.

With what tenderness we will surround him by calling upon our assembly the power of holiness of the immense cohort of the blessed of heaven and earth! Among them, there will be five who have come from the provinces of France and from Romania and who have a strong link with Paris, of whom a relic—a sign of their believing existence—will be placed inside: Saint Catherine Labouré, Saint Madeleine-Sophie Barat, Saint Marie-Eugénie Milleret, Saint Charles de Foucauld, and Blessed Vladimir Ghika; then invoking the Spirit of God who transforms all things into instruments of peace and joy by spreading upon him the oil of good odor which attracts every man to the virtuous paths of disinterested love!

With what admiration we will surround him when the smoke of incense rises with all our prayers for the most evident intentions of peace and justice for all men and also for the most hidden intentions in the secret of all our hearts, and when, clothed in the white garment of baptism, he shines with the light of heaven.

Finally, what recognition, what thanksgiving we will be able to raise up to the Father and the Son by celebrating for the first time here the Eucharist which builds the body of Christ, the temple of the Spirit, the people of God who offer themselves with their Lord!

Brothers and sisters who are specially invited on this day, do not be content to simply enjoy the pleasure of being here on such a special day when the cathedral of Paris regains its splendor, such as no one has ever known it before: whether you are believers or not, you are welcome to participate in the joy of the believers here who give glory to God for having found their Mother Church.

And you, bishops, priests and deacons, faithful of Christ, baptized, consecrated, servants of the gospel according to your condition and your particular mission, beloved Parisian brothers and sisters, do not only remain dazzled by the beauty of the stones found, but let yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to the most beautiful gift that God gives you and gives us of his loving presence, of his closeness to the poorest, of his transforming power in the sacraments.

Like our sister Madeleine Delbrêl —a humble believer who attended this church, a servant of the poor in our neighborhoods and those of the Paris region—let yourselves, like her, be “dazzled by God!” She was twenty years old when this flash of lightning struck her, and it was exactly 100 years ago. God is freedom itself, freedom that surrenders itself, that gives itself; he reveals himself to us on this altar; we await his coming in our flesh, at Christmas which is approaching.

We rejoice in what we see, we savor this moment that we are given to live, we love this gathering where we are united, and we dream that it can be like this in our society so worried.

But this morning, the source of our joy is even deeper and more lasting: it comes from God himself. He is the cause of our joy: let us not hesitate to repeat at all times with the psalmist: “What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.” (Psalm 126 (125):3).

This homily was given by Monsignor Laurent Ulrich in French at the Mass of the Dedication of the Altar in the restored Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on December 8, 2024, and is published with his kind permission.