Notre Dame Cathedral opens to all, from donors to firefighters. “A return to light, a sign of hope and spiritual renewal”

“May this altar be a place of peace and deep communion with you”. “May it be a source of unity for the Church: may your faithful gather around it and draw from it a spirit of true charity”. This is an excerpt from the prayer of the Archbishop of Paris, Msgr. Laurent Ulrich, as he rededicated the altar of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was destroyed by fire in 2019. The blessing of the altar is the most important of all the official ceremonies marking the reopening of the cathedral. After the crowds, and the arrival in Paris of heads of state and government from all over the world for the official reopening of the doors of Notre Dame, the blessing of the high altar took place on Sunday 8 December.

French President Macron was also present. Nearly 170 bishops from France and around the world were present at the Archbishop’s invitation. Among them were Archbishop Emeritus Michel Aupetit, who lived through the disaster, his predecessor André Vingt-Trois, and the Apostolic Nuncio, Celestino Migliore. Also present were the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Raei, the delegate of Patriarch Bartholomew, Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, and Pope Tawadros II, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Also present were a priest from each of the 106 parishes of the Paris diocese and one from each of the seven Eastern Rite Catholic churches.

“This morning,” said Bishop Ulrich, “the pain of the 15th of April will be erased. In a way, and although the shock of the fire may have lasted a long time, the pain is already over when prayer rises from the banks of the Seine and from hundreds of millions of hearts around the world.”

Turning to the Bible reading for the day, the Archbishop added: “God never abandons His people, who in this way become permanent witnesses of the care with which He embraces the whole of humanity, seeking justice and peace for all peoples. We may fear that this story is naive optimism! But from generation to generation, the faithful experience that the Lord does not abandon His own. And if suffering and violence do not cease in the course of human history, human life is so precious in the eyes of God that He calls forth, in every time and place, witnesses and disciples who show the way to the victory of life, to trust in Him, and to the common building of universal brotherhood.” In his homily, he read from the Gospel of Luke: “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways. And all humanity will see God’s salvation.”

“The reopening of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris after several years of restoration work, was a moment of intense emotion for the people of Paris, for believers from all over the world, and for religious and political authorities,” wrote the French Bishops’ Conference. A return to light that is a powerful sign of hope and spiritual renewal, just a few weeks before the opening of the Jubilee Year 2025 in Rome, a worldwide event that will mark an important stage in the renewal of the Christian faith and of fraternity between Christian communities.

But the journey is not over yet. The inauguration continues this week with an octave of prayers and Masses, opening the doors of the Cathedral to the “people of Notre Dame.” On Monday 9 December, a Mass will be celebrated for the priests and deacons of Paris; on Tuesday 10 December, for the consecrated persons of the diocese of Paris; on Wednesday 11 December, for the benefactors and donors “whatever their means”; on Thursday 12 December, for the charitable organisations; and on Friday 13 December, for the staff and volunteers of the diocesan services. On Friday 13 December at 4.30 pm, the act of “returning the crown of thorns to Notre-Dame de Paris” will take place, while on Saturday 14 December a Mass will be celebrated with the participation of secondary school students. Finally, on Sunday 15 December, the Diocese of Paris will pay tribute to the firemen who tried to save the Cathedral from the flames. From 16 December, festive and weekday masses will resume according to the normal schedule.

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