Paradosis

December 07, 2005

France Part 6

Lumen de Lumine

Surrounded by over 700 years worth of prayers and worship, I watch in darkness as images blend and flow across a semi-transparent screen stretched taut and bisecting the nave of Notre Dame. All the while traditional music from the cathedrals choir announces the glories of the incarnation.

I was overwhelmed and wept like I've not wept in a very long time. The love, the glory, and wisdom of God as manifested in the incarnation - more than that - the mystery and wonder of it touched my heart.

The profundity of the experience wasn't authored just by the film or the music, for I am rather certain that had I seen it anywhere else it would not have had nearly the same impact. I theorize that the combination of the experience, the ancient setting, and the fact that I had spent the last few day essentially alone in a foreign country had left me teetering toward being vulnerable. How to recreate such vulnerability, which I believe can so easily lead us to repentance and greater community with God?

When the Nativity Proclamation is made this year, I believe it will mean a little more to me than it did last year, because of this wonderful way in which I spent my last night in Paris. God grant that we may continually move deeper and deeper into His mysteries.