It seemed to me that the ultimate Parisian, Catholic experience would be attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. (And it seemed the thought occurred to thousands of others, too.) It was raining last night at 8:00 as I walked from my hotel, across the bridge and toward the cathedral. What a sight with the church illuminated in the blustery, late evening!

I walked around to the plaza in front of Notre Dame, and it was incredibly beautiful with the lights and the Christmas tree. (No. I didn’t retouch or recolor the image to make the tree look blue.)

When I arrived just after 8:00, there was another mass going on, so I walked around and looked at the side chapels. Toward the end of that mass, I and countless others, positioned ourselves, ready. Within little more than 5 minutes after the end of mass ALL of the chairs (no pews) were full of those that had been waiting. A short time later, an image/light show, “Lumen de Lumine”, was projected on a taut panel of fabric, suspended above the altar. It was a narrated (in French) picture story of the birth of Christ.

The light show was followed by Christmas songs sung beautifully in both French and English. When they sang “Silent Night” in French and invited the participation of the congregation, I sang aloud in English. I imagine others did, too.

There were 6 little choir kids without blue robes, like this little girl. She was SO little and so young, yet so very intent on her singing.

I don’t know how many people fit in that cathedral, but it was standing-room-only, even out into the small side chapels.

Notre Dame has a grand organ and it accompanied the choir and priests.

There were about 20 priests present to assist with communion, though they did not concelebrate. The mass was in French, with a few responsorials in Latin. It might as well have been a Latin high mass, though. A foreign language in a cathedral like that… it had the SENSE of a high mass.

I was seated just 3 rows back from the front, so the frankincense was thick and fragrant. I like it.

I had arrived just after 8:00 in the evening, and was leaving at 1:30 in the morning. What a memorable life experience: Midnight Mass at Notre Dame. The rain had stopped, and as I walked home to my hotel room, I could hear the church bells pealing loudly all the way.