A Spirutal Flying Buttress

I remember the first time I saw it. I had read about it, teachers and professors had lectured on it, and I had seen pictures of it in books and in movies. However, nothing compared to visiting and seeing the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris firsthand. Nothing I had seen, heard, or read compared to this magnificent structure. In that instant it became, and still is, my favorite place to visit in Paris. Everything else, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, etc., pales in comparison to this jewel.

During my junior year in college, I lived in southern France and had occasion to visit Paris on three different occasions. As you can guess, I visited Notre Dame every single time and it’s the first stop I make when I visit Paris. On four different occasions it has been my privilege to introduce students to Notre Dame and each time I saw the same reaction in their faces that I had on my first visit to the cathedral.

While the interior is impressive with its rose windows and high vaulted ceilings, the bell towers are one of its most alluring features. Although I am afraid of heights, at the ripe old age of twenty, I climbed the towers to get a breathtaking view of Paris. While climbing to the top of the towers, I kept looking for Victor Hugo’s hunchback, Quasimodo. There is just something about reading that novel that causes you to expect to see him in all the nooks and crannies that dot the cathedral. Needless to say, I never saw Quasimodo, but I have a feeling he is lurking somewhere in those bell towers!

It was on a solo visit to Notre Dame, however, that I discovered its most endearing feature. Just past the south tower is an entrance that leads to a park located behind the cathedral. This walk provides an impressive view of one of the most iconic parts of Notre Dame, the flying buttresses. The enormity of the structure and the immense weight of its roof put intense pressure on its walls.

The builders of gothic cathedrals, of which Notre Dame is a prime specimen, devised an ingenious way to stabilize the cathedral’s walls. They built a series of flying buttresses that pushed against the exterior of the cathedral, directing the immense forces pushing on the walls into the ground, thus securing the entire structure.

The best view of the flying buttresses is in the park located directly behind Notre Dame. The park is a haven for locals and tourists alike. There is a bench that sits dead center of the cathedral and that is where I sit every time I am there. It is a marvelous sight and one I never tire of.

Would it surprise you to learn that the concept of the flying buttress existed way before architects discovered its use in building?  It is true, and we need look no further than Paul’s letter to the Galatians to find it. In Galatians 6:2 Paul writes, “Cary each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Do you see the concept of the flying buttress in Paul’s letter? He states categorically that we are to help each other, to uphold each other, to encourage each other, and to lighten one another’s load. Jesus told his disciples in John 13:35 that everyone would know they were his disciples if they had love for each other. What better way is there to demonstrate love for another person than to help shoulder his/her burdens?

Paul reminds us further that we have opportunity to do this and that we must avail ourselves of the opportunity to help all people, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ (Galatians 6:9-10). Every day we meet people at work, in the grocery store, at the park, on the sidewalk, etc. who are hurting. In fact, everyone is carrying some sort of burden. Some carry the burden of illness, some of depression, some of hopelessness, some of loss, and some have no name for their burdens. Paul reminds us in this passage that we are to come alongside them and to provide support, to be a spiritual flying buttress.

Notre Dame remains standing almost one thousand years after is foundations were laid. Through storm, through rain, through hail, through the French Revolution, and through fire, it remains. The flying buttresses continue to support and uphold that tremendous structure. It is not a great leap for us to understand that if a piece of stone can support a building, how much more can we help others to stand when we help them bear their burdens. Are you being a spiritual flying buttress to those around you today?