The Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral. See Christ enthroned in eternal majesty. See him supported by the mystical winged beasts who are the gospel writers. See him surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs.

This great image: a vast icon in stone reveals and conceals Christ the Lord. Here in carved stone the humility and the humanity, the divinity and destiny of Christ is revealed. Here in stones a thousand years old the majesty and mystery of the incarnation is unlocked and present still for a wild and wicked world to witness.

And it all connects and interconnects with the majestic reading from today’s Mass:

Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the Body, the Church.