Completed by Mexican carpenters in 1878, the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe has a unique history. Modeled after the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, its delicate sanctuary contains an altar, a rose-colored window and a choir loft. But the choir loft is the reason for marvel, since the chapel was too small to accommodate a conventional stairway to the choir loft.
The Sisters of Loretto, whose determination had led them from Kentucky to Santa Fe, now faced a challenge greater than their journey–a stairway that couldn’t be built because there was no room. The best carpenters in the area all shook their heads, declaring it impossible to build a stairway in the tiny chapel. What the nuns dreamed of and what they could do were separated by fifteen impossible feet.
What to do? Well, they decided to pray. For nine days, in fact. On the ninth day, a Mexican carpenter with a beard and wind-burned face appeared at the convent. He offered his services, having heard they needed a stairway to a chapel loft. The mother superior had nothing to lose, so she gave him permission.
For the next eight months the unknown carpenter worked painstakingly. One morning the Sisters of Loretto entered the chapel to find that their prayers had been answered. A masterpiece of carpentry spiraled from the floor to the loft. Two complete 360-degree turns. Thirty-three steps held together with wooden pegs and no central support. The wood was hard fir, which was nonexistent in New Mexico.
When the sisters turned to thank the craftsman, he was gone. In fact, they never saw him again. He never asked for money. He never asked for praise. He was a simple carpenter who did what no one else could do so singers could enter a choir loft and sing.
What a picture of the Master Carpenter. He, like the Santa Fe carpenter, built a stairway no one else could build. He, like the nameless craftsman, used material from another place. He, like the visitor to Loretto, came to span the gap between where you are and where you long to be. Each year of His life is a step toward the Cross. The Master Carpenter expects us to come to the Heavenly Father by way of the “stairs” which He has constructed. “If you believe,” He declared, You will receive whatever you ask for in prayer (Matthew 21:22/NIV).
May/June 1993