There is no staircase quite like that of the
Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“Apart from any claims of its miraculous nature, the staircase has been described as a remarkable feat of woodworking,” according to a Washington Post column by Tim Carter.
The staircase is 20 feet high with two full turns, all without support of a central pole. It is mostly built out of wood.
The wood used for it is a type of spruce which does not grow in New Mexico and scientifically is not identified anywhere else in the world.
It took five years to build the chapel, which was completed in 1873 except for the staircase to the choir loft.
The French architect who designed the chapel died before the staircase could be built.
“It is impossible to build a staircase,” the builders told the nuns for whom the chapel was built. “The chapel is too small to accommodate a conventional staircase.
“A long ladder could serve the purpose. But a ladder would be difficult to climb because of the nuns’ long habits.”
The nuns were faced with a challenge, so they did the only thing they could do.
They climbed the mountain – not the mountain near the chapel but the mountain Jesus climbed more than 2000 years ago. (Luke 6:12).
They climbed the mountain of prayer.
The nuns prayed for nine days, asking St. Joseph to intercede for them.
On the last day of the novena, an unknown carpenter appeared in the convent.
“I have heard that you need a stairway to the choir loft,”, the carpenter said. “I thought I could help.”
The carpenter worked alone for three months.
One morning, the nuns entered the chapel to find their prayers had been answered.
A masterpiece of carpentry spiraled from the floor of the chapel to the choir loft.
The stairway had a complete 360-degree turn, with 33 steps held together with wooden pegs.
And there was no central support.
When the nuns looked for the carpenter to pay and to thank him, he was gone.
The carpenter never asked for money. He was never seen again. He never asked for praise.
He was a simple carpenter who did what no one else could do so the nuns could enter the choir loft and sing.
Does the story remind you of someone?
Everyone who visits the chapel is amazed at the miracle stairway.
But you do not have to go to Santa Fe to see a miracle.
Are you mindful that God has already performed a miracle in your life?
In Christ, God has built a stairway for you – not to a choir loft, but to heaven.
The stairway of the chapel of Loretto has 33 steps – the same number of years that Christ lived.
God, like the unknown carpenter of Santa Fe, has built a stairway for you – a stairway that no one else could build.
God, like the unknown carpenter, used materials from another place.
God, like the unknown carpenter, has built a stairway for you to climb. So climb it!
In life, there are gulfs you cannot cross alone. There are hearts you cannot change without help.
In life, there are mountains you cannot climb unless Jesus is there to aid you.
Jesus went to the mountain to pray. So must we!
When you encounter a mountain, climb it! You will be amazed. The nuns in the convent of Santa Fe were.