PARIS – The City of Light has returned the “lume” in “luminous” this Christmas and New Year’s season.

Notre-Dame de Paris stands restored beyond its past grandeur and has re-opened to the world. Inside and out, it offers the perfect spiritual boost for believers of all denominations. This is one church from which you won’t want to leave in order to catch the Sunday pregame shows.

The signature house of worship in France – if not the entire European continent outside the Vatican – was scarred, ruined, and defiled by a vicious 2019 fire. Construction of the church originally began in 1163 upon the order of Bishop Maurice de Sully. He’s not to be confused with his counterparts Bishop Maurice de Sullivan, Bishop Maurice de O’Sullivan, and Bishop Maurice de Sull. None were of Sud de Paris, South Paris, Maine, or L’Dorchester.

The bulk of the Notre-Dame de Paris construction was finished by 1260. But work on the cathedral continued into the 19th century.

Using that timeline, we could expect a return of the Patriots to the Super Bowl sometime around 2626. Picture Tom Brady XIIth starting in Super Bowl DCLIX.

The Notre-Dame de Paris blaze raged from April 15-16 in 2019. Just nine days later, the Patriots incinerated their offense by taking N’Keal Harry in the first round of the NFL Draft. Among the wideouts passed up by the new coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels at that time – Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, and D.K. Metcalf.

No doubt Robert Kraft made him take Harry.

The cost to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris was one Juan Soto – or $767 million. More than $900 million has been raised for the cathedral’s restoration. The remainder will be presumably spent on the facility’s upkeep and fire extinguishers.

It took 2,062 days from when the flames were finally doused at Notre-Dame de Paris on April 16, 2019, until its glorious reopening ceremony on Dec. 7, 2024. Three U.S. presidents were in attendance – Donald Trump, Jill Biden and Elon Musk.

During that entire span of Notre-Dame’s rebuild, the Patriots did not win a playoff game.

Thus, it’s taken more time to rebuild the House of Kraft in Foxboro than it took to rebuild this magnificent House of God in Paris.

And the only arson along Route 1 was done in-house.

The restored Notre-Dame de Paris boasts a new golden rooster atop its refurbished spire perched above the nearby Seine. The cathedral holds 13 bells, including one that was consecrated after being rung by track and field gold medalists during the Paris 2024 Olympics. They herald the passage of time or special events.

With the House of Kraft’s own Quasimodo now courting high school seniors and writing NIL checks in Chapel Hill, the Patriots are fully free to rebuild their own football cathedral in any manner of their choosing.

Thus far, that, too, has been a man-made disaster. Or a man-and-woman made disaster depending on how much power and influence is wielded by Robyn Glaser.

The Krafts desperately try to restore past glories before each home Patriots game by having The Keeper of the Light ring the bell installed atop their stadium lighthouse. Since that bell has begun to toll, the Patriots are 2-14 at Gillette Stadium.

Any paying fan who attends Sunday to watch Mitch Trubisky take over for Josh Allen on the Bills second possession should be given a lifetime pass to the Gillette Stadium summer concert series. Or at least complete absolution for all the times they took the Lord’s name in vain while watching the Patriots play going back to the Rod Rust Error.

Notre-Dame’s rebuild drew money from 45,000 donors, including a few 10-digit net-worth types. French President Macron, much to his credit, stayed the course in making sure the rebuild would be focused on restoring and reinforcing the cathedral’s past glory. He bucked intense pressure to re-invent a building that had withstood the rule of more than two dozen monarchs, Napoleon, the French Revolution, the Great War, Nazi Occupation, and the Curse of the Bambino.

Sometimes it takes a nine-hour flight across six time zones and a dozen days in Europe to gain perspective. Meanwhile, the sentiments we shared in this space about the Patriots before leaving the Western Hemisphere two weeks ago continue to echo across the interwebs, social media, and on your favorite sports broadcast channels upon our return.

Thanks to some internet chicanery, one can watch the Patriots play while overseas. When New England led Buffalo 14-0 briefly back in Week 16, I thought Putin had hacked my semi-legal stream in Cologne. Alas, that lead, too, turned out to be another Russian Hoax. But Putin still has Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl ring.

There’s nothing cheap or fake about the new-and-improved Notre-Dame de Paris. But you’d better show up before 9 a.m. if you don’t want to spend the rest of your morning waiting in line. Good luck trying to reserve a spot in the “timed entrance” queue. Think buying 2007 Red Sox spring training tickets on-line with seven browsers open at the same time.

Any rebuild takes real time and effort. There are no shortcuts. More than 500 specialists and craftspeople worked on Notre-Dame de Paris. Another 250 companies across France worked to repair and replace relics and items inside the cathedral, along with the restoration of the organ’s 8,000 pipes.

The same holds in Foxboro. Even though the Patriots have lain in smoldering ruins for five years, their rebuild may take another decade. But the effort must never stop. Actually, it might be a good time to finally start.

Bill Speros (@BillSperos and @RealOBF on X) took six years of French in the Arlington Public Schools but still needed Google Translate to read menus in Paris and Strasbourg.