Night was falling as the train approached Paris. The noise of the carriage, the chatter of children and the rumble of the wheels had almost lulled me to sleep as the vision unfolded… a domed palace in the sky glowing white against the deepening blue. A dream perhaps… or a dream come true. I had seen it like this once before, almost a decade earlier and had never forgotten, cherishing a wish that one day I would go back…

And here I was. Incredibly, unbelievably…on my way to work there.

Tears pricked my eyelids as I was overwhelmed by a sense of homecoming that I could not have explained. I had dreamed of this for so many years, drawn to the city by the heartstrings.

The Byzantine curves seemed to float above the horizon… the Sacré-Cœur… Sacred Heart… it seemed fitting in so many ways. The Basilica stands on the…