I saw Ex Nihilo (Out of Nothingness), the center portal arch, as a single expression of   Creation, as the metamorphosis of divine spirit and energy.  The figures emerge from the      nothingness of chaos, caught in the moment of eternal transformation - the majesty and mystery of divine force in a state of becoming.   

Adam is Everyman, pulled from the waters of baptism, concrete and universal, led by the fire of day by night, and the cloud of night by day - triumphing over the powers of darkness -    emergent radiant in light.

 Creation of Day was designed around the sun, suggestive of active power, of the sweep of change and motion - the emergence of light from darkness.   

Creation of Night  was designed around the moon and planets, suggesting the elusive, the transcendent, the contemplative - the unseen and unknown.

 Saint Peter and Saint Paul are both depicted at the precise moments of their conversions. 

 Peter with his fishnet over his shoulder, when Jesus called him to be a “fisher of men,” is placed beneath the tympanum that represents day - having seen the “light,” as it were. 

 Paul is underneath the tympanum that represents night - temporarily blinded  at the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus, blind and yet spiritually awakened.         

 - Frederick E. Hart