il vetro penna

Notre-Dame this morning

e a volte siamo fiamma e cenere

et parfois nous sommes flammes et cendres

I’m Catholic, one of many.  And today, our hearts were broken as we watched the Notre Dame cathedral burn.  We’re in a state of mourning.

To us, a church is more than a place of worship.  It’s a gathering spot for the community.  It’s a place where we collect donations for the poor.  It’s a place where we serve food to the hungry.  It’s a place of refuge for the homeless.  It’s a place where we come to pray, to celebrate, to be happy.  It’s a place where people make pilgrimages every year.  Notre Dame stands for all these things and more, for not only is it a church - it’s a part of our Catholic history.  It’s French history.  It’s world history.  It’s a beacon of Western architectural design and art.  The amount of loss today is monumental, and it hurts.

But in all the destruction and through all the tears, there are also reasons for hope and joy.

For one, nobody was killed.  One firefighter was injured (bless them), but nobody was lost, thank God.  Objects can be replaced and rebuilt, people can’t be.

Second, all the holy relics and artworks were saved.  Some of them, from what I read on Twitter, are normally displayed in the spire but were moved to another location because of the renovations that were going on, and from this location were able to be rescued from the fire.  Thank goodness.

Third, it’s not a total loss!  Hooray!  The bell towers are still intact, the tabernacle and altar are untouched, and it’s currently believed that the cathedral can be rebuilt.

Fourth, it is absolutely beautiful to see people coming together over this.  All day today, I’ve seen people of all faiths (and no faith as well) grieve with us Catholics and send condolences, and it restores my faith in the goodness of people.  It reminds me that people are as resilient as the stones upon which Notre Dame was built on.

Notre Dame still stands.  Her eyes have gazed upon France as it has changed and grown and suffered throughout the past 850 years.  The 100 Years’ War, the Age of Discovery, the French Revolution.  The crowning of Napoleon I.  Two World Wars.  She’s taken damages from bombs in the past.  She was almost considered unsalvagable once (Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame was instrumental in turning public favor into preserving the cathedral in the 1800s).  But despite it all, the bell towers still stand.  She still stands.  And she will be rebuilt.

This week for Catholics is Holy Week, and one of the themes we observe throughout it is death and resurrection.  That despite what happens, we can always rise back up.  And that is what we Catholics will do.  We will mourn the history we lost, but then we will heal and rebuild even stronger than before.