Last night Notre Dame burned. Not as it usually burns, with Mary’s heart on fire, it really burned. Smoke billowed from the roof, filling the sky. The spire, once piercing the heavens, fell. Parisians billowed through the streets to witness though you could see the flames, the smoke, throughout the city, throughout the world. Onlookers fell to their knees and wept. They sang.
The mighty symbol of civilization roared as flames erupted from the roof, while gargoyles looked on in stony silence. “We will rebuild,” the President vowed and no doubt, they will. We will. As monuments of civilization, seen and unseen, burn and fall, we are left wondering “what now?”
“Will it be ok?” my friend Bruce asked me on the night before he went to prison. “Yes,” I replied, “it will. We just don’t know what ‘ok’ is yet.” 
Civilization falls and rises, and we phoenix-like, must rise with it. Notre Dame, your spire stripped, your roof in tatters like a garment handed down through generations, we see your beauty. Within your charred body, your cross, like a beating heart, still stands. You encompass the prayers and tears of millions–the penitent, the weary, the hopeful. You always will. Your rose window, like the eye of heaven must now see a new day.
#notredame #paris
One Response
My dear love, I left my phone at home – so I am wishing you a good morning this way 🙂 What a beautiful essay on Notre Dame. Have you seen the pictures with the rose beeing lit by the fire? That also seemed to say: “Hey, I am still here and look at how brightly I illuminate your path”. Hearbreaking, but so inspiring at the same time. I am trying to tie loose ends as much as possible here at work, but it seems like an endless battle against windmills. I will be glad to leave this mad house for a couple of weeks soon. Hope your preparation for Easter and for our trip is going smooth. BTW: I have made all the travel arrangements, but haven’t investigated much into the places we go. You are usually so good at that; did you research more on Spetses and Athen? I am planning to depend on you to some extend in this respect 😉 Have a great day, my wonderful love Your Peter