When I first walked into Notre Dame cathedral what struck me most was the tremendous aura of spirituality it bore—greater than any other place I’ve ever been. I knelt to pray on the stone floor, worn smooth by a millennium of those who had come before and done the same.
It survived the Revolution; it survived World Wars I and II and who knows how many other wars and other catastrophes. The building may be rebuilt. Can that aura be rebuilt?
I seek to find something good in this terrible loss. I hope it moves a rebirth of the spirit of the French people.
Ãve MarÃa, grátia pléna,
Dóminus técum.
BenedÃcta tÅ« in muliéribus,
et benedÃctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus.
Sáncta MarÃa, Máter Déi,
óra pro nóbis peccatóribus,
nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae. Ãmen.
As a lapsed Catholic (and retired civil engineer), I am appalled and dismayed. A chunk of my being is gone.
I was out playing golf. WTF. I’m not Catholic, although my wife is. But just as a human, what a tragedy.
Some things are irreplaceable.
I think of the words from the book of Ezra; on building the 2nd temple after the first was destroyed.
““This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.â€
â€â€Ezra‬ â€1:2-3‬ â€NIV‬‬