Tuesday of Holy Week: Notre Dame Still Stands

I have seen pictures now. The Church still stands. It may not technically be a miracle because it wasn’t actually burned down to the ground, and I don’t even know how bad it got, but as far as I knew, it was a total loss. In my life, it is a miracle that Notre Dame still stands. The despair I felt yesterday, at knowing I would never see it is gone. It is still there. I can still go see it one day. It may be burned in spots, but it is still there.

In the meantime:

A writer quoted scripture “Oh Death where is thy sting?” alongside the picture of the Cross and the Pieta statue shining out from the rubble, proclaiming their strength.

Another talked about how St. Francis was told to rebuild the Church, and he did, but then he found out he was supposed to rebuild the Church as a whole, not just the one building.

Even more talked about how in the Middle Ages if a Church burnt down people believed that God wanted it built again, even greater this time.

I think pretty much everyone would agree that the Catholic Church and even the world is struggling right now. It is burning. Can we take this as a hint to build it back up better than it was?

Let’s destroy the hypocrisy, anger, despair, and judgement in the Church, to build a home of love for everyone.

Let’s destroy the hurt in the world, the slavery to debt, the misery, and replace it with love for others.

Let’s destroy the despair in our own hearts and misery, and light a fire of hope and joy that burns so big the whole world can see it.

St. Paul says “They shall know you are Christians by your love.”

Make it so.