Pineridge Blog

Notre Dame

“This can’t be happening,” was my first thought on seeing the photos coming out of Paris of the Notre Dame Cathedral on fire. “What about the beautiful rose windows?,” was my next concern.

Cathedrals are relics from another era when churches rather than sports stadiums or skyscrapers were the most promi-nent part of a city skyline. Cathedrals are designed to give worshippers a sense of awe in the presence of the all-powerful God. The shear size, graceful arches and high ceil-ings draw one’s eyes up toward the heavens. The ornate carvings and the rich color of the windows silently tell of the beauty of God all around us. Cathedrals create a world, or maybe they reveal the world as it really is—created, re-deemed and sustained by God. In all of these areas Notre Dame was in a class all its own.
This picture of the interior after the fire of the charred stee-ple that fell just through the roof in front of this gold cross shows the paradox of this event.

It is a terrible tragedy. The loss is permanent and painful. Several Parisians have described this fire as the death of a loved one.
But the cross is a reminder of the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that is the true foundation of Notre Dame. I don’t know if you can see in this picture that just below the cross is a statue of the pieta—Jesus’ mother, Mary, holding the dead, crucified body of her son. It reminds us that Jesus is in the midst of any tragedy, sharing the pain and holding out hope of resurrection.

Easter exposes all that is wrong with the world, like tragic fires, not to mention cruelty, divisions and innocent death. But the heart of our faith is that from death comes life—abundant life, new life, eternal life.