Hi dear readers. Yesterday many of us found out at various times in the afternoon and we watched Notre Dame burn on the cable news networks. It was awful. I remember our visit in 1972 and my sister reminded me of the Stations of the Cross… As Notre Dame burned, people all over the Christian world must have been having the same thoughts. As I fell asleep I imagined before the ceiling collapsed people saving vestments, chalices, relics, the Crown of Thorns… This Holy place built in 1100s was a storehouse of treasures collected in very early times… a safe house. People experimented with flying buttresses and with bare hands and rope raised the amazing structure. Read Ken Follett’s The Master Builder for a look at cathedral building and early failures! This week in Cathedrals all over the world Bishops will be celebrating Mass in Cathedrals and priests will be renewing their priestly vows. Oils that will be used all year to anoint babies in Baptism, the sick and dying, and Confirmandi will be blessed at the Cathedral Mass. Notre Dame is gone for a while so some other amazing French Parisian church will host Holy Week and Easter celebrations. Let us pray for a quick restoration of this historic and sacred house of God.
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