He is saying to them: “Children of France, dearest, and eldest daughter of the church you have been burning down Notre Dame Cathedral for sixty years. Likewise, crowds of Parisians, staring at the smoldering ruins of Notre Dame Cathedral, see only a stranger with no name whom they call, some kind of “icon of French culture”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.īut this stranger, this icon thing, is talking to them, and they can hear him. Now, it is Jesus who is standing there, but the disciples don’t see Jesus. It stands on a shore, like the place where the disciples saw a man standing. Notre Dame Cathedral, you may know is actually built on a little island in the middle of Paris. Just so, Jesus lying in ruins in the middle of Paris, is still standing and he is talking to us, very much like the man whom the apostles meet standing on the shore in today’s gospel. But, for centuries, Christian art has depicted Jesus, as the lamb who was slain, crucified, and standing, raised from the dead, the wounds still visible in his hands and feet. Now, Jesus, truly risen from the dead, is forever Lord of heaven and earth. I would like to suggest that it is Jesus lying in ruins after the burning of Notre Dame. Such comments increased my suspicion that people watching Notre Dame burn on Monday of Holy Week, were not able to actually see what was burning or what lay in ruins after the fire. Well, if that’s true then maybe the new cathedral should be less Christian, and more representative of the shapeless amalgamation of diverse beliefs and ideologies that really is “French culture today.” Just two days after watching Notre Dame Cathedral burn, French citizens were astonished to learn that close to one billion dollars had been donated from all over the world for the church’s restoration, and some of them began to say: “You know, on the news, they keep calling Notre Dame – “some kind of icon of French culture”.
Homily for Friday in the Octave of Easter