Heartbreaking. What an iconic and important structure for Catholics and the country of France.

Absolutely tragic. Art, architecture, and symbolism reflecting the unfathomable beauty of God exists so very sparsely on this earth like it did in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

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Jesus' crown of thorns was saved !

As I see this morning that ISIS celebrates this tragedy, I of course am not surprised. However, I think it is a good time to say that this very week in BSF, we were studying the construction of Solomon's magnificent temple. As I went through the week, I heard a pastor on the radio state simply, "In times past, God had a temple for his people. Today he has a people for his temple." As I was studying the greatest temple in the history of Christianity, I looked up at my computer and saw the greatest temple in modern Christianity being destroyed. Yet, despite the terrible loss, the purpose of Notre Dame was never to be the literal dwelling place of God, and so become an idol, but rather to orient the minds and affections of Christ's followers heavenward. WE are the temple, not buildings, or books, or icons, or any shrine, no matter how sacred.

As Solomon prayed - at the dedication of the temple - for God to forgive his people when they strayed but then acted in genuine repentance, I pray that the world would know (even Muslims), that even though a great blow was struck against architecture, art, and history, Christianity is not affected one bit. The true temple remains fully habitable.

Tamu_mgm said:

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Absolutely tragic. Art, architecture, and symbolism reflecting the unfathomable beauty of God exists so very sparsely on this earth like it did in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

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I'm sorry, but God does not exist in man's objects, especially where the gospel has not been present for a LONG time. France mourns the loss of a building, yet has long celebrated the loss of the gospel.

I am hopeful God will use this to re invigorate the Gospel in France.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Tamu_mgm said:

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Absolutely tragic. Art, architecture, and symbolism reflecting the unfathomable beauty of God exists so very sparsely on this earth like it did in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

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I'm sorry, but God does not exist in man's objects, especially where the gospel has not been present for a LONG time. France mourns the loss of a building, yet has long celebrated the loss of the gospel.

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I said the art, architecture, and symbolism reflect God's beauty - not that they actually contain God Himself within them. Also, the French nation as a whole yes has fallen away from their Catholic roots for several decades now unfortunately, however the Gospel was absolutely fully present and alive in the Notre Dame Cathedral even if apart from the nation as a whole.

Sadly, I've also seen non-Catholic Christians on Twitter celebrating or mocking the fire.

PacifistAg said:

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Sadly, I've also seen non-Catholic Christians on Twitter celebrating or mocking the fire.

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It's utterly tragic. I was a history major and planned on joining academia before I went to law school. Any person with a love for history, architecture, or beauty in general is hurt today. And I have sympathy for those who had a spiritual stake in it, because they're doubly hurt.

God does exist in each and every Catholic Church, in the tabernacle, as the Blessed Sacrament...

Tamu_mgm said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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Tamu_mgm said:

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Absolutely tragic. Art, architecture, and symbolism reflecting the unfathomable beauty of God exists so very sparsely on this earth like it did in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

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I'm sorry, but God does not exist in man's objects, especially where the gospel has not been present for a LONG time. France mourns the loss of a building, yet has long celebrated the loss of the gospel.

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I said the art, architecture, and symbolism reflect God's beauty - not that they actually contain God Himself within them. Also, the French nation as a whole yes has fallen away from their Catholic roots for several decades now unfortunately, however the Gospel was absolutely fully present and alive in the Notre Dame Cathedral even if apart from the nation as a whole.

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It reflects God's beauty in the sense that man created them and he was made in God's image. Notre Dame was a tourist destination. Not a destination for lost souls to hear the gospel.

1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" 2 And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

PacifistAg said:

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Sadly, I've also seen non-Catholic Christians on Twitter celebrating or mocking the fire.

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That is very sad. Christian vs Christian is not Christ like imho. And it has plagued the world for a long time.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Tamu_mgm said:

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Martin Q. Blank said:

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Tamu_mgm said:

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Absolutely tragic. Art, architecture, and symbolism reflecting the unfathomable beauty of God exists so very sparsely on this earth like it did in the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

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I'm sorry, but God does not exist in man's objects, especially where the gospel has not been present for a LONG time. France mourns the loss of a building, yet has long celebrated the loss of the gospel.

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I said the art, architecture, and symbolism reflect God's beauty - not that they actually contain God Himself within them. Also, the French nation as a whole yes has fallen away from their Catholic roots for several decades now unfortunately, however the Gospel was absolutely fully present and alive in the Notre Dame Cathedral even if apart from the nation as a whole.

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It reflects God's beauty in the sense that man created them and he was made in God's image. Notre Dame was a tourist destination. Not a destination for lost souls to hear the gospel.

1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!" 2 And Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

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It also reflects God's beauty in a way in which the images and statues visually depict the wonderous and mysterious nature of God and his creations. Not saying you're necessarily implying this, but the trendy misconception that Catholics worship idols and images leads people to really downplay the beauty we as humans can make in churches, art, architecture, etc. We are capable of great beauty because God has created us that way, and admiring that beauty doesn't take away from proper worship to God; in fact it only enhances it if applied properly.

Notre Dame is a Catholic church, therefore Holy Mass has been said very frequently in it for almost a millennium - the sacraments were frequently distributed in it, and 1-2 readings and 1 Gospel reading minimum are said at each Mass, so yes the Cathedral absolutely was a bastion and destination for lost souls to hear the Gospel. That's just flat out false to say it's not, even though you clearly have a different interpretation of Scripture. The Cathedral (and Church as a whole) is a hospital for sinners so to speak, and the fact that it simultaneously was visited by tourists from all over the world takes nothing away from the centuries upon centuries of hearing the Gospel within its walls. In fact, the predominant reason this Cathedral has been the tourist destination it is, is because of the intricate way it displays the faith to the faithful - not the other way around. So just because many people have toured this church doesn't mean the Gospel is absent there.

The Bible verse you quoted from Mark 13 is Jesus's precursor to describing the end of the world / age and ultimately advising the disciples to persevere to the end, as described by the verses following the ones you quoted - the purpose of those verses was not to condemn any beautiful building as a stand alone principle. Now let me be clear, idolizing beauty for the sake of beauty (vanity) is wrong, but that is not what I or anyone is doing by mourning a Cathedral that was made for the explicit purpose to worship God in the highest and most beautiful way possible.

A great interview of the priest who saved some of the relics and other items in the church. Hopefully the translation is correct...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism/comments/beazey/interview_of_fr_fournier_who_entered_a_burning/?ref=readnext

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I am father Fournier, chaplain-major at the Paris Fire Brigade and I was the chaplain on duty this 15th of April when an extraordinary fire occurred in the Notre-Dame cathedral.
As I was on duty, I was called on the scene, and right away two things must absolutely be done : save this unfathomable treasure that is the crown of thorns, and of course our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament.
As I entered the cathedral, there was little smoke and almost no heat, but we had a vision of what hell may be : like waterfalls of fire pouring down from the openings in the roof, due to the downfall not only of the spire but also of other smaller debris in the choir.
I was escorted by a senior officer; the difficulty was in finding the holder of the code to the safe that sheltered the Crown of Thorns. This took us much time, and during this quest for the code a team of firefighters was trying to break open the safe, and they did just as I got a hold of the keys.
The relic was then extracted [from the building] and guarded by police officers.
Everybody understands that the Crown of Thorns is an absolutely unique and extraordinary relic, but the Blessed Sacrament is our Lord, really present in his body, soul, divinity and humanity and you understand that it is hard to see someone you love perish in the blaze. As firefighters we often see casualties from fire and we know its effects, this is why I sought to preserve above all the real presence of our Lord Jesus-Christ.
[Something about Macron and the fact that there were 400 up to 600 firefighters on scene...]
[Compliments to the general officer commanding the Paris fire brigade who showed exceptional leadership]
The time when the fire attacked the northern bell tower and we started to fear losing it, was exactly the time when I rescued the Blessed Sacrament. And I did not want to simply leave with Jesus: I took the opportunity to perform a Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament.
Here I am completely alone in the cathedral, in the middle of burning debris falling down from the ceiling, I call upon Jesus to help us save His home.
It was probably both this and the excellent general maneuver of the firefighters that led to the stopping of the fire, the ultimate rescuing of the northern tower and subsequently of the other one.
We started Lent by imposing ashes and saying "remember you are dust", and truly this was a miniature Lent: the Cathedral went to ashes, not to disappear, but to emerge stronger, as we Christians are, after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus-Christ.

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