The Notre Dame is impressive but don't forget your local church
Re-opening of the Notre Dame de Paris. Photo AFP, Ludovic Marin
Opinion
Few monuments are as impressive as the Notre Dame in Paris. Yet, it is not only a national icon but also a house for the Lord, says René Breuel.
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When the well-known French cathedral Notre Dame suffered a devastating fire in 2019, the world grieved the damage done to a beloved icon.
“Notre Dame is our history, our literature, part of our psyche, the place of all our great events, our epidemics, our wars, our liberations, the epicentre of our lives,” French President Macron commented at the time.
Newspapers, such as El Pais in Spain, lamented the damage done to “a symbol of European culture.” At the same time, then-European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker declared, “Notre Dame belonged to all humanity.”
Vocabulary
At the time, I, too, had the opportunity to reflect on that tragedy while writing an article for the Washington Post. I noticed that many observers seemed to lose sight of the fact that it was a church that had caught on fire.
However sincere and moving politicians and news media’s words may be, they also betray a greater tragedy: the loss of a common language of faith. The fact that Notre Dame was a church built primarily as a house of prayer disappeared in the background.
Sure, the cathedral witnessed Napoleon’s coronation and survived the French Revolution and two world wars. It is also a symbol of Paris and a heritage of all humanity.
But our collective mourning should not forget that a church was on fire. More than a national icon or a tourist spot, cathedrals such as Notre Dame reveal their soul when they house singing and baptisms, confession and pardon, preaching and prayer. If our shared vocabulary excludes words such as “God” and “belief,” we will have lost more than a building. We will have lost the lexicon of our souls.
Five years later, Notre Dame was inaugurated after expensive renovations. And I still wonder: Have perceptions changed over time? Or is that cathedral still mainly seen as a cultural, touristic, and political site?
Lament and hope
The Bible provides us with a rich language to express collective grief. When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem’s temple, for instance, the people of Israel used eloquent spiritual concepts to express their pain. “Why do you stay angry to the end, O God?” Psalm 74 starts before continuing,
Remember Mount Zion, where you dwell.
March toward the perpetual ruins.
March against all the evil done by the enemy in the sanctuary…
They delivered your sanctuary to the fire.
They defiled the dwelling place for your Name
by throwing it to the ground.
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
They burned all the appointed places of God in the land…
Rise up, O God, and prosecute your case.
Remember how the fools mocked you all day long.
In the same way, the recovery of spiritual vocabulary also helps believers lay hold of comfort and hope in darkness. Today, it is common for public figures to vaguely say that their “thoughts and prayers” go out to those suffering.
Peace
But the prophet Haggai’s words about rebuilding the Jewish temple were much more vivid and hopeful. “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord Almighty. And in this place, I will grant peace.”
My mind also recalls the joy Jews expressed at the end of their Babylonian exile when they were allowed to return to their beloved land. Psalm 136 expresses,
When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then, it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.
My hope is that Notre Dame’s reinauguration will prompt people to visit Paris as tourists and to visit a local church wherever they live, however simple it might sound, to pray, sing, and meet the Lord there.
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