The out pouring of hearts in regards to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral has been a silent moment of pure grace, in which I pray we all hold on to. Notre Dame, intercede for us.

 

I find myself pondering this moment, in regards to how many times we burn ourselves down by our sins, becoming nothing but heaps of ash, and therefore repenting, turning back to our Lord, we come to realize with His grace, it is He who remains unscathed, to rebuild the temple within us back up, “I Am reminded: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”, as He has created us to be. Lent begins with ash, and ends with Resurrection.

Its not worth getting upset about what Notre Dame may look like after it is rebuilt as they petition the architects to come together.. What matters is if our Lord is present. I ponder Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan and how he turned the concentration camp in Vietnam into a cathedral and the palm of his hand into an altar. He turned his shirt pocket into a tabernacle.

Even as many were amazed at him—
so marred were his features,
beyond that of mortals
his appearance, beyond that of human beings— Isaiah 52:14

Something else grabbed my attention today.

For all the people complaining about all that money being pledged to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral and NOT to feed the poor, it was not Jesus who said that, but Judas.

The Anointing at Bethany.

4 Then Judas the Iscariot, one [of] his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said,5 “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages^* and given to the poor?”6 He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions.^e

The building is the house of the Community where the Church comes together to feed the hungry. “He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, my appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘ The building belongs to the French Gov. The Vatican gives what it has. Just as anyone else, who can give what they can.

Today, this Tuesday of Holy Week, is the day before “Spy Wednesday”.  The day in which Judas, after turning his back on the Light, grabbed hold of his idol in the dark instead and sold our Lord for thirty pieces of silver. We all may want to ponder what that 30 pieces of silver bought him, and keep our Lord.

 Giovanni Canavesio (1450 – 1500) , hanged Judas