Phoenix of Paris

I shed a tear 5 1/2 years ago with millions around the world, as we stared, helplessly while Notre-Dame burned for hours and hours. It was a sick feeling when the spire crashed inside the cathedral. Many friends shared photos of visits and memories the church held. Many of us have been shushed by the booming voice coming from the rafters. “Silence s’il vous plait” is pretty easy to understand in any language.

Since that April evening in 2019, a few of us have adopted a gargoyle. Some of us have visited the cathedral, clad in huge wall boards describing the reconstruction process.

Almost all of have looked forward to Our Lady once again being restored to her glory. That will happen December 7, when once again the scrolling ironwork doors will open to the public!

Based on the photos I’m seeing , it will look as it may have to our ancestors five or six hundred years ago, before the accumulation of centuries of dirt, grime, and exhaust fumes. Paris’s priests, peasants and pilgrims from the 1300s might feel right at home in the “new” Notre-Dame. The huge stone pillars that line the nave are white! The stained glass windows are restored. According to the AP, murals previously forgotten due to neglect were rediscovered and cleaned to their former glory. All in all, 452,000 square feet was stripped, cleaned, polished, found!

I’m not sure why Notre Dame means so much to me. Maybe it’s because I love Paris. Maybe it’s because that ground has hosted a building where people worshipped something or someone since before Christ. Maybe it’s because the current gothic structure opened its doors 242 years before Columbus set foot on my country. Or maybe it’s because I loved Disney’s version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Whatever the reason, I want to go back and see the rebuilt, restored, scrubbed-up Notre-Dame, wanna’ go?