The Wandering Foodie

I had planned to come and gaze upon its beauty, to admire its gothic design and ancient walls packed with centuries worth of history. I had thought to quietly enter within, to approach the altar and perhaps, though not of their particular faith and not in their specific format, to whisper a prayer of my own.

But when I saw the live TV footage of the flames leaping high out of the heart of Notre Dame, I knew that wouldn’t happen. Just weeks before my first trip to Paris, one of its most famed monuments was now greatly damaged and closed indefinitely.

So instead, I came to mourn. To mourn the damage, the hurt, the pain that the fire caused to one of the most iconic houses of worship in the world. I came to join with the French people in the mixture of emotions they felt. Yet, my mourning was brief. Standing along the Seine and looking up at Notre Dame, she seemed to almost laugh as if to say, “I’ve seen worse and I’ll be back. I’ve stood the tests of time thus far – takes more than this to put me down.”

I don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate the history and meaningfulness of this landmark. Indeed, one does not have to be religious at all to respect the deep history, the human story that it embodies.

Notre Dame is more than just an ancient Catholic Church – it is place where humans come to connect and reflect. It is, as the Hunchback himself said, a sanctuary.

Which makes it all the more harder when that sanctuary, that place of refuge, is caught up in the flames and terror, nevertheless it is a reminder that God does not live in earthly temples nor aging vessels. When you find true refuge in Him, it is timeless, omnipresent…and nothing can separate us from it.