From the ashes indeed, and in record time. What a magnificent achievement is the rebuilding of Notre Dame thanks to “about 250 companies and 2,000 workers and artisans from all over France who knew the world was watching, and drove them to give their all for the project of a lifetime” (NYTimes). If you have been lucky, you have walked into that nearly thousand year old building, and have stood in wonder at the very soul of France. My first visit was in 1973 with my 5 siblings and our parents. My second was with my teenage daughter in 1997. But as fortune allowed, I returned with two friends in July of 2018. I think it was the bells that most captured the overwhelming sense of history and simultaneously kept me in the very moment as we listened in awe and delight.

History, and plenty of it: “Mary, Queen of Scots was married at Notre-Dame, Joan of Arc beatified, Napoleon crowned. The cathedral has been so central to France that its forecourt is ground zero from which all distances in the nation are measured” (NYTimes).

Can you remember where you were when you first heard that a fire broke out in the historic cathedral? I happened to be in La Fortuna, a small town in Costa Rica, and immediately went into the Catholic church to light a candle and say a prayer. I was not alone in my grief. The whole world felt the shock and watched through tear-filled eyes as more of the story unfolded on our news feeds. The gothic architecture that stood for centuries and had brought more people to Paris than any other structure had fallen. Who would have thought in a few short years it would be restored with such exactness?

There is tremendous hope in such an accomplishment, and regardless of nationality or religion, one can tap into that universal bonding emotion. I am buoyed by such world-wide pride and rejoicing to match such an architectural beauty, and really can’t wait to walk into that space once again.