Like so many people, I watched in helpless horror as Notre Dame burned back in 2019. To say I was heartbroken was an understatement. Notre Dame, aside from being a sacred space, symbolized the best of Paris, the best of France, and the pinnacle of human innovation and work.
To see it go up in flames was devastating.
A few weeks ago, its bells rang again for the first time in five years, and I was moved to tears, and Elon Musk even shared video of the interior post-restoration.
You'll notice that the modernists didn't win, and -- other than a deep clean -- Notre Dame looks just as it did before the fire.
Before (left) and after (right) of the interior of Notre Dame.
— Father V (@father_rmv) November 25, 2024
Modernists lost this battle, so instead of a glass spire and partially destroyed vaultings everything was reconstructed as it was. Architects, for example, made sure that the former Medieval assymetrics in the… pic.twitter.com/4FACuLXwTB
During the talk of reconstructing Notre Dame, there was talk of making changes -- a glass roof, 'reimagining' the spire, or using modern architecture techniques.
What a tragedy that would've been.
Paris, like most of Europe, is dotted with such churches that are meant to turn our eyes, hearts, and minds to the ethereal in the midst of a world that can sometimes be a soul-crushing grind.
The men who built Notre Dame centuries ago did it not for themselves, but to honor God and to leave behind a permanent thing of beauty for future generations. Those men weren't thinking of me, per se, but they were thinking of people like me, people they'd never know, and they built Notre Dame for us as much as themselves.
We need beauty. Whether cathedrals or paintings or books or movies, we need things that are beautiful and that exist simply to be beautiful. We need those things to be free of political lean or agendas and just exist for the sake of existing.
It is through those things and the beauty they impart that we can not only escape reality for a short time but return to reality with spirits lifted, a new perspective, and a replenished soul.
The infiltration of politics into all manner of art has tarnished that beauty and, in some cases, removed it completely. The political Left wants art to be a reflection of the real world so they feel 'represented' and 'seen', but that's antithecal to what art is meant to do.
The rededication Mass will be December 8. Sadly, I will be traveling back from North Dakota, and won't get to watch the livestream (I assume they'll livestream something that historically significant).
As you're reading this, I am spending Thanksgiving with my boys and my mom. I will give thanks for many things: for a deep love, for friendship, my boys, for living in America and having a roof over my head and food on my table, for this awesome gig at Twitchy and its readers, and for the wonderful things that are in the future.
But I will also give thanks for beauty, and I will give thanks that when I do get to Paris one day, I will get to see Notre Dame with my own eyes, as it was meant to be seen.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all, dear readers.
