Notre Dame Burning
The transformation by fire I wrote about yesterday always arrives uninvited. Accompanied by white faced shock and a wailing grief that seems to snuff the flames right out. We are left with ashes, shards of memory and regret, a profound sense of loss.
I woke this morning to the sacred heart of Paris burning as 850 years of history and revolution, resilience and endurance was claimed by the fire that is mercilessly transforming our world. As our lady Venus squared off with old Father Time, the divine feminine glowering at the arrogant old masculine that resists truth spoken to its power. As the unholy patriarchy that positioned itself above all others and proclaimed itself closer to God, had its lofty spire toppled and burned beyond recognition. As St Joan prayed in the burning church below, the flames licking at her stony feet and this time was saved.
There is a collective consciousness that lives in sacred places, woven into heart and memory, occupying a cathedral sized space inside us. So too in our storied lives, which lean on these places as stalwarts. They hold us and save us. They hear our prayers and house our candles of hope. They whisper our history back to us. It is all our sacred hearts that are burning today.
When the fire goes out, all we have to fall back on is our faith. We must be mindful of where we place it. It is resurrection season after all darklings. An archetype that is far more than a tale told by the only book you could find in the top drawer. Hope flickers deep within the face of tragedy. Our desire to rebuild is woven into the human condition. So too our capacity to endure and to be reborn from the flames.
Our world is being baptised by fire and even as the revolution thrills us, it makes so many of us weep. The tears of the madonna - notre dame, our lady - have long led us back to grace. But from now they will too lead us somewhere new entirely, a refashioned world chanted into existence and built on centuries of ancestral prayers. Today we are all invited to join her chorus.
What is to give light must endure burning
~ Victor Frankl
Words c. Kerrie Basha 2019