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From Sensus Fidelium
Many of us witnessed the great cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris engulfed in flames on the evening of April 15, 2019. Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists - some crying, others offering prayers - watched on in horror and helplessness as the roof and steeple were consumed. One onlooker stated: Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before. Another person cried out: It's finished, we'll never be able to see it again. It's incredible, our history is going up in smoke…such a loss for humanity. Many knelt in prayer…recited Rosaries and sang the Ave Maria. The great symbol of France…the icon of Gaul…the very Mother Church of all the French was dying. A history professor commented: Notre Dame is the entire culture…the entire history of France is incarnated in this monument…it is the very epicentre of French life. It was an amazing scene…a burning church…a dying mother if you will…with children around her in tears and in disbelief. And yet, churches and important, meaningful structures have been engulfed in flames before and even destroyed completely. People grieve for the loss of such an important but then they move on. Sons who visited their mothers regularly are sad when they see their mother die, but their grieving is healthy and natural. They are sad but still hopeful. But sons who distanced themselves from their mother, even abandoning her in her old age, are struck with a grief at their mother’s death…a grief, perhaps, that is coupled with a guilt…a deep guilt. Parisians gazed upon their mother dying and they were filled with grief…and yes with guilt…for they had abandoned their Spiritual Mother, the Church, centuries before. They never visited her for prayer or Mass…they never asked if they could help her. Their Mother who had given them supernatural birth at baptism…nursed them with the Holy Eucharist…healed and bandaged them with the Sacrament of Penance…taught them the Faith and prayed for them…was now dead. They had gone to the funeral, but had never said goodbye. How sad…how very sad…to have abandoned one’s mother. For more please visit http://reginaprophetarum.org/#/ & remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the priest
So true, all of it. On the mortal level, I can't imagine anyone abandoning their mother or father. I wish I could encourage people to realize, that day will come, they will leave this earth, and you will never have another person in your life who loves you nearly as much.
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