Notre-Dame, Our Lady Burns

photo credit: ABC News

Notre-Dame de Paris is the heart chakra of an energy system in Mother Earth that begins at Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland and ends at the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral in Spain. What does it mean for the Church and me, personally, that this Cathedral representing the heart chakra burned?

left: Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland; right: Santiago de Compostela, Spain

As I watched the roof and spire burn, I was grateful that the towers, walls and stained glass were intact.

I thought:

• This fire is no coincidence; nor is its timing an accident.
• Perhaps the fire burned away old energies that no longer serve and made room for new energies we need for the new millennium.

The Church has done both great and horrific things during its history. As this magnificent Cathedral was being built, Pope Innocent III in 1209 declared that Good Christians, known as Cathars, living in the Languedoc region of modern-day southern France, were heretics. He began the Albigensian Crusade to burn them at the stake if they did not convert to Catholicism. Over 25 years he and 2 subsequent Popes killed one million innocent people because these Christians held their own beliefs, did not tithe to the church and thought the Pope was corrupt. They met in their homes rather than in churches, practiced meditation and served their communities. Both women and men were leaders.

This is one example of Church history that can be burned to let in fresh air and light.

An aerial shot of the fire damage to Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on Tuesday April 16. (Gigarama.ru via AP)

As life is also a mirror, I ask myself what dross rests in my heart that I may burn to embrace more peace, compassion and joy?

On this weekend as Jews celebrate Passover and Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection, may we all burn off the old and welcome new energies so we may live peacefully together in this new millennium.