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Flames and smoke rise from Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris, Monday, April 15, 2019. Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the center of Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)  

Editor’s Note: The day before this issue [April 29] went to press, we watched on our newsroom monitors the devastating fire at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. As of this writing, the fire has been extinguished and, while the cause and the full extent of the damage are unknown, much of this treasure of our Christian patrimony lies in ashes. Thanks be to God, no one was killed.

How do we make sense of such an event? Yesterday, a member of our editorial staff made an attempt. I share it here, a reflection by a young man about this 800-year-old symbol of our enduring faith.

Read his reflection here: Grieving the fire of Notre Dame during Holy Week

Matt Malone, S.J.

This article appears in April 29 2019.