Vêpres à Notre-Dame de Paris

Above is the Vespers sung at Notre Dame Cathedral in the immediate minutes/hours before the fire began on April 15, 2019. In this video, one can really contemplate the modernist altar (with the terrifying Modigliani-looking "human" figures lurking around its sides) which sat immediately below the spire that burned to the ground, destroying them both in the process. Now, the French government debates replacing the nineteenth-century flèche with a 21st century spire, not unlike the ancient altar replaced with an ode to creepy modernism. Many traditional Catholics fear for the future of Notre Dame, following in the proverbial footsteps of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia, once a seat of Christianity, then a mosque, then a museum of human curiosity. Those with a supernatural purview of history see the symbolism of the two towers, precariously remaining, soon to become beacons of a one-world religion, where Notre Dame will become a space where Muslims, Christians, and naughts alike will join together in the human project of a new world order. For true Christians, this is not a utopian dream but rather a nightmare. "Lord to whom shall we go?" (John 6:68).

The Chrism Mass (video above), scheduled to be held in Notre Dame, was instead moved to Saint-Sulpice on the other side of the Seine River in the sixth arrondissement in Paris. Did you know only a couple weeks ago, this ancient church also was consumed by flames. (And how many other French Catholic churches/communities have been victims of vandalism, arson, graffiti, outbursts, priest murders, etc., within the last year?) An accident! An accident! Nothing to see here. Just a coincidence that Notre Dame and Saint-Sulpice caught fire and burned within the same month. But our Church teaches us that there are no such things as coincidences. The symbolism of French Catholicism---the first daughter of the Catholic faith---going up in flames, burning from the top down, is too much to ignore. Anyone who says that there is nothing going on is fooling himself, choosing the lie over the truth, promoting an anti-Catholic agenda in favor of a secular worldview.

Despite the tragic supernatural drama, this Chrism Mass video is quite beautiful. The Archbishop of France seems a reverent man (noticeably not wearing a red cardinal cap), who offers a traditional Novus Ordo Mass filled with kneeling, Latin, and a reverent consecration. Most of the priests receive Our Lord on the tongue. The sisters who receive their annual orders are in full habit. The people seem holy and modest. The beauty of the Mass is undeniable, and the presence of so many God-fearing people is hopeful. But alas, it seems but a remnant of a dying history, a dying culture, a dying religion, a dying God. In this Holy Week, we commemorate the Passion of Our Lord, but also, it would seem, we live through the Passion of Our Church...

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