Archbishop of Paris Thanks Firefighters and Fr. Fournier for Saving Blessed Sacrament from Notre Dame Cathedral in Easter Homily - FULL TEXT
FULL TEXT Homily of Msr Aupetit:
"We removed the Lord from his tomb and we do not know where it was deposited" is the breathless testimony of Mary Magdalene to the two apostles Peter and John. Where is the body of the Lord?
This is the question that arose Monday evening at the height of the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris: "Where is the body of the Lord"? It was necessary to save the cathedral, the treasure, made up of goldsmith's pieces accumulated over the centuries. It was also necessary to save, for the believers, this infinitely precious relic: the crown of thorns of Jesus brought back by King Saint-Louis.
But an agonizing question arose in my heart: "Where is the body of the Lord"? Was it possible to leave the Blessed Sacrament? The body of Jesus who was in the tabernacle?
It is for this body, veiled under the appearance of a crumb of bread that was built this cathedral. What is most valuable? The cathedral, the treasure or the crumb of bread?
The crumb of bread is the Body of God, the Body of Christ, his Risen Body, elusive unless he gives himself. And he gives himself: "My life no one takes it, it's me who gives it". And then what we celebrated on Holy Thursday: "Take, eat, this is my Body". This crumb of bread is the Life of God that communicates itself. This crumb of bread gives to those who receive it eternal life, it opens us the gates of Heaven, it makes us participate in the resurrection of Christ, this resurrection that we are celebrating today and which will call our own resurrection in the flesh. return from the Lord as we wait for the completion of time.
We want to save the cathedral. This splendid jewel was intended to be the magnificent manifestation of human genius that pays tribute to the love of a God who gives himself out of love and who, to give himself, became one of us.
Let us pay homage to the faith of the builders who have united human genius and divine grace.
Today we pay tribute to our dear firefighters who, too, have shown their know-how, their courage, and we thank them for having been able to preserve the essential, sometimes at the risk of their life. When the prayer of the whole people of God joined your courage and professionalism, everything was still possible. And that was possible. Thank you really on behalf of all.
But I would also like to thank the fire chaplain, Father Fournier who went to get the Body of Christ, the Blessed Sacrament, this crumb of bread that gives full meaning to the life of this splendid building. He also took risks to save a crumb of bread because it was the resurrected Body of our Lord that we are celebrating today, as we celebrate every Sunday, which has become the central day of our week because it is is the day of his resurrection.
The apostles rushed to the tomb of Christ, they did not find his body, they believed. We found the resurrected body of the Lord. We, too, believe.
Michel Aupetit,
Archbishop of Paris
Full Text Homily Source: paris.catholique.fr
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