What do we make of the Notre Dame fire, with the drama of the cross shining untouched inside the charred building?

We could declare it a miracle and perhaps even now there are people working on disproving that.

It is a tragedy to lose such a building of beauty and antiquity.

There are so many more horrible things happening in the world to people and, let’s face it, this was just a building and it will be restored once more.

Like many others, I was stunned into silence.

I remember walking about Notre Dame years ago and, like a lot of old churches, it is a place that it touched by so many prayers it feels closer to heaven.

What it does show us is the beauty of the human spirit. As people watched the flames, they sang songs of praise.

This optimism in looking for hope in a terrible situation was rewarded by the survival of the cross, for if it can survive such a terrible fire then perhaps all is not lost.

Christians will attribute its survival as the sign of the resurrected Christ and when all is difficult it stands to remind us of our future.

Like the phoenix out of the ashes, one day we will walk across the plains of Heaven.

It is, of course, at the very least a sign that we as a race adapt and grow and look for the good in all situations.