By Ben Disney
An excerpt from a recent news article reported by NBC News:
Nine newly cast bells are to be installed at Notre Dame, the historic Paris cathedral whose towers were made famous by the fictional hunchbacked bell-ringer Quasimodo.
The giant bronze bells, commissioned as part of the cathedral’s 850th birthday celebrations, will replace the current bells, whose chimes are notoriously discordant.
After the French Revolution began in 1789, nine of the 10 original bells were snatched, melted down and turned into cannons.
Of the replacements, four were recast in the 19th century, and the original sound was lost. “Historically the idea of this project is to recreate the old bells of Notre Dame in terms of tune so there will be 10 bells ringing as there used to be in the Middle Ages,” said Paul Bergamo, president of the Cornille-Havard foundry in Normandy.
They will be on display inside the cathedral for three weeks, then hung in the cathedral towers. They will be rung for the first time on March 23, the day before Palm Sunday.
One line in particular stood out for me: “After the French Revolution began in 1789, nine of the 10 original bells were snatched, melted down and turned into cannons.” The same bells that once called people to worship were also used to make weapons of war. It’s a familiar theme. The same technology that can enhance and enrich our lives can also be used to destroy life. The same medical advances that can bring healing can also be manipulated by those whose goal is to cause pain and suffering.
Of course that’s how it is with most things. Take the simple things we use every day. Words can build up or they can tear down. Money can be used to help lift one person out of poverty, but money can also be a way of keeping another person imprisoned in financial bondage forever. Depending on who’s interpreting it, the Bible can be used as a tool for judgment or an instrument of grace.
It’s been like that as long as anyone can remember. It will be like that as long as we’re human. Swords turned into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, or bells into cannons; in the end it’s not just about the things we have at our disposal. It’s about our choices. Either we change the stuff or the stuff changes us. We already have the stuff. It’s really about what we choose to do with it and ultimately what we decide to make of it.
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