Our friends at Washingtonian ran this photograph of a worker in a hard hat repairing the roof of D.C’s National Cathedral after the earthquake of August 23, 2011. For me it brings to mind the moment in Francis of Assisi’s life when Francis heard God telling him to “fix my church.” For obvious reasons we think of the church’s recent history in terms of scandal and crisis. Cardinal Ratzinger in his “dictatorship of relativism” speech (given just before the conclave that elected him pope) depicted the church as a boat on a storm-tossed sea.

The biblical authors used imagery of storm and cataclysm all through the Scriptures. With this photograph in mind, we might think of the church as an edifice battered by earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes, and as in need of repairs —- but as open during repairs.