Ah, to make believe it is so easy to do!  In the past few weeks, we are witnessing the absurd idea that somehow, someway, history can be destroyed, changed into what I want, or even canceled out completely. 
 
The Catholic understanding of history is that history has a supernatural meaning.  For a Christian, history is not circular rather it is linear.  History had a starting point—God, and a final moment—God.  It is the story of man’s relationship to God and to one another. There are good days and bad ones, good nations and civilizations and evil ones.  I remember one of my teachers telling us, there is no one who is absolutely good except God, and there is no one who is totally evil except the devil, we are a mixture of both.  Even the greatest saints were born sinners (except Jesus, Mary and St. John the Baptist). 
 
Cicero, the great Roman philosopher wrote Historia magistra vitae est=History is life’s teacher. History, its monuments and statues, should not be destroyed or canceled.  They still can teach us the successes and failures of a nation, culture, civilization, and we ought to learn the good as well as the sinful past.  History calls for us continually to reflect on the past and to try not to make the same mistakes.
 
You can start to know the history of a town or country by exploring the statues and monuments, even the museums.
 
We all have been witnesses to the absurdity in this country with cancelling out history, but I wonder if you saw what happened in Turkey last week?  It was slightly mentioned in the last two minutes on the National news.
 
The President of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan announced that the majestic Christian Basilica, Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) – currently a national museum and one of the most visited sites in Turkey will become a mosque.
 
The Hagia Sophia for 900 years was a magnificent Church distinguished by its indescribable beauty, and proper proportions. Justinian the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, had the Church built in Constantinople (now Istanbul). The emperor was so pleased with the result that during its dedication ceremony in December 537, he exclaimed: “O Solomon, I have surpassed thee!” comparing the Church to the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.
 
For 900 years, Hagia Sophia was the center of the Byzantine Empire.  It was similar to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome for the Western Church.  The seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, it held ecumenical councils, emperors were crowned there; it was the symbol of the glory of Byzantium until the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottomans on May 29, 1453.
 
The Sultan Mehmet II converted the Church of Hagia Sophia to the Great Mosque of Aya Sofya, which it remained until 1934, when a decree by the then Turkish president Ataturk turned the building into a museum.  In 1985, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – declared it a World Heritage Site.
 
Since early in his political career, President Erdogan has regretted the conversion of the mosque into a museum. Instead, he prefers to cancel more than 900 years of Christian history.  The three Patriarchs have denounced this move:  Patriarch Krill of Russia, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, Pope Francis of Rome, Patriarch of the West.
 
Why does it matter?  It matters to history and to both Christians and Muslims, mutual respect and understanding.  The Hagia Sophia is a holy place, a place that preserves the memory of 1,483 years, memories that are to be treasured, and given to future generations as a museum, or given back to its original owners!