The Ascent to Heaven
We are all called to Godliness, and this call is reaffirmed every Sunday, for Sunday is always the Resurrection, Fr. Von Klarr has often told me. We ingest the Body and Blood of Christ, and we are made new to go and to sin no more. Here, the mystery of placement is revealed -- all souls move in the direction their instinct, shaped by their free will, leads them, and this is why the souls lining up at Acheron were just as eager for placement as those lining up at the Tiber.
Beatrice seems bored by these explanations, but we find her "oftentimes the form of a thing/ does not respond to the intent of the art" to be an analogy that descends to our level. As Aristotle writes, and as Blessed Francis Faà di Bruno demonstrates, the ultimate end is superior to all subordinate ones, and our ultimate end is God.
S.
Beatrice seems bored by these explanations, but we find her "oftentimes the form of a thing/ does not respond to the intent of the art" to be an analogy that descends to our level. As Aristotle writes, and as Blessed Francis Faà di Bruno demonstrates, the ultimate end is superior to all subordinate ones, and our ultimate end is God.
S.
posted by Sebastian Mahfood at 2:37 PM
7 Comments:
I guess I am the first of the pilgrims into Paradise, which may be fitting since I am the eldest and nearest the grave. Dante calls on Apollo, the God of the Sun, for illumination, suggesting that only by Divine illumination will we grasp Paradise which will, in essence, BE Divine Illumination. Dante's perspective has also changed in this canticle. He opened Inferno and Purgatorio with reference to himself; he opens this canticle with reference to God. The perspective here will be from the divine, not the human as in the previous canticles. Easter should inspire us to strive for the same perspective.
However, I am still less than edified by Beatrice. Lighten up girl, this is Paradise!
I agree with you, Fr. Earl. Beatrice could indeed lighten up a bit. Don't think, though, that you're nearest the grave -- God could call any of us at any moment, and it's possible that you'll linger on for another 30 years or so. Plenty of time for a handful of us to precede you in heaven. We'll be sure to cut a path for you, but as Fr. John Schweitzer said of his preparations for his first Easter Vigil -- the path seems like it was pretty well prepared already.
S.
I certainly wouldn't want to be sitting next to Beatrice for all eternity, but perhaps I still don't understand her curtness.
Every Easter is powerful for me. The entrance of the new believers, recently cleansed in baptism and brought to new life through the Paschal Mystery. The event of Christ rising from the dead defies our reason and gives hope that cannot be defeated. At the same time I am reminded that every Sunday is a celebration of this earthshattering mystery and I am humbled and even ashamed to realize that so often I see Sunday as simply a day to watch football, play soccer, or relax and take a solemn high nap. This reality of paradise, opened to us the by the passion, death, and ressurrection of our Lord is never far from us even if we fail to realize it.
Beatrice is pretty abrasive, but so is God's love if you're not used to it, I'm led to believe, Kschroeder. As Dante becomes more oriented toward the good, his divine revelation will make more sense to him and will cause him less and less anguish in his coming to grips with it. Beatrice the woman, though, might still be miffed at Dante's having turned away from her after her death, which she's already called a sin and provided the evidence of the memory's being washed away as proof of it. Her impatience with Dante, though, I see as the kind of impatience a mother has for her child who takes too long to see the truth in common things and asks once about the sky's color and in the next breath about the origin of shoes. Even so, I share your concern about that relationship -- we've only seen Beatrice as two legs away from being an asp and haven't yet experienced the full sweetness and light of God's love in the warmth of her approval. For that, we have to get to know her (divine revelation) better.
S.
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