December 20, 2008
I am nearing the end of my annual trek through the Divine Comedy and wanted to note some passages that were sweeter this time, but first a note on The Comedy:
WARNING: Reading The Divine Comedy CAN and SHOULD become addictive. Remember: “A canto a day, keeps damnation away.” BUT (this is a really important word) Dante’s masterpiece is not initially user friendly. It is demanding. It expects a lot out of you. You have to make an investment before you get a return. Now for the most important advice (a rule given me by Wes Callahan of Schola Tutorials) that has made all the difference for me in loving The Comedy): THE FIRST TIME YOU READ IT EXPECT THAT YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ALMOST ANYTHING. THE SECOND TIME YOU WILL UNDERSTAND VERY LITTLE. By the third time, you will be beginning your addiction.
Anyhow, I am now in the middle of
Paradise
and I love it more each time. There are two sections that have had a real impact. First . . .
First, in the Heaven of the Sun, Dante sees what theologians and teachers of the church are like when their redemption is complete. We meet two representative of two different parts of the church—St. Thomas Aquinas representing the Dominican orders and
St.
Bonaventure representing the Franciscans. In the church during Dante’s time, both of these groups were struggling with corruption and laxity (which was a cause of the Reformation eventually) and squabbling with each other. In heaven,
St. Thomas
is brought forward and he speaks in praise of St. Francis. St. Bonaventure comes forward to praise St. Dominic. Both are reaching out and seeing the good in the other group. In this, Dante shows what real love looks like and he tries to get the earthly squabblers to see the beauty and glory of the other group. Why doesn’t this happen more today in the church? Why don’t Presbyterian theologians look for good Methodists or Anglicans or even Orthodox or Catholic thinkers to praise? (Can’t we do this without saying that they were right about particular important parts of theology?) I am reminded of the questions posed to the Calvinistic Whitefield on whether he would see the Arminian Wesley in heaven. Whitefield retorted, “Probably not….He will be so much closer to the throne of grace than I that I will probably not be able to see him.” More of this would be a sign that we are growing toward maturity. This occurs in cantos (just a fancy name for chapter) 10-13.
But The Poet does not stop there! He goes on to show us in the Heaven of Mars (the heaven of the Warrior Saints) what a redeemed family looks like. There Dante meets Cacciaguida, his great-great grandfather who died in the crusades. Many of us often wonder what meeting our forefathers in glory will be like. What strikes me most is the joy that results from the recognition and The Poet and his Ancestor are connected by both blood and faith. Cacciaguida sees in Dante the fruit of his labor as a righteous man. From Dante we feel the weight of gratitude that he owes to his “root.” Both glory in the other. This touching story can be found in cantos 15-18.
