The Final Goal

In Canto I of Paradise, the first lines immediately strike me. They read, "The glory of the One Who moves all things penetrates all the universe, I have been in His brightest shining heaven and seen such things that no man once returned from there has wit or skill to tell about." I love these line not just from the standpoint of Dante realizing heaven, but just as a realization for a human person today. It just feels to be such a touching line for anyone. For me, I was in total agreement not by the fact that I have been to heaven and vision it that way, but just as to what I believe in the glory of God. This shows an immense amount of praise Dante has for God and the journey he began is soon to be completed. But would Dante have ever said this while he was in hell? Probably not but that is due to the personal growth he has accomplished. He has come very far and to say the words he said in praise of the glory of God and it shows a large leap in faith. Try to picture someone who reads these lines of the book and does not believe in God. I believe that to hear that praise in God and to be struck in awe that much shows what God is capable of doing. It all just amazes me, obviously God being one of them, but also the character development of Dante in this book. It has been a pleasure to watch it unveil.

Dante's New Journey

In Canto XXVII, Dante and Virgil begin to near the end of purgatory, but Dante must finish his journey through purgatory alone. Virgil explains to Dante that he is no longer needed on this journey. He says his final words to Dante, "Expect no longer words or signs from me, Now is your will upright, wholesome and free, and not to heed its pleasure would be wrong: I crown and mitter you lord of yourself!" This is a very exciting part for Dante, because it shows that he has grown into a new person who is now capable of accepting his faults compared to those in hell who were never capable of doing that. Virgil is also not capable of entering heaven because he is in hell, but that is not the point. Virgil also realizes that Dante has accepted and now understands his sins. Virgil was guiding Dante through this whole journey in hope of seeing him change and he definitely  accomplished that. It seemed that Dante had confusion within himself and needed that guidance from Virgil, and thats why Virgil says his final words in that way. The part especially sticks out is, "I crown and mitter you lord of yourself!" Virgil is clearly telling Dante you have accomplished yourself in a way that was needed in order for you to continue your journey.

A Gate of Hope

In Canto IX, Virgil wakes up Dante the Pilgrim, where they find themselves in front of the gates of purgatory. One of the first people they meet upon the gate is Lucia and she says to them, "Come, let me take this man who lies asleep: I wish to speed him up on his journey." Now, lets compare this approach to the gate of hell. They are two totally different atmospheres, as we already know with hell that immediately as they walked up there was a huge amount of fear. Dante was afraid looking into hell and reading the sign above the gate frightened. But with purgatory, it seems to be a very different approach. Just based off of Lucia's words, you can tell it is a much better place. It has hope for all, as you can tell from Lucia's words when she talks about beginning the journey up. When comparing this to hell, there is not a single ounce of hope. All who are down there remain down there for eternity. It is very interesting how both of these gates have immediate symbolism when these characters approach these gates. Their reactions and emotions show what each gate means. Hell representing eternal punishment for man, and purgatory showing hope. Even though one must climb up and do their time in purgatory, it is a hopeful suffering for man and his achievement for salvation.

The Gluttons

In Canto VI, Dante comes to find those who committed the sin of gluttony also known as the Gluttons. For these sinners, the contrapasso is that they are drenched in muck and eternally swarmed by cold and dirty hail, rain, and snow. How fitting of a punishment for the Gluttons. For Dante explains the area around him like so: "We walked across this marsh of shades beaten down by the heavy rain, our feet pressing on the emptiness that looked like human form." But what I found so interesting about these particular sinners was the testimony of Ciacco. He was an Italian from Florence who revealed his political prophecy to Dante and Virgil. The part I find so interesting about using this particular name is the name's meaning. If you take a look at one of the footnotes, it has the direct translation of Ciacco's name. In Italian, it translates to a noun as pig or hog and to an adjective as filthy or swinish in nature. The use of the name Ciacco is clearly intentional. The underlying meaning of both the contrapasso and Ciacco's name baffles me. Its just amazing how Dante was capable of creating so much meaning in so many different simple and complex ways.

The Gate of Hell

In Canto III, Dante finally arrives at the gate of hell where he essentially begins his journey through the depths of hell. What struck me the most about his arrival at the gate was the inscription that read, "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." This is terrifying, not only for Dante the pilgrim, but even for humanity today. It may or may not say something on those lines down there, but regardless it is reality among humanity. People will die one day and not accept God, and unfortunately may make their way down to the depths of hell. Although Dante has never actually been to hell, his description still serves the point of its evilness, and I'd only assume it is even worse as he explains it. When I read this part of the description with the gate, it immediately reminded me of the Auschwitz gate which reads Arbeit Macht Frei. This translates to work makes your free. Even through these two gates don't have an identical translation, the higher meaning of this concentration camp gate represents a parallel meaning to hell. All those who entered the Auschwitz camp really did have to abandon all hope because their were going to die with exception of the few lucky ones. Some may even make the argument that Auschwitz and the rest of the concentration camps were a present day hell for those who unfortunately had to experience them. It amazes me how you can make so many parallels in literature especially in the Inferno.

Augustine's Beginning Stages

"But where was I when I looked for you? You were there before my eyes, but I had deserted even my own self. I could not find my own self, much less find you." This passage speaks so much to the beginning stages of the conversion for Augustine. The only way for Augustine to understand how to accept his conversion is to first understand how and what he did wrong. Augustine is able to accept his own wrongs. He admits that he wasn't even able to find himself let alone how was he supposed to find God and the truth. Augustine just continues to amaze me how he was able to slowly accomplish and steadily discover the reasoning behind his journey. It has such a parallel to how we are responsible as Catholics to understand our faith. We are responsible to understand when God is calling us on to further our journey to eternal salvation. Instead of looking for God blindly, with faith, we are able to "see God before our eyes" and continue to grow in virtue, faith, and in our relationship with God. Day after day, I will have a constant reminder of Augustine's journey and his ability to power through and seek the truth, for he turned his weaknesses into his strengths. If Augustine was able to do it, than hopefully that can encourage me to do the same.

Augustine's "Love"

Augustine has been able to reach out to his reader and grasp his/her attention due to his personal stories, at least that is the case for me. It's incredible to see his struggles and faults, and not only see them, but his ability to come to a perfection of them and his quest for God (although that is not yet revealed in the book). A quote that really struck out to me was in the beginning of book two when he says, "the single desire that dominated my search for delight was simply to love and be loved." Many may think that because this is coming from St. Augustine, he would be talking about God as his love. Although this is true, Augustine was skewed from that love of God from his love of material and bodily possession. This struck me so hard because it is so obvious to see in today's world and that we are capable of relating Augustine even to people today. People are so caught up in these things that may make them happy instead of looking at what will make one happy. Those who are looking for that delight, may not have that steady happiness, but in no doubt may find it if they turn the right cheek toward the Lord and discover the same journey truth Augustine will find. Augustine shows to be an inspiration for those who struggle with their interior happiness.