We've made it to the heights of the Empyrean—Heaven—with Dante and Beatrice. Surprisingly, we are met at this late stage by yet another guide, Bernard of Clairvaux.   

With Bernard we will praise the Blessed Mother, all the while preparing ourselves for the vision of God enjoyed by the blessed in Paradise.

This vision—all too much for human language and craft to communicate—is masterfully envisioned by Dante the poet. We see Heaven as an unfolded rose bloom. The Trinity is glimpsed in its Triune Glory. The image of the human person is centered, incarnationally, at the heart of the mystery that is God.

At last our journey that began in the dark wood comes to its culmination, where our sight will lose its power, but we will otherwise turn "with the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars."

My companion is Paul Camacho, Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy in the Humanities Department at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read.

Join us for this last installment of our nine part series on Dante's Divine Comedy. Links to the previous eight episodes can be found below. 

Links:

1. The Paradiso by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Dante Series, No. 1
4. Dante Series, No. 2
5. Dante Series, No. 3
6. Dante Series, No. 4
7. Dante Series, No. 5
8. Dante Series, No. 6
9. Dante Series, No. 7
10. Dante Series, No. 8
11. www.paulcamacho.com
12. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

In this installment, we continue ascending with Beatrice and Dante through his "Paradiso." At the outset we find ourselves upon the Sun, encountering two 13th-century theological masters: Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure.

Interestingly they each courteously sing the praise of the other's spiritual father. Thomas the Dominican celebrates Francis of Assisi, while Bonaventure the Franciscan lauds Dominic.

Within these odes of praise, we encounter deep theological truths about the human person and the person before God. Not only this, but we consider the vigilance needed to preserve the Church's purity of mission and her ability to fulfill it.

Next we witness the joyous anticipation of the souls of the blessed as they but hear mention of being reunited with their bodies at the resurrection of the dead. With this we consider the essential nature of our embodiment and why we shouldn't conceive of heaven as some ethereal abode intended for disincarnate human spirits.

Rather, we can rejoice with the souls of Paradise at the thought of our embodiment, the Incarnation, and the firm hope in our own eventual resurrection.

This is our second of three installments on Dante's "Paradiso."

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read. 

Links:

1. The Paradiso by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. Lenten Dante Series, No. 2
5. Lenten Dante Series, No. 3
6. Lenten Dante Series, No. 4
7. Lenten Dante Series, No. 5
8. Lenten Dante Series, No. 6
9. Lenten Dante Series, No. 7
10. www.paulcamacho.com
11. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

Now having ascended the heights of Mt. Purgatory, we are propelled by our love and desire into the Heavens as we enter the realm of Paradise with Dante and Beatrice, his guide.

In this episode, we consider what Dante is up to in his imaginative conceiving of Heaven, some general themes of the Paradiso, and how we are meant for glory, both God's and our own.

Then we consider the nobility of our freedom and the paradoxical way we voluntarily constrict it with vows and promises,  though only so that we can love more radically and fully.

This is our first of three installments on Dante's "Paradiso."

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read. 

Links:

1. The Paradiso by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. Lenten Dante Series, No. 2
5. Lenten Dante Series, No. 3
6. Lenten Dante Series, No. 4
7. Lenten Dante Series, No. 5
8. Lenten Dante Series, No. 6
9. www.paulcamacho.com
10. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

Having moved beyond the obstacle that is pride, we now continue our journey up Mt. Purgatory. To aid our ascent and understanding, Virgil discourses on the nature of love, how we are by nature lovers, and how our love can go awry. That is, how it is that we sin.

Before long, though, we get swept along--with Dante and his guide--by a bustling pack of the slothful who are making up for wasted time and lazy love. Ultimately, we make it to Eden, the Earthly Paradise. Here we meet the lady Beatrice; beautiful and stern. This also means that our time with Virgil has come to an end, and before we realize it, he is gone.

Beatrice will help us make our final preparations for our launch into Paradise. She brings Dante to the point of true sorrow for his sin, separating himself from all his waywardness. He will again be cleansed in the waters, and is pierced through by the beauty of Beatrice's smile, being as it is a manifestation of God's glory.

This is our third and final installment on Dante's "Purgatorio." Our next episode will appear in the Easter season, and fittingly, in Dante's "Paradiso."

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read. 

Links:

1. The Purgatorio by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. Lenten Dante Series, No. 2
5. Lenten Dante Series, No. 3
6. Lenten Dante Series, No. 4
7. Lenten Dante Series, No. 5
8. www.paulcamacho.com
9. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

Having washed off the soot of Hell, it's time to enter Purgatory. But not without humbling ourselves at Peter's Gate. The door is readily opened, we just have to humble ourselves before the angel guarding the way, expressing our contrition and sorrow for sin.

Once on the inside, it's time to make our crooked loves straight. The first to uncrook is our pride. The purgation isn't easy. Here we find the proud bowed low under boulders fit to the pride they carried through life.

These souls know the good of their labor, though. And in these cantos we find ourselves rightly reprimanded for the pride we in this life allow to stiffen our necks, denying the common stock of humanity.

Fear not, though. Our steps will become all the more swift as we make our ascent to the heights of Mt. Purgatory.

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read. 

If you have any questions or comments you'd like us to address in a future recording in this series, please send your thoughts along to [email protected]

Links:

1. The Purgatorio by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. Lenten Dante Series, No. 2
5. Lenten Dante Series, No. 3
6. Lenten Dante Series, No. 4
7. www.paulcamacho.com
8. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

The good news is that we've made it out of Hell. The even better news is that we are now ready to begin our ascent of Mount Purgatory.

In this episode we join Dante and Virgil by the sea, taking in the fresh air,  the birdsong, and the warmth of the sun. We can breath free and deep. But we can't remain content with where we stand, we must begin our journey upward.

To do this we must first meet Cato, something of a guardian of the path toward Purgatory's peak. We then also must wash away the residue of the Inferno, experiencing the cleansing waters of God's life-giving mercy. We can then turn our newly washed faces upward to the heights, ready to relinquish the sinful tendencies that remain within the soul.

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read. 

If you have any questions or comments you'd like us to address in a future recording in this series, please send your thoughts along to [email protected]

Links:

1. The Purgatorio by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. Lenten Dante Series, No. 2
5. Lenten Dante Series, No. 3
6. www.paulcamacho.com
7. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

Not that we've made our way through the Gates of Hell, today in our Lenten Dante Series we consider with Dante and Virgil the chosen fate of the denizens of the Inferno. This also happens to be a way for us to face, uncomfortably, the hellish tendencies hiding within ourselves.

More specifically, in this episode we visit those characterized by their attachment to carnal sins--sins of the flesh--especially those swept along by their lust. We then move downward, looking at those more serious sins of the will, in particular those of flattery, manipulation, and treachery.

This all takes us down to the very depths of Hell. To the icy sea devoid of love, movement, and hope. Here resides the Emperor of the Inferno, forever weeping, forever gnawing on those three famous traitors, Brutus, Cassius, and Judas.

Fear not, though, after having undergone the downward spiral of Hell, we're now ready to ascend Mount Purgatory, buoyed by hope and desire. But that's for next episode.

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "Will This Be On the Exam?" which is well worth the read. 

If you have any questions or comments you'd like us to address in a future recording in this series, please send your thoughts along to [email protected]

Links:

1. The Inferno by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. Lenten Dante Series, No. 2
5. www.paulcamacho.com
6. "Will This Be On the Exam?"

Today we continue our Lenten journey through Dante's Divine Comedy as we approach the Gates of Hell, which bear the famous and harrowing inscription: "THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE CITY OF WOE, THROUGH ME THE WAY TO EVERLASTING PAIN, THROUGH ME THE WAY AMONG THE LOST . . . ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE."

Now, we among the living, along with Dante the pilgrim in the story, need not leave hope at the door. But, we do get a look in the Inferno at the reality of sin and its distorting effects. And in seeing this, we have all the more impetus to change our lives, to allow the transforming mercy of God to permeate our being.

More specifically, in this episode we consider and then pass through the Gates of Hell on our way to an encounter with a group of the damned we might refer to as the "Neutrals."

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also writes a weekly newsletter, "On the Exam," which is well worth the read. 

If you have any questions or comments you'd like us to address in a future recording in this series, please send your thoughts along to [email protected]

Links:

1. The Inferno by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. Lenten Dante Series, No. 1
4. www.paulcamacho.com
5. "On the Exam"

Come join us on a Lenten journey through Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, one of the most celebrated works in the Catholic imagination, and for all of us, an invitation to spiritual transformation.

This first installment finds us, with Dante, waking in a Dark Wood, midway in our life's journey. Unaware as to how we arrived there, we seek the way forward, fearful, though not without some semblance of hope. Turned back from the path forward by our own sins and failings, with Dante we find ourselves in need of aid and a guide. Enter Virgil, the ancient poet, who will guide Dante and ourselves through the harrowing sights of Hell, and then upward toward the hope and transformation of Purgatory.

In this series, we will read Dante's great work as one of spiritual honesty and transformation, perfect for the season of Lent. Our plan is to release a weekly episode through Lent and on into Easter, journeying with Dante down through Hell, up Mount Purgatory, and then onward to the heights of Paradise.

My companion for this trip is Paul Camacho, who is Associate Director of the Augustinian Institute and Assistant Teaching Professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar at Villanova University.  He also write a weekly newsletter, "On the Exam," which is well worth the read. 

Join us. 

Links:

1. The Inferno by Dante, a verse translation by Jean Hollander and Robert Hollander
2. The Digital Dante from Columbia University
3. www.paulcamacho.com
4. "On the Exam"
5. St. Augustine on the Big Screen: Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" as Augustinian Confession with Paul Camacho, Ph.D. (Ep. 8)

We've recently been considering briefly some of the contemporary Catholic poetry scene by conversing with poet A. M. Juster, and the Editor-in-Chief of Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, Mary Ann Miller. 

Today we'll wrap up this three-part series by speaking with poet Jane Greer, whose new collection of poems, titled Love Like a Conflagration, is a must-read, and I don't throw that phrase around loosely.  

Jane founded the Plains Poetry Journal, a quarterly literary magazine, in 1981, and edited it until 1993. Her poems have been found in numerous publications over the years, including Yale Literary Magazine, First Things, America, Chronicles and Modern Age. Her already mentioned new collection of poems, Love Like a Conflagration, was published this year by Lambing Press. There's a link to the book in today's show notes, along with some links to two of the poems included in Jane's volume. Be sure to go through and take a look.

LINKS:

1. Love Like a Conflagration by Jane Greer
2. Jane Greer on Twitter
3. "Micha-el" by Jane Greer
4. "Old Dog" by Jane Greer
5. Jane Greer on Wikipedia 
6. "The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty" by Joseph Ratzinger