Love, Sin, and Beatrice: Lenten Dante Series, No. 6 (Ep. 27)

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?"

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