Dante's First Word- From a Psalm!

One of the pleasures of reading and then rereading Dante's Divine Comedy is slowly discovering the very intentional details of this great poem. More often than not, it is in the commentary that my attention is drawn to a significant detail that causes me to stop and reflect.

As you may know, if you have been following this Blog, I am now working my way up the seven storied mountain of Purgatory with Dante and Virgil. We are on the sixth story, which is the level where the gluttonous work off their accumulation of the sins of indulgence.

At each level, the penitents sing a psalm or another traditional song as they circle the mountain. At this level, the psalm is our psalm 51, which is the psalm we say on Ash Wednesday. The first words of the psalm are 'Have mercy on me, O God, in your loving kindness.' In Latin the first words are 'Miserere mei.'

My commentary told me that that first latin word of that psalm is the first thing Dante says aloud in the poem. In the first canto of the Inferno, Dante is lost in the woods, stalked by beasts and he sees no way out. He spots Virgil and asks for mercy. As we discover through the course of the poem, Virgil, inspired by God, shows him mercy by leading him down through hell and then up the seven storied mountain to the boundary of paradise. Dante's request for mercy is the beginning of their journey.

We always must begin our own journey to paradise with this word, 'mercy.' 'Have mercy on me Lord' is where we must begin, because our alternative is ultimately futile. Our alternative is a phrase I know well because I have used it myself many times. Our alternative is some variation of words, not from the psalms, but from The Little Engine That Could: 'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.......'

These words alone will never get us to our ultimate destination, to God. Only God draws us to God, and so first words must be addressed, not to ourselves and our weak wills, but to God.

In the spiritual life, we are regularly starting over. Sometimes it can feel like we are starting over again every morning. This morning may be a new start for you. Today may you begin your day not with 'I think I can' but with 'have mercy on me, O Lord, according to your loving kindness' and so go forth in peace towards paradise.