Up the Seven Storied Mountain

I am now midway through the center canticle of Dante's three part divine comedy. I have traveled through hell with Dante and Virgil and am now three stories up the seven storied mountain of Purgatory.

Purgatory is a place created by the spiritual imagination of the church. Most of us recognize that, in this life, we are neither totally angels nor entirely demons. We are neither saints nor eternally condemned sinners. Purgatory is the pastoral answer to the question of how those of us who fail to become pure saints between now and the hour of our death can be made pure enough to enjoy the vision of God at the heavenly banquet for eternity.

Purgatory only became an official teaching of the church in the 1200s. If Dante had not come along and created such a vivid and compelling image of what purgatory is like, this new teaching may very well have languished in the footnotes of our spiritual imaginations. Instead, thanks to Dante, we have a compelling and imaginative spiritual tool that draws believers and non-believers alike.

Purgatory is a tall mountain with the earthly paradise on top. To get to paradise, a soul destined for heaven most slowly work its way up seven stages. At each stage, a soul is purified of the sins in which it indulged in its earthly life. These stages, in order, are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. In the poem, each stage is, once again, packed with compelling characters and gorgeous images. In addition, in this second canticle, there is also explicit spiritual wisdom.

Here, from the second stage, that of envy, is wisdom that has me thinking deeply about the nature of love. It comes from the mouth of Virgil as he explains to Dante the nature of the sin of envy. The 'highest sphere' is heaven. The translation is by Jean Hollander:

'Because your appetites are fixed on things

that, divided, lessen each one's share,

envy's bellows pushes breath into your sighs.

'But if love for the highest sphere

could turn your longings toward heavenly things,

then fear of sharing would pass from your hearts.

'For there above, when more souls speak of ours,

the more of goodness each one owns,

the more of love is burning in that cloister.'

Purgatory XV.49-57

In fact, when we finally reach the 'sphere' or 'cloister' of heaven we will see that it is just as Virgil has described. Dante's growing love of God only makes the spirits' joy more intense. There is not one shred of fear that Dante's love of God and God's love of Dante will lessen in the least the love God feels for each. Just the opposite. The more there is love of God, the more love there seems to be. Like all the sins, when it comes to the things that really matter, envy is a lie!