7/30/2019 Reflection of the Divine Comedy

1/2

Reflection of the divine comedy: 3

As Ive been reading and thinking about it, the most influential and important part of

Dantes third book, Paradiso, has definitely been his continually changing view of Beatrice

and their relationship and how it ultimately relates back to his relationship with God. The

way in which Dantes view of God is expanded through his relationship with Beatricespeaks directly to me in light of past experiences. Not only does Dante cause me to reflecton previous romantic relationships, but it all of the relationships in my life past, present,and future. The importance or even necessity of having community in a persons life has

become very evident to me in these past few years. Dantes revelations of how Gods love is

displayed through the people he cares about most has helped me to re-examine and identifysimilar instances in my own life.As Dante and Beatrice ascend higher and higher through the realms of heaven he begins torealize that the closer he comes to Beatrice, the closer he is actually moving towards God.As Beatrice is further perfected and sanctified she becomes more and more like Christ,thus more and more accurately reflecting his nature and character. As Dante recognizes

these changes and traits as growing beauty he is granted a deeper love and understandingof God himself being channeled through Beatrices persona. This is a very interesting

concept to me because it can be applied to life right now on this side of heaven. Having arelationship with a person and seeing them grow in Christ makes both parties more awareof Gods character and love and what that looks like on a day-to-day basis.I was slightly frustrated with the way that Dante seemed to portray Beatrice as somewhatof a God unto herself, or at least he viewed her as one; but as he always seems to do, justwhen I was at the point of wanting to yell at Dante he makes the connection betweenBeatrice and God, her transformation and personification of those attributes which Dantefound to be beautiful and virtuous.Dante also reminded me of how easily love can be made perverse. Loving anything too

much becomes the act of worshiping an idol, and worse, one that we put before God. Mostof the time its hard to even recognize that this has happened or is in the process ofhappening because we or specifically I, get caught up in my own selfishness, seeking only tofulfill my own needs. This is ironic as well since my needs can only be met in Christ, yesthat is a clich line but as Dante has demonstrated Christs character is reflected throughrelationships, through people, through service, through and by things in this world that wecan relate to and hold on to.Several times in this book Dante stands in awe of the infinite magnificence of the triuneGod, unable to properly describe his experience because it is beyond what human languagecan portray or what a human body can assimilate. Knowing that heaven will containexperiences beyond what our current reality allows us to understand or observe is a great

encouragement to me. It brings about a great excitement and curiosity to know I couldnever possibly imagine what Christ has in store for us, and that my relationship with himwill be perfected in every way. Every relationship that I will have in my life will show somepiece of Christs love but even all of these together can compare in no way to the real thing,

when I have my new body and the things of this world have passed away.As I look at my life I hope that I can in some way reflect Christ in a relationship I have, orbetter yet in all of them and as I observe godly traits in the lives of people I am connectedto, I am slowly beginning to see Gods kingdom on earth. The more intimate a community

7/30/2019 Reflection of the Divine Comedy

2/2

becomes the easier it is to identify and fight sin. This process brings people closer together,glorifies God, strengthens community, and allows people to serve one another with adeeper and more heartfelt understanding. Its always funny to see how a system like this

works when carried out correctly and then to realize that this is the way God designed it towork. As my community begins to grow and change in the next year after my 2nd

graduation hopefully I will remember some of the things Ive learned while readingthrough the Divine Comedy and work to become part of a productive and growing memberin a community serving God