Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Dante's Prayer





That love whose warmth allowed this flower to bloom
within the everlasting peace – was love
rekindled in your womb; for us above,
you are the noonday torch of charity,
and there below, on earth, among the mortals,
you are a living spring of hope. Lady,
you are so high, you can so intercede,
that he who would have grace but does not seek
your aid, may long to fly but has no wings.
Your loving-kindness does not only answer
the one who asks, but it is often ready
to answer freely long before the asking.
In you compassion is, in you is pity,
in you is generosity, in you
is every goodness found in any creature.

Dante's Divine Comedy, 
Inferno - Par. XXXIII, 7-21

*
This eloquent prayer to Mary recalls the very beginning of Inferno: in canto II, we learn that Virgil's appearance to Dante was ultimately made possible by the Virgin Mary. As the "noonday torch of charity," it was Mary's compassion that allowed her to notice Dante in his darkest days and initiate the journey that brought him to Heaven, that allowed him to "fly with no wings" to her feet. It should also be noted that Mary is one of the few positive female figures to appear in the Divine Comedy. So the fact that Dante prays to Mary at the end of his journey, when she originally prayed for him in Inferno, represents his coming full circle.





The Queen of Heaven, praying for Dante, by Gustave Doré

1 comment:

  1. Such a moving passage from Dante. I believe it is so that as long as we remember to lift our hearts and eyes to heaven then that is enough to make the connection from heaven to ourselves. In fact, Dante goes a step further, for he says here that heaven anticipates our entreaties even 'long before the asking'. How calming, how reassuring it feels simply to read this passage through and contemplate Dante's words!

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