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