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 Beatrice speaks directly to me in light of past experiences. Not only does Dante cause me to reflect on 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 identify similar instances in my own life. As Dante and Beatrice ascend higher and higher through the realms of heaven he begins to realize 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 understanding of 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 a relationship with a person and seeing them grow in Christ makes both parties more aware of 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 somewhat of a God unto herself, or at least he viewed her as one; but as he always seems to do, just when I was at the point of wanting to yell at Dante he makes the connection between Beatrice and God, her transformation and personification of those attributes which Dante found 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. Most of the time its hard to even recognize that this has happened or is in the process of happening because we or specifically I, get caught up in my own selfishness, seeking only to fulfill my own needs. This is ironic as well since my needs can only be met in Christ, yes that is a clich line but as Dante has demonstrated Christs character is reflected through relationships, through people, through service, through and by things in this world that we can relate to and hold on to. Several times in this book Dante stands in awe of the infinite magnificence of the triune God, unable to properly describe his experience because it is beyond what human language can portray or what a human body can assimilate. Knowing that heaven will contain experiences 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 could never possibly imagine what Christ has in store for us, and that my relationship with him will be perfected in every way. Every relationship that I will have in my life will show some piece 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, or better yet in all of them and as I observe godly traits in the lives of people I am connected to, I am slowly beginning to see Gods kingdom on earth. The more intimate a community

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 a deeper 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 to work. 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 reading through the Divine Comedy and work to become part of a productive and growing member in a community serving God