Emphasis on the True Light (2)

J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*

What exactly did Dante
see and attempt to relate
to us in poetic verse? 

  

Paradiso
Canto 33
The Final Vision

Because my sight,
becoming crystal clear,
Was piercing deeper and deeper
through the rays
Of that deep Light
which in itself is true.

O highest Light, lifted up so far
Above all mortal thinking, lend my mind,
Once more, a little of what you were like,

Substance and accidents and their relations
I saw as though they fused in such a way
That what I say is but a gleam of light.

In the profound and shining-clear Existence
Of the deep Light appeared to me three circles
Of one dimension and three different colors.

Just so was I on seeing this new vision
I wanted to see how our image fuses
Into the circle and finds its place in it,
 
CANTO 33

          "Virgin mother, daughter of your Son,

          Humbler and higher than all other creatures,

          Fixed aim and goal of the eternal plan,

 

          "You are the one who lifted human nature

5        To such nobility that its own Maker

          Did not disdain to be made of its making.

 

          "Within your womb was lit once more the flame

          Of that love through whose warmth this flower opened

          To its full bloom in everlasting peace.

 

10      "To us up here you are the torch of noon

          Blazing with love, and for the mortals down there

          You are the living fountainhead of hope.

 

          "Lady, you are so highly placed and helpful,

          Whoever seeks grace and does not call on you

15      Wants his desires to fly up without wings.

 

          "Your loving heart not only offers aid

          To those who ask for it, but oftentimes

          Free-handedly anticipates the asking.

 

          "In you is mercy, in you largeheartedness,

20      In you compassion, and in you is found

          Whatever good exists in any creature.

 

          "Now this man who from down the deepest pit

          Of the whole universe up to this point

          Has seen the lives of spirits, one by one,

 

25      "Begs by your grace that you will give him strength

          To enable him to rise on with his eyes

          Still higher to the summit of salvation.

 

          "And I, who never burned for my own vision

          More than I burn for his, pour out to you

30      All of my prayers, and pray they be sufficient

 

          "For you to scatter from him by your prayers

          Every last cloud of his mortality

          That he may see revealed the highest Pleasure.

 

          "I pray you also, Queen, for you can do

35      Whatever you will, that after he has seen

          This vision, you keep his affections wholesome.

 

          "Watch and restrain his human impulses:

          See Beatrice with so many blessed spirits

          Clasping their hands to join me in this prayer."

 

40     The eyes God loves and reverences the most,

          Fastened upon this praying saint, displayed

          How deeply she is pleased by devout prayer.

 

          Then her eyes turned to the eternal Light

          Into whose depth we may believe the eyes

45     Of no other creature penetrates more clearly.

 

          And I, now drawing closer to the end

          Of every longing, lifted to that end,

          Just as I should, the flame of all my longing.

 

          Bernard gave me a signal and a smile

50     To look straight up, but by myself already

          I was intent as he would have me be,

 

          Because my sight, becoming crystal clear,

          Was piercing deeper and deeper through the rays

          Of that deep Light which in itself is true.

 

55      From that point on, my power to see was stronger

          Than speech that fails before such sights can show,

          As memory falls short of the beyond.

 

          As someone who while dreaming sees a vision

          And, after he has dreamed, the feeling stays

60      Impressed, but all the rest slips from his mind,

 

          I am like that, for almost all my seeing

          Now falls away, but sweetness sprung from it

          Still drips down, drop by drop, into my heart.

 

          So is the snow unsealed beneath the sunlight;

65     So were the sayings of the Sibyl upon

          The light leaves left to drift off in the wind.

 

          O highest Light, lifted up so far

          Above all mortal thinking, lend my mind,

          Once more, a little of what you were like,

 

70      And grant my tongue such powerful expression

          That it may leave behind a single spark

          Of glory for a people still to come.

 

          For by returning some spark to my mind

75      And sounding out a little in these lines,

          Your triumph shall be thought of more profoundly.

 

          I think I would have been lost in a daze

          With the dazzling I endured from that live beam

          If my eyes once had turned away from it.

 

          I remember I grew bolder for this reason

80      In bearing up with it, until I merged

          My gazing with the infinite Goodness.

 

          O grace abounding, by which I have dared

          To fix my eyes through the eternal Light

          So deeply that my sight was spent in it!

 

85      Within its depths I saw gathered together,

          Bound by love into a single volume,

          Leaves that lie scattered through the universe.

 

          Substance and accidents and their relations

          I saw as though they fused in such a way

90     That what I say is but a gleam of light.

 

          The universal pattern of this knot

          I believe I saw, because in telling this,

          I feel my gladness growing ever larger.

 

          One moment made more slip my memory than

95      Twenty-five centuries reft from the adventure

          That awed Neptune with the shadow of the Argo.

 

          So my mind, held in absolute suspense,

          Was staring fixed, intent, and motionless,

          And by its staring grew the more inflamed.

 

100    Within that Light a person is so changed

          It is impossible to give consent

          Ever to turn from it to other sights

 

          Because the Good, the object of the will,

          Is gathered all in it, and out of it

105   The thing that there is perfect has some flaw.

 

          Now shall my telling of what I remember

          Fall far below the babbling of a baby

          Still bathing its tongue at the mother’s breast.

 

          Not that there is more than a single semblance

110    Within that living Light on which I looked

          And which is always what it was before,

 

          But by the sight that gathered strength in me

          As I gazed on, what was One in appearance

          Was altering for me as I was changing.

 

115    In the profound and shining-clear Existence

          Of the deep Light appeared to me three circles

          Of one dimension and three different colors.

 

          One seemed to be reflected by the other,

          Rainbow by rainbow, while the third seemed fire

120   Breathed equally from one and from the other.

 

          O how pale now is language and how paltry

          For my conception! And for what I saw

          My words are not enough to call them meager.

 

          O everlasting Light, you dwell alone

125    In yourself, know yourself alone, and known

          And knowing, love and smile upon yourself!

 

          That middle circle which appeared in you

          To be conceived as a reflected light,

          After my eyes had studied it a while,

 

130   Within itself and in its coloring

          Seemed to be painted with our human likeness

          So that my eyes were wholly focused on it.

 

          As the geometer who sets himself

          To square the circle and who cannot find,

135    For all his thought, the principle he needs,

 

          Just so was I on seeing this new vision

          I wanted to see how our image fuses

          Into the circle and finds its place in it,

 

          Yet my wings were not meant for such a flight —

140    Except that then my mind was struck by lightning

          Through which my longing was at last fulfilled.

 

          Here powers failed my high imagination:

          But by now my desire and will were turned,

          Like a balanced wheel rotated evenly,

 

145    By the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.

 

Sincerely yours in Jesus through Mary,
Mike Rizzio

Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God

Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!

* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for:
Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas;
St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael