In today’s reading, we come at last to the end of the journey. Dante has experienced “the three lives of the spirit.” Having passed through the torments of Inferno and Purgatory and seen literally everything between Heaven and Hell, Dante is at last prepared for his final vision. In this ecstatic world of dizzying heights, he beholds Father, Son, and Spirit as a vast circle of one circumference and differing lights. But language breaks down here. With a humble prayer he turns his thoughts to things eternal: the lights of the stars.

In today’s reading, Saint Bernard guides Dante through the heavenly mysteries of the Divine Rose. In this heavenly tapestry, all opposites are united: those who proclaimed Christ before His Incarnation, and those who believed in Him after; the Hebrew women of the Nation of Israel, and the Apostles who spread His Word afterwards. After unveiling the mystery of infant baptism and salvation, Bernard takes Dante through a series of holy pairs: Adam and Saint Peter; St John the Baptist and Moses; Anna and Lucy.

In today’s reading, Dante, enraptured by this vision of heaven, turns to express his wonder to Beatrice, only to find that she has gone, translated higher up into the Divine Rose, with her place taken by Saint Bernard (1090-1153). However, rather than bewail her loss as he did the loss of Vergil almost thirty cantos ago, Dante offers up to her a prayer of gratitude, for which he receives one of her radiant smiles. How far we’ve come since Purgatory!