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!

In today’s reading, Dante gets his first look at the Divine Empyrean: the reality of all realities. Having ascended through all nine levels of Heaven, he comes to the Garden of Paradise. But things are still not in their final form: to see the light without blemish, he must drink deeply from the waters of Paradise (recall the river Lethe in Purgatory, Canto 28), at which point the garden expands into a giant rose: a symbol of the totality of the redeemed.

In today’s reading, Beatrice continues her explanation of the angels. We are blessed in proportion that we hunger and thirst for God. No angel envies its neighbor their proximity to God, for all receive love in the same measure that they desire love. Having articulated this, Beatrice then decries the modern tendency of religious leaders to forego the truth of Scripture in favor of their personal interpretation. I wonder what kinds of criticism Dante would have for the Church today!

In today’s reading, Dante is given a vision of God himself, surrounded by his nine choirs of angels. God is pure, radiant light, and the angels surround him like Saturn’s rings, each ring moving faster the closer it is to the center. Beatrice explains the divine physics at work: the closer we are to God, the more alive with His love we become.

In today’s reading, Dante has finally passed all three virtue tests and is ready to move into the Empyrean…but not before Saint Peter has a final say about the current papacy. Turning literally with righteous indignation, the first pope lets loose all holy ire in a (not quite final) rage against the corruption of holy offices. This heard, Dante looks again to Beatrice, and leaps into the final circle of stars.

In today’s reading, Dante completes the last of his three examinations on the theological virtues. Having answered correctly, his blindness is stripped away, revealing a fourth light: his forefather, Adam. Dante’s questions about Eden, the Fall, and the First Language all get settled as he prepares to ascend further from the Fixed Stars and into the Empyrean.