Beatrice: "She Who Makes Me Happy"

    As we travel with Dante on his journey though Inferno, Purgatorio, and, finally, Paradise, we witness his growth. We also see how much he relies on his guides. Dante’s guide through Inferno and Purgatory was Virgil; Dante looked up to Virgil as a scholar, and he relied on him very much in his journey with him. Virgil was always quick to answer Dante’s questions and explain to him what was happening around him. In Paradise, Dante is guided by Beatrice, the woman he loved even after she left the earth. The portrait Dante paints of Beatrice is one of beauty and kindness, and her presence and guidance were necessary to prepare Dante for being in the presence of God.

Beatrice guides Dante in a way that is different than Virgil’s guidance. Virgil was always quick to answer Dante’s questions or explain what was happening before he even asked. Beatrice, however, knows Dante’s thoughts and encourages Dante to ask questions himself (15, 27). When Beatrice explains things to Dante, she is very plain-spoken. Dante even compares himself to a sick child and Beatrice his mother (9). She is patient with his human mind. Whenever Dante is doubting himself, Beatrice gives him the courage to express what is on his mind. After being surrounded by the beings in the fourth sphere, Beatrice gives Dante the courage to look up are see that they have ascended once again (149). Beatrice is the comforting and encouraging presence Dante needed while ascending through Paradise.

   

Beatrice had to be Dante’s guide because she was Dante’s motivation as he traveled through the various levels of Inferno and Purgatory; while gazing on her from afar, Date writes, “It was your power and excellence that sustained my pilgrimage to see all I have seen; to you I owe the grace and strength I’ve gained” (335). Dante thinks of Beatrice often as motivation to keep pressing on in his journey. Since she was his motivation, it is fitting that she is his guide once he reaches Paradise. And it is through Beatrice that Dante sees the glory of God.

    Dante needed Beatrice to guide him so he could fully understand the beauty of Heaven. Dante speaks quite a bit about the beauty of Beatrice. He says her beauty is greater than words can describe (319). As the duo ascends higher in Paradise, Dante realizes that Beatrice becomes even more beautiful. He says, “I could sense that in my sweeping round to higher Heaven there came a widening bow, seeing that wondrous lady grow more grand” (193). Dante acknowledges that the closer Beatrice is to God, the more beautiful she becomes. As Dante and Beatrice rise to the seventh sphere, Dante notices that Beatrice is no longer smiling. The reason she gives is that if her beauty, being so enhanced by their closeness to God, isn’t kept in check will “grow so bright, your mortal power would be a branch destroyed by a thunderbolt” (223). If Beatrice, a mere spirit in the realm of God, could impact Dante so much by her beauty, imagine how great the beauty of God is. The closer we draw to God, the more like Him we are;  the closer we are to God, the more beautiful we become. We may not vaporize people with our dazzling good looks, but we will stand out from others by being a light for Christ.

Beatrice’s beauty is important because her eyes reflect the glory of Paradise. Dante describes Beatrice’s eyes as “holy” (27) and full of love (189). Beatrice herself describes her eyes as Paradise (189). Dante writes, “But as I gazed, my soul was free of all its many cravings to possess anything else [...] Because the everlasting winsomeness shone upon Beatrice, from whose lovely eyes reflected radiance contented me” (189). The eyes are often seen as windows to the soul, and Beatrice’s eyes were windows to the glory of God. The radiance, the love, the power of God shines through Beatrice.

Beatrice acted like a lens through which Dante viewed Paradise. Dante could not look directly at the glory of Heaven, so he had to look through Beatrice. Dante writes, “So she instilled her gazing —through my eyes — into my powers of fancy, and I too stared at the sun more than our sight can bear” (7). Due to the human nature of Dante, he is not able to see Paradise clearly. When Dante is blinded at the end of Canto 25, Beatrice is the one who heals him (275, 281). Dante writes, “So all the dust and chaff that filmed my eyes the eyes of Beatrice swept away, with more than thousand thousand flashing of her flashing rays, And I saw clearer than I had before” (281). Where once Dante had to look through Beatrice, he is now able to look and understand with his own eyes.

When the pair reaches the Empyrean, the highest ring of Paradise, Beatrice leaves Dante to take her place on the third tier (335). Dante is surprised at first, but he realizes that he no longer needs her to be his guide. He looks forward to joining her in Paradise when his life is over. In his parting words to her, he says, “I was a slave; you brought to me liberty, through every road I walked, by every means you had within your power to succor me” (335). Dante recognizes all that Beatrice has done for him, and she smiles at him one last time. Dante is ready to stand on his own feet and approach God.

Dante needed Beatrice to guide him through Paradise because she was the closest thing to Christ on earth for him. Dante’s love for Beatrice can be a model for our love to Christ. Christ is our motivation on earth; if we follow him, we can one day join him in Heaven. Beatrice’s kindness towards Dante is nothing compared to the loving-kindness God has for us. Dante’s journey through Paradise is full of beautiful scenes that should give us Christians great motivation to be in Heaven. May we all have eyes like Beatrice — eyes that reflect the glory of God.

An Impression of Discretion

In Desert Fathers, an entire section is dedicated to the topic of exercising discretion in words and actions. The words we speak have an incredible impact on people. Christ came to give the words of life. During his ministry, He would speak to crowds and individuals, and He would sometimes not speak at all. As Christians, we must be especially careful in the way we encourage and edify each other. God uses people wherever they are at in their walk with Him, and it falls on us to encourage them to use their talents to serve God.

Within the chapter discussing discretion, a story is told of a monk who comes to a fellow monk named Poemen and tells him he is going to use his crops to put together a love feast (99). Poemen tells him it’s a good idea, and the brother goes away “with purpose” and to invite more guests. Another monk, Anub, overhears the exchange and approaches Poemen. Anub asks Poemen if he is afraid God will be upset because the other monk is focusing on farming instead of monk’s work. Poemen doesn’t respond, but he invites the farming monk back to his cell two days later. Poemen asks him what he inquired about before, claiming that his mind was occupied with something else; the monk repeats his invitation to the love feast, and Poemen now says, “I thought you were talking about your brother, who is a layman. What you are doing is not a monk’s work” (100). The monk is saddened at this because he says working in his field is the only type of work he knows how to do. He leaves, and Anub begs for Poemen’s forgiveness for his quick judgement of the brother. Poemen says he knew that what the original monk was doing wasn’t monks’ work, but he said what the man needed to hear to have his soul comforted. The brother went away sadly, but Poemen says he will continue “in the same work”. There are many lessons about discretion and service to God to be learned from this short scenario.


We learn from the brother to use what God has given us to serve Him and to be intentional in our actions. In the parable of the talents, God’s expectation of the use of our abilities for His glory is revealed. The master gave each servant a different amount of talents according to his ability. When the master returned, two of the servants had worked hard to increase their master’s account and one had hidden the talent in the ground. The servants were judged according to how they had used what was given to them. In relation to Desert Fathers, the brother with the farm knew how to work in a field. Perhaps he had been a farmer before becoming a monk. He wanted to take his experience and serve a love-feast for the other monks. He recognized what his strengths were, and he set out to use them to fellowship with his brethren (99).  Paul, in the book of Colossians, encourages the brethren to work for the Lord: “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17).

 
We also learn to approach God with the right heart. The New Testament is centered around the notion that God wants our hearts first. Though he was still learning the appropriate methods, the brother had a good heart. I think the man was looking for confirmation from a more experienced brother that what he wanted to do was a good work. The brother was not struggling with pride but with doubt. If his reason for hosting the feast was pride, then Poemen wouldn’t have said it was a good work. Poemen did not see any harm in allowing the brother to in his work. In fact, he says it would have increased in charity. Poemen recognized that in that circumstance the brother’s desire to serve the Lord was more important than the work itself.

From Poemen, we learn to understand people’s hearts before speaking. Poemen did not originally discourage the brother from farming because he knew the brother needed encouragement. Poemen says, “I knew from the beginning that it was not a monk’s work. But I spoke to his soul’s need, and stilled his soul so that he might increase in charity” (100). This brother’s soul was unsettled; perhaps he was new to his faith and was unsure how to serve God. He decided to use what he knew how to do, farming, to serve others in a love feast. A love feast would have provided an opportunity for fellowship and unity among the brothers. Poemen recognized the distress within the soul of the brother and encouraged him in a way that would increase his work in charity. We are supposed to build each other up and edify each other. Does this mean we should lie to each other? Of course not. Poemen told the brother what would give him the greatest benefit at that time. When encouraged, the brother felt confident about what he was doing and went to invite even more people. After being told it wasn’t monk’s work, he was discouraged and lost the benefit of increasing in charity. The brother still had a lot to learn about serving the Lord. He was narrow-minded in his belief that farming was the only work he knew how to do. And, according to Poemen, he continued in the same work in his field, but now with sorrow. A few words were the difference between how much that brother would do for the Lord.

From Anub, we learn about discretion in our judgement. At first, he does not understand why Poemen didn’t reprimand the brother. Poemen sees an opportunity to teach Anub about discretion. Poemen invites the other monk again and talks to him in the hearing of Anub (100). Anub learns that the brother is still learning how to serve God, and he asks Poemen’s forgiveness. Anub was not wrong in his desire to do the right thing. Anub was facing a common struggle: he knew all of the rules, but his heart was not yet open to the struggles of other people. Once he realized his mistake, he quickly repented of his quick judgement.

Everyone will give an account for the words they say. Therefore, we should take the time to consider the situation of the person and the attitude behind our words. If we speak from a place of love, then we are fulfilling the Lord’s command. Poemen, along with many other characters in the chapter, teaches us the necessity for discretion in our lives. We should all desire to interact with each other in a spirit of compassion and understanding.