A Divine Lent #2: But you must journey down another road


A daily reflection during Lent on Dante's The Divine Comedy.

 When Dante first encounters Virgil in Canto 1 of Inferno, Virgil teases him.  Running from the three beasts that block his ascent from the dark valley, Dante is in a panic.  Virgil asks,

But why retreat to so much misery?
Why not climb up this blissful mountain here,
the beginning of the source of all man's joy?

Virgil knows the reasons why; he has full knowledge that the she-wolf will allow no one to pass.  Virgil finally informs the pilgrim,
But you must journey down another road...
if you ever hope to leave this wilderness.

This dark valley that invokes such fear in Dante immediately brings to mind the darkest valley, the valley of the shadow of death from Psalm 23.  My inclination is usually to do as Dante:  seek higher ground.  The view from the heights provides perspective, yields a sense of mastery over the environment, an illusory sense of control.  The "blissful mountain" is always my preferred route.

But Virgil calls Dante to journey down deeper into the dark valley.  Psalm 23 describes not the journey up and out of the dark valley, but rather through the dark valley.  When faced with a valley, can I be confident to journey through it rather than seek its immediate escape?  

We have the foreknowledge that Dante travels down and through the valley from earlier in the canto. 

But if I would show the good that came of it 
I must talk about things other than good.

I have a tendency to gloss over the not-so-good.  It is a much more pleasant conversation to speak just of the good, particularly here in the Midwest.  Dante is heading straight into many pages of very-not-so-good stuff.

Despite this promise of impending unpleasantness, I like how Dante ends the canto.  

Then he moved on, and I moved close behind him.

Virgil led the path through the valley, as God does for us.  Dante had the correct response.  Move closer!  May we all do the same for the One leading us this Lent.


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