A Divine Lent #5: Just the sounds of sighs


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

In the fourth canto of Inferno, Dante and Virgil enter the first circle of Hell, Limbo which Virgil reveals as his home for the rest of eternity.  Virgil is joined by his fellow poets, philosophers, mathematicians, and other classical heroes.  Yet in the midst of this impressive group there is just but one sound,

there were no wails but just the sound of sighs...

Virgil explains that despite their virtuous lives, their absence of faith in God has condemned them to this Limbo.

In this alone we suffer:
cut off from hope, we live on in desire.

Gautama Buddha explains their sighs in his saying, "the end of desire is the end of sorrow."  Living on in a state of desire unfulfilled would be sorrowful.  The passage brings to mind the sounds of Peggy Lee singing "Is That All There Is?"

Dante's depiction of the life of solely classic virtues brings to mind the story of Jesus and the women at the well (John 4).  The thirst never fully ends when I take a drink of "earthly" water. The water is good, necessary for life, and momentarily fulfilling.  Eventually, I have to drink again; I thirst.

But the living water Jesus describes yields the eternal quenching of the desire; the ultimate fulfillment.  These are not words that can be proved, but rather a statement of chosen belief.  There are times in church when I may say to myself, "Do I really believe all this stuff?"  In the end, I always say yes because I want to believe that this is not all there is, that our thirst can be quenched.

May we use this lent to not only to partake of the living water, but to also listen for others' sighs to see where we can offer a drink and restore hope.



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