Grace has perfected erotic desires so that Cunizza is more in love with beauty than before. That statement was so uplifting!! This is for what many of us pray, the guilt and shame gone, and only light and LOVE remain. Thank you!
Thank you, Dr. Miner! I am always happy to see characters who strike us by surprise, as do Cunizza, Folquet, and Rahab here in Canto IX. Seems like what heaven may be like for the blessed who enter into the joy. Thanks!
Oh I love this!!! So beautiful! Reading the wrong books for sure! Reminds me of CS Lewis speaking about this in Narnia! I love your deep insights shared so beautifully!!! You are so right, don't we see so awfully bad?!? I love the freedom she has from her past!!!! Thank you so much!!!
Canto 9: As Charles Martel leaves, Cunizza da Romano, a formerly amorous lady, arrives as another illumination desiring to bring Dante joy in Paradise by answering any questions he may have. She speaks extensively of the politics of the Italian states, but her major contribution to Dante’s spiritual well-being is her revelation that she has pardoned herself of her amorous errors and has accepted universal love, caritas. Although God readily forgives the contrite sinner, the sinner often finds it more difficult to forgive oneself, an important element for reaching heaven. In their conversation, Dante, the poet, invents new words to express the relationship experienced by souls in Paradise as their individual beings mingle with one another and with God. He speaks of “if I in-you’d me as you in-me’d you,” suggesting that in heaven: “I am in you while you are in me, and he is in me as I am in them.” Dante also meets the luminescence of Folco, a troubadour-bishop (!) who has given up amorous love for caritas, and Rehab, the OT prostitute who, having saved Joshua’s men on their reconnoiter, was taken from Limbo during Christ’s harrowing of Hell. Meeting her provides Dante with another opportunity to chastise popes more interested in canon law than in the Holy Land. However, souls in the sphere of Venus, having lacked the virtue of Temperance, now take joy in the charitable notion of universal love rather than a love leading to personal pleasure, alone.
Dr. Miner - a sly burn at the end. Yes, we are still hoping, especially those of us who believe in the institution that those bishops and popes labor for. But we realize that the human institution of the church has little resemblance to the perfect Bride of Christ envisioned by the Lord when he established that enterprise by calling the apostles and sending them forth to spread the gospel to the world.
Fantastic presentation - "we are still hoping" indeed. Thank you Dr. Miner.
This is one of the best lectures in this series and one of the most applicable to our current times. Thank you! Great job, Dr. Miner!
Wow!! Eye opening. Thank you for the insights. So much to think about.
Grace has perfected erotic desires so that Cunizza is more in love with beauty than before. That statement was so uplifting!! This is for what many of us pray, the guilt and shame gone, and only light and LOVE remain. Thank you!
Thank you, Dr. Miner! I am always happy to see characters who strike us by surprise, as do Cunizza, Folquet, and Rahab here in Canto IX. Seems like what heaven may be like for the blessed who enter into the joy.
Thanks!
Hope springs eternal!
Oh I love this!!! So beautiful! Reading the wrong books for sure! Reminds me of CS Lewis speaking about this in Narnia! I love your deep insights shared so beautifully!!! You are so right, don't we see so awfully bad?!? I love the freedom she has from her past!!!! Thank you so much!!!
Very clear, helpful presentation. Thank you!
Canto 9: As Charles Martel leaves, Cunizza da Romano, a formerly amorous lady, arrives as another illumination desiring to bring Dante joy in Paradise by answering any questions he may have. She speaks extensively of the politics of the Italian states, but her major contribution to Dante’s spiritual well-being is her revelation that she has pardoned herself of her amorous errors and has accepted universal love, caritas. Although God readily forgives the contrite sinner, the sinner often finds it more difficult to forgive oneself, an important element for reaching heaven. In their conversation, Dante, the poet, invents new words to express the relationship experienced by souls in Paradise as their individual beings mingle with one another and with God. He speaks of “if I in-you’d me as you in-me’d you,” suggesting that in heaven: “I am in you while you are in me, and he is in me as I am in them.” Dante also meets the luminescence of Folco, a troubadour-bishop (!) who has given up amorous love for caritas, and Rehab, the OT prostitute who, having saved Joshua’s men on their reconnoiter, was taken from Limbo during Christ’s harrowing of Hell. Meeting her provides Dante with another opportunity to chastise popes more interested in canon law than in the Holy Land. However, souls in the sphere of Venus, having lacked the virtue of Temperance, now take joy in the charitable notion of universal love rather than a love leading to personal pleasure, alone.
This was fascinating! A lot to think about. Thank you Dr. Miner!
Excellent presentation - I got a lot out of this presentation. Thank you Dr. Miner.
Thank you. I appreciate your directness and enthusiasm.
I love the phrase: "Dante knows the so-called purity culture has nothing on Divine grace"
Dr. Miner - a sly burn at the end. Yes, we are still hoping, especially those of us who believe in the institution that those bishops and popes labor for. But we realize that the human institution of the church has little resemblance to the perfect Bride of Christ envisioned by the Lord when he established that enterprise by calling the apostles and sending them forth to spread the gospel to the world.