Literature in the News: Dantedì

Dantedì refers to the holiday celebrating the great Italian poet, Dante Alighieri.  

From the website, ItalianTraditions. 

March 25th is celebrated throughout Italy on Dantedì, the national day dedicated to Dante Alighieri, father of the Italian language and author of the Divine Comedy. This date is not random: scholars recognize it as the day the otherworldly journey begins narrated in his masterpiece, a universal symbol of search, redemption and knowledge.

Established in 2020, Dantedì represents a precious opportunity to rediscover the current events of Dante and the value of his work. It is not just a tribute to literature, but a moment to reflect on Italian cultural identity and the power of the word as tool for thinking and transformation.

Well, that is incomplete.  In a day to reflect on the value of Dante’s Divine Comedy and on the Italy’s deep and grand culture, but also on today’s date, the traditional date assigned to the Blessed Virgin Mary assent to being the Mother of God.  So today is a confluence of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the day Dante the character spent in Hell.  Of course it’s not a coincidence.  It is widely known that Dante the author starts the pilgrimage of Dante the character on Good Friday of the year 1300.  What is not as widely well known, though growing in circulation, is that Good Friday of the year 1300 happened to be March 25^th, which would make it on the same day as the Feast of the Annunciation.  So the greatest Catholic poem ever written, also the greatest Italian poem ever written—heck, the greatest poem, period, ever written—sets the start of the action on both Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation.

On this Feast Day primarily of the Annunciation and secondarily of Dantedì, I wish to commemorate with first let’s start with a clip from the great Zeffirelli movie, Jesus of Nazareth, the Annunciation scene.

 

Second, I want to quote from the beginning of Dante’s Inferno, the first canto where Dante the character is lost in a wood.  From the wonderful Hollander and Hollander translation which can be found at the Princeton Dante Project.

 

              1            Midway in the journey of our life

2            I came to myself in a dark wood,

3            for the straight way was lost.

4            Ah, how hard it is to tell

5            the nature of that wood, savage, dense and harsh --

6            the very thought of it renews my fear!

7            It is so bitter death is hardly more so.

              8            But to set forth the good I found

9            I will recount the other things I saw.

10         How I came there I cannot really tell,

11         I was so full of sleep

12         when I forsook the one true way.

13         But when I reached the foot of a hill,

14         there where the valley ended

15         that had pierced my heart with fear,

16         looking up, I saw its shoulders

17         arrayed in the first light of the planet

18         that leads men straight, no matter what their road.

19         Then the fear that had endured

20         in the lake of my heart, all the night

21         I spent in such distress, was calmed.

22         And as one who, with laboring breath,

23         has escaped from the deep to the shore

24         turns and looks back at the perilous waters,

25         so my mind, still in flight,

26         turned back to look once more upon the pass

27         no mortal being ever left alive.

28         After I rested my wearied flesh a while,

29         I took my way again along the desert slope,

30         my firm foot always lower than the other.

                             Inferno, Canto 1, 1-30.

Finally, hear Dante’s beautiful Italian with a recitation of Inferno’s Canto 1 by the great Italian actor, Roberto Benigni.

Blessed Mother, ever Virgin, pray for us.

Redeemer in the Womb: Jesus Living in Mary by John Saward, Post #2

This is the second post of several posts on Redeemer in the Womb: Jesus Living in Mary by John Saward.

You can find Post #1 here. 

 

Kerstin’s Introduction to Chapter 2: How Can the Ark of the Lord Come to Me? The Gospels:

Seward:

“He is not only the inhabitant of the womb; he is also its “fruit” (Luke 1:42). His body does not come down from heaven; it is fashioned out of his Virgin Mother’s flesh and blood. Indeed, since she is made fruitful by the Holy Spirit, not by male seed (see Matt. 1:20), he is physically more indebted to her than any other child could be to his mother.”

My Comment:

The second chapter meditates on what the Gospels say of Mary’s carrying of Jesus in her pregnancy.

 

The key Biblical event of Mary’s pregnancy is the Visitation, her travel to assist her cousin Elizabeth in her pregnancy.  Much of the chapter is taken up with meditations on the Visitation.

 

Apart from the journey to Bethlehem, St. Luke records only one event during Our Lady’s pregnancy: the Visitation. “In those days,” after the departure of Gabriel, Mary hastened to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judaea (Luke 1:39–56), probably in the neighborhood of Ain-Karim, six kilometers to the west of Jerusalem. The Evangelist says that, in going south, Mary “arose” (anastasa), the verb used to designate the Resurrection. This strong and suggestive word, one of Luke’s favorites, heightens the drama of the Blessed Virgin’s journey: it is an ascent, a climb into the high country. Similar language is used to report the three other southward expeditions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Luke 2:4, 22, and 42).2 It is as if Luke wants Theophilus to lift up his eyes to the mountains (see Ps. 120:1), to the heights of Mount Zion. Later, he will show how, in his public ministry, Jesus kept his sights on Jerusalem: “When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). The message of Luke 1:39 is that the first time the Savior ventured south, presaging his later journey, was as an unborn child. Mary carries Jesus on the road that later he will purposefully tread.

 

Saward quite rightly points out that as one travels southward from Israel’s north country (Nazareth and the towns about the Sea of Galilee) toward Jerusalem, one is traversing uphill, and in some places very steeply up hill.  I have never been there, but I have seen topographic representations of the geography.  Quite nice how the word “arose” is used here and tied to the Resurrection.  Mary’s life is frequently portrayed as in communion with Christ’s life.

###

Kerstin’s Comment:

When Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist, she walks the same path as Jesus would later leading up to the crucifixion. Even unborn, John is Christ’s herald; by his infant joy, he is prophet. As St. Ambrose says, “Before his father or mother had done anything wonderful, he leapt in his mother’s womb and preached the good news of the advent of the Lord.”

 

Even before his birth, the Child Jesus is at his saving, sanctifying work. While still in the womb, the Savior consecrates the forerunner for his mission. What is more, grace comes to John from Jesus through Mary, who, in Gerard Manley Hopkins’ words, “this one work has to do—Let all God’s glory through.”10 Already, at Ain-Karim, Our Lady is at her handmaidenly, motherly work of mediating the grace of her Son.

 

Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant. Just like the Ark of old had been carried up the hills toward Jerusalem, so Mary carries Jesus.
The Baby in the womb is God, and so the expectant Mother is the definitive Ark, and hereby God is made present in a very tangible way. Before God has shown Himself in a cloud, an entity that eludes physical grasp. Now, in a very real way, God makes Himself known in person without losing his transcendent reality.

 

This New Testament revelation of Jesus in Mary presupposes the Old Testament belief that the womb of woman is the stage on which the first scenes of the human drama are played out. The Lord forms, “knits together,” every man from the womb (see 2 Macc. 7:22–23; Ps. 139:13–16; Is. 44:2, 24). Indeed, “He-who-fashions-you-in-the-womb” is one of the divine names in Deutero-Isaiah (Isa. 49:5). The nakedness of the human person as he comes from the womb foreshadows the nakedness with which he goes into the tomb: both signal his utter dependence upon his Creator (see Job 1:21) … Thus in Mary, who conceives her Son by the Holy Spirit, not by human seed, two major themes of the Old Testament converge and are surpassed: the hidden presence of God and the secret beginnings of man.

Mary speaks her sublime Magnificat. A hymn of praise to God. Unfortunately modern scholars do not think the lowly and uneducated Mary to be capable of uttering such beautiful poetry spontaneously. What they do not acknowledge is that she has been immersed into Scriptures her whole life, probably knowing much of it by heart, as many did at the time. From this perspective her composing the Magnificat is entirely plausible.

If the Annunciation narrative reveals the faith and love with which the Holy Virgin welcomed God’s Son into her flesh, the Magnificat expresses the joy and gratitude with which she sheltered him. These religious acts are more than simply individual. Mary of the Magnificat is Israel in person. Her ‘I’ recapitulates the ‘we’ of her people. What God has done for her, he has done for all Israel (see Luke 1:54). The grace poured out on the lowly Handmaid is a blessing for all the poor of the Lord (vv. 48 and 53). In the Child in Mary’s womb, every promise made to Abraham is fulfilled (v. 55).

 

There is a long tradition wherein Joseph already knew of the Virginal Conception before the angel appeared to him in a dream. The angel’s message told him not to leave her but to protect her. We’ve all heard the translated words of Joseph wanting to “divorce her quietly” which is, when one thinks about it, nonsensical. All divorces are public then as now. A better translation would be that he decided to leave her quietly. Joseph is in awe and fear of the holy occurrence happening in front of his eyes, and like we see in the Bible so often, he is afraid and wants to withdraw. The angel tells him not to withdraw but to protect the Holy Child concealed in the Virgin’s womb. 

###

Michelle’s Comment:

What stood out to me the most in this chapter was the comparison of the Ark of the Covenant to Mary as the new Ark. She traveled to the hill country of Judea where David was with the OT ark. And Elizabeth and David both basically said the same thing regarding their respective encounters with the ark:

 

Elizabeth: And why is this granted me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? (Luke 1:43)

 

David: How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? (2 Sam. 6:9) 

###

My Comment:

It is so fitting that today, the fourth Sunday of Advent of Year C we are in this chapter.  Today’s Gospel reading was the Visitation scene where Mary after the Annunciation and “in haste” travels to visit Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist.  Saward does a nice job of explaining the Marian theology connecting her to the Ark of the Covenant. 

 

The chief actors in the drama of the Visitation are two babies in the womb—Jesus in Mary and John in Elizabeth, the Prince and the Prophet, the Word and the Voice. Luke says that the unborn Baptist “skipped” (eskirtêsen) in his mother’s womb when she heard the greeting of the Christ-carrying Virgin (Luke 1:41). Elizabeth is overwhelmed. Her baby’s inward dance—he jumps “for joy,” says Elizabeth, en agalliasei (v. 44)—fills her with the Holy Spirit. She recognizes her cousin’s unborn baby, the blessed fruit of her womb, as God, “my Lord” (v. 43),3 and declares Mary to be “blessed among women,” blessed in body and in soul, blessed because of the One she carries, blessed because she believed (v. 45).

 

Saward goes on to point out the Old Testament connections to the Ark, King David’s moving of the Ark, and David’s jumping for joy.  Every word used in the Visitation narrative has allusions to the Old Testament, which provides the significance of the Blessed Virgin. 

 

But I’m not sure I quite agree with Saward that the “chief actors in the drama of the Visitation are two babies in the womb.”  On the one hand, I could see that Jesus is always the central character, but Mary is also quite central to this scene.  Can one minimize the Blessed Virgin here as a supporting character?  I wouldn’t.

 

Saward quotes Origen who make this remarkable connection of the Visitation as foreshadowing Pentecost. 

 

The God-man sanctified his forerunner while they were both being carried by their mothers. At the Visitation, the promise made to Zechariah comes true: “[John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). The grace of the Holy Spirit flows from Jesus through Mary to John and from John to Elizabeth. Origen (c. 185–c. 254) describes this cascade of the Spirit, this proto-Pentecost,

 

I would never had made that connection but it is apropos.  Saward then quotes Gerard Manly Hopkins how Christ’s graces flow through Mary.

 

Even before his birth, the Child Jesus is at his saving, sanctifying work. While still in the womb, the Savior consecrates the forerunner for his mission. What is more, grace comes to John from Jesus through Mary, who, in Gerard Manley Hopkins’ words, “this one work has to do—Let all God’s glory through.”10 Already, at Ain-Karim, Our Lady is at her handmaidenly, motherly work of mediating the grace of her Son.

 

Make sure you point that out to your Protestant friends! 

 

But Saward doesn’t go far enough.  In listening to a bunch of homilies on the internet (I do this every Sunday) for today’s Gospel reading, a certain Fr. Anthony Craig (no one famous that you would know) pointed out that Christ’s first action incarnate in the world while still in the womb is an act propelling the bearer to service and charity.  I don’t know if Fr. Anthony came up with that himself (probably not) but I had never heard it before.  I found that really worth contemplating.  You can read my blog post on understanding today’s Gospel reading of the Visitation here:    

 

The Visitation is one of my favorite scenes in the New Testament.  There is so much one can meditate upon. 

Kerstin Reply:

Manny wrote: "The Visitation is one of my favorite scenes in the New Testament. There is so much one can meditate upon."

Very much so. Our priest had a beautiful homily today with the theme of letting Christ in, letting Him dwell within us just like Mary.

###

 From the film, Jesus of Nazareth.

Sunday Meditation: The Homecoming

Two weeks ago we had a Gospel passage where in a storm at sea, Jesus admonishes his apostles for not having faith, and yet performs the miracle of quieting the storm,  In last week’s reading Jesus praises Jarius and the woman with the hemorrhage for having faith, and He performs two miracles.  In today’s reading, Jesus returns to His home town, preaches, and yet the people who knew Him best took offense at Him.  Here was a great lack of faith, and so He performed no miracles.  Faith is critical to these early chapters of Mark.

 

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.

When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astonished.

They said, “Where did this man get all this?

What kind of wisdom has been given him?

What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,

and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?”

And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

and among his own kin and in his own house.”

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,

apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

He was amazed at their lack of faith.

~Mk:1-6

 

Why did the people who knew Him best spurn Him?  Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchin Franciscans explains it fully and provides the significance for our spiritual needs. 

 

God is all around us, but it is so ordinary that the familiarity breeds contempt.

Sunday Meditation: “Where did this man get all this?”

 

Back to a John Michael Talbot hymn, “Where Have You Hidden.”

 

 

Sunday Meditation: The Woman Caught in Adultery

One of my favorite passages in the Gospels. 

 

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,

and all the people started coming to him,

and he sat down and taught them.

Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman

who had been caught in adultery

and made her stand in the middle.

They said to him,

“Teacher, this woman was caught

in the very act of committing adultery.

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.

So what do you say?”

They said this to test him,

so that they could have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.

But when they continued asking him,

he straightened up and said to them,

“Let the one among you who is without sin

be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

And in response, they went away one by one,

beginning with the elders.

So he was left alone with the woman before him.

Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,

“Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?”

She replied, “No one, sir.”

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.

Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

-Jn 8:1-11

 

Again from Franco Zefferlli’s Jesus of Nazareth.

 

And again I can find no better explanation of the passage than from Brant Pitre.  This is just superb.

Go and sin no more.

Sunday Meditation: The Prodigal Son

Perhaps the greatest of all Jesus’s parables.

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,

but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So to them Jesus addressed this parable:

“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father,

‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’

So the father divided the property between them.

After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings

and set off to a distant country

where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.

When he had freely spent everything,

a severe famine struck that country,

and he found himself in dire need.

So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens

who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.

And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed,

but nobody gave him any.

Coming to his senses he thought,

‘How many of my father’s hired workers

have more than enough food to eat,

but here am I, dying from hunger.

I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I no longer deserve to be called your son;

treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’

So he got up and went back to his father.

While he was still a long way off,

his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.

He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

His son said to him,

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;

I no longer deserve to be called your son.’

But his father ordered his servants,

‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;

put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.

Then let us celebrate with a feast,

because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;

he was lost, and has been found.’

Then the celebration began.

Now the older son had been out in the field

and, on his way back, as he neared the house,

he heard the sound of music and dancing.

He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.

The servant said to him,

‘Your brother has returned

and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf

because he has him back safe and sound.’

He became angry,

and when he refused to enter the house,

his father came out and pleaded with him.

He said to his father in reply,

‘Look, all these years I served you

and not once did I disobey your orders;

yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.

But when your son returns

who swallowed up your property with prostitutes,

for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’

He said to him,

‘My son, you are here with me always;

everything I have is yours.

But now we must celebrate and rejoice,

because your brother was dead and has come to life again;

he was lost and has been found.’”

-Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

 

This is just a superb clip from what I think is the greatest of the Christ movies, Franco Zefferlli’s Jesus of Nazareth.

 

And then the wonderful Brant Pitre explains an aspect of the parable I didn’t realize.

 

That he connects the older son with the Pharisees and scribes from the beginning of the passage is so on the mark.