Dante's confession, forgiveness and mercy
Thither did we approach; and the first stair
Was marble white, so polished and so smooth,
I mirrored myself therein as I appear.
Was marble white, so polished and so smooth,
I mirrored myself therein as I appear.
The second, tinct of deeper hue than perse,
Was of a calcined and uneven stone,
Cracked all asunder lengthwise and across.
Was of a calcined and uneven stone,
Cracked all asunder lengthwise and across.
The third, that uppermost rests massively,
Porphyry seemed to me, as flaming red
As blood that from a vein is spirting forth.
Porphyry seemed to me, as flaming red
As blood that from a vein is spirting forth.
Both of his feet was holding upon this
The Angel of God, upon the threshold seated,
Which seemed to me a stone of diamond.
The Angel of God, upon the threshold seated,
Which seemed to me a stone of diamond.
Along the three stairs upward with good will
Did my Conductor draw me, saying: "Ask
Humbly that he the fastening may undo."
Did my Conductor draw me, saying: "Ask
Humbly that he the fastening may undo."
Devoutly at the holy feet I cast me,
For mercy's sake besought that he would open,
But first upon my breast three times I smote.
For mercy's sake besought that he would open,
But first upon my breast three times I smote.
Seven P's upon my forehead he described
With the sword's point, and, "Take heed that thou wash
These wounds, when thou shalt be within," he said.
With the sword's point, and, "Take heed that thou wash
These wounds, when thou shalt be within," he said.
Ashes, or earth that dry is excavated,
Of the same colour were with his attire,
And from beneath it he drew forth two keys.
Of the same colour were with his attire,
And from beneath it he drew forth two keys.
One was of gold, and the other was of silver;
First with the white, and after with the yellow,
Plied he the door, so that I was content.
First with the white, and after with the yellow,
Plied he the door, so that I was content.
"Whenever faileth either of these keys
So that it turn not rightly in the lock,"
He said to us, "this entrance doth not open.
So that it turn not rightly in the lock,"
He said to us, "this entrance doth not open.
More precious one is, but the other needs
More art and intellect ere it unlock,
For it is that which doth the knot unloose.
More art and intellect ere it unlock,
For it is that which doth the knot unloose.
From Peter I have them; and he bade me err
Rather in opening than in keeping shut,
If people but fall down before my feet."
Rather in opening than in keeping shut,
If people but fall down before my feet."
Then pushed the portals of the sacred door,
Exclaiming: "Enter; but I give you warning
That forth returns whoever looks behind."
(Divine Commedy, Purgatory, IX)
Exclaiming: "Enter; but I give you warning
That forth returns whoever looks behind."
(Divine Commedy, Purgatory, IX)
When Dante and his faithful Virgilio arrive (at last) at the door of Purgatory, in the canto IX of the Divine Commedy, the pilgrim undergoes a true penitential ritual that reminds us a little of those of nowadays, especially during the Jubilee. The door structure is carefully described: in front there are three steps, one of white marble and so polished that it is like a mirror; the second consists of black and rough stone, crossed by slits; the third of porphyry red like blood. The threshold of the door, where the guardian angel sits, is out of diamond.
The door is constructed according to a careful allegory: the white step would represent the contritio cordis: that is the contrition of heart reached during a confession by the examination of conscience, which cleans and makes terse (in the terms of a Florentine Anonymous: the sinner recalls all of his sins and repents entirely... and at that point he remains white as marble, without any stain or darkness of sins); the second step represents the pain for the sins committed, or the actual moment of the confession, the confessio oris, when the sinner lays bare the dark trash of his sins (always according to the Anonymous: as the stone is cracked, it shows that one ought to be ashamed inside as outside, to say by words the same he feels in the heart, and break this hard rock and obstinacy of his sins); the last step, red, is the love reached after the confession, solid, as the resolution to not sin anymore, the satisfactio operis, that is, the works of penance and reparation requested. The diamond threshold, finally, symbolizes the moral firmness reached.
Before I go on, a few words on the keys of St. Peter: they are a symbol for the authority of the "Prince of the Apostles", conferred by Christ in Matthew 18:18. For example, in the St. Peter's statue located in the Vatican basilica, cast in bronze by Arnolfo di Cambio, or in many paintings, the saint bears the keys. Even today, the Vatican colors are white and yellow, which are nothing else than the silver and gold of the Petrine keys. About the fact that the penitent must not turn back on his way, that means that he should not fall into sin again: and everyone will remember Lot's wife, who fled with her family from Sodom and Gomorrah; she had received from the angel the same recommendation, but, out of curiosity, she turned back and became a pillar of salt (cfr. Genesis 19:26; but you can also think of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice).
This ritual is very timely, given that we have just entered into Lent and, moreover, in the Lent of a special Jubilee: that of Mercy, wanted by Pope Francis. Every day, thousands of pilgrims (on last Sunday I was in Rome) pass through the holy door, now open in all the corners of the Earth, to receive an indulgence, which cancels the penance due to sin (absolution is another thing).The side which struck me the most of this ritual is the insistence on the step of red porphyry, the marble of princes, used for the graves of emperors and pharaohs, the step where the angel keeps his plants and which represents charity, that is, love. Forgiveness, in fact, is rooted in love and is not possible without it, just as you can not repent without love. We often feed the preposterous idea that confession and admission of sins is a forced act, induced by constriction; instead, it is due to love, the desire to re-establish a loving relationship with Someone. Forgiveness is neither condoning nor an undue elimination of evil, nor a way to forget it: the truth requires the lucid memory of what has happened. "Forgiveness," in Italian, is the "per-dono", a gift multiplied: it implies a will of love, gift beyond measure, going beyond evil, which we remain fully conscious of. Without this love, life, society, can not go on, but they drown in hatred.
Forgiveness is not something that a human being can accomplish by himself. It is a supernatural, divine gift: many do not understand it. Therefore, I report here two cases that I mentioned to my kids. When in December 2006 the massacre of Erba occurred, during which four persons were slaughtered and one wounded very badly (the small Youssef, his mother Raffaella Castagna, his grandmother, Mrs. Paola Galli Castagna, and their neighbor, Mrs. Valeria Cherubini Frigerio; the seriously injured person was the husband of the latter, Mr.Frigerio, a very good man who was caught by the murderers because he ran to extinguish the fire lit up by them), the only survivor, Mr. Carlo Castagna, whose family had been slaughtered, forgave the alleged killers. The piece of news made sensation and sparked a large wave of incomprehension: even in the parish where I was working in Switzerland, his heroic act was liquidated with a C'est pas possible. For a variety of reasons I have doubts about the results of that trial and I am not convinced that the perpetrators are the neighbors; but anyway, whoever they are, with great dignity, although convinced that the culprits were to serve an appropriate penalty, with his simple faith Mr. Carlo, forgave them. I put a link to a news video concerning his forgiveness, which was a powerful and bright decision for so many.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEJtqx12c9o
Another example. In 2000, after the end of apartheid, by wish of Nelson Mandela and inspired by his policy of non-violence and forgiveness, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in South Africa, destined to collect the testimonies of executioners and victims of both sides, to allow, where possible, forgiveness for the crimes committed and thus encourage reconciliation. Many who confessed, were amnestied. Beyond some limits and mistakes, the court got its goal and made possible the transition to a non-violent society: the alternative would have been (and this is too often forgotten by critics) the sinking of South Africa in an endless welter of feuds and bloody revenge. Therefore the court is so far the best existing example of "restorative justice", which goes far beyond the simple punishment (that, let's face it, is often asked for by some people with hatred and contempt). I insert here the link to the TRC website:
http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/
If the Pope wanted to establish, in this period of "World War III in pieces," as he says, a Jubilee of Mercy, this happens because Mercy is the last resort. And it is an exclusively Christian value, anchored in the Resurrection. Mercy means Love that goes beyond the evil of sin, of death, of the impossible. If each one of us were to pay the evil "eye for eye, tooth for tooth", in a strict way, no one of us would be saved anymore. "Before your wrath, the world can not exist," says Abraham in his dialogue with God as it is imagined by Thomas Mann in his fascinating novel The young Joseph. Mercy keeps the world alive and allows us to survive, because every new day is an act of trust in us, by the One who loves us.
In the Bull of Indiction of the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy
(cfr. https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco_bolla_20150411_misericordiae-vultus.html), the Pope says:
Jesus Christ is the face of the Father's mercy. The mystery of the Christian faith seems to find in this word its synthesis. It has become alive, visible and reached its climax in Jesus of Nazareth. The Father "rich in mercy" (Eph 2,4), having revealed his name to Moses as "a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness" (Ex 34.6), He has not ceased to raise awareness in various ways and in so many moments in the history of his divine nature. (...) We always need to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a source of joy, serenity and peace. It is a condition of our salvation. Mercy is the word that reveals the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Mercy is the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy is the basic law that lives in the heart of every person when he looks with sincere eyes the brother met on the journey of life. Mercy is the way that unites God and man, because it opens the heart to hope and love forever despite the limit of our sin.
I believe that each of us needs this "love forever."
Note added.
A wrong idea about confession induces to believe that it is a form of humiliation, when it is actually an act of powerful freedom (of course, the confessor must be respectful). If we accept that a part of the world is spiritual, well, confession frees from evil: it is probably the greatest gift that God ever made to us. Our world is litterally sinking under the weight of the evil perpetrated. I read once in a serious source that a large part of depression, nowadays, is of spiritual origin, and that 60% of depression cases could heal thanks to confession. It is easy to understand why.
According to Christian anthropology (and not only), the human being consists of body, psychology and soul; the three parts are connected in a whole. I usually explain it to my kids using the image of a cake (and friends priests usually laugh about this original way of mine to explain theological concepts...): the body is the dough, the psychology is the filling (of chocolate, of course!) and the soul is the cream, or syrup, with which everything is imbued. Otherwise, the soul is like the light lighting up a window.
A cake of mine lent to theology!
Well, if the upper level, the one of the soul, the spiritual one, is burdened by evil, by sin (sin is voluntary evil), the other levels simply suffer from it. And as depression is a deep form of self-aggressiveness, many people may, more or less subconsciously, develop this kind of self-aggressiveness also (or even mainly) because they do not deal with the evil which is inside them. Of course, spiritual and psychological levels are distinct and the priest cannot do the job of the psychologist; but, in the general neglect for the spiritual side which afflicts nowadays our society, I always more see people in need of spiritual help looking for it from psychology....
Confession is a great gift: and it is the only Sacrament which, at my knowledge, is open also to not Catholics. It is "love forever" and for everyone.
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