Perfect Alignment with God's Will in Paradise

Over the course of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the pilgrim Dante has journeyed from Hell to Heaven, descending both physically and spiritually before ascending to and encountering God. Throughout Hell and Purgatory, Dante learned about the consequences of sin and man’s need for redemption. His journey brought him closer to “the One who moves all things / [and] penetrates the universe with light” (Para. 1.1-2). Now that he is in Paradise, Beatrice and the other souls help him understand even more about God’s will and character. Though humans may not always understand God’s divine plan because of their limited intellect, the peace and contentment of the souls in Paradise assure Dante that God’s will is sovereign and just, and His love aligns both the souls’ and Dante’s will with His own. 

As he travels through each sphere, Dante realizes that the souls in Paradise are content because they have relinquished their individual will in order to align with God’s supreme will. The first sphere that Dante and his guide Beatrice visit explores topics such as God’s will and justice. In this sphere, they encounter a soul named Piccarda who is “blest with all the blest / who dwell within the slowest of spheres” (Para. 3.50-51). To humans, this hierarchy in Paradise that places Piccarda in one of the lower spheres seems unfair and unjust. However, Piccarda does not question her placement, nor does she desire to exist in a higher sphere as that would go against God’s will for her. Instead, Dante finds that she is happy and at peace because she has aligned her will with God’s. Beatrice explains that “God’s love [makes] the souls conform to His delight” (Para. 3.103). Piccarda and the other souls are content because they are immersed in God’s love, and therefore, are incapable of longing for anything else. As Piccarda and Dante converse, he learns that God’s “delight is [their own] / and in His order [they] rejoice and rest” (Para. 3.53-54). Piccarda and the other souls in Paradise genuinely enjoy serving and worshipping God. She exudes serenity and reflects God, even if she is dimmer than other souls in Paradise. Later, Dante and Beatrice ascend to the third sphere where they meet the bishop Folquet, another soul who helps Dante learn more about God’s divine will (Para. 9.95). After discussing his sinful tendency of being overly romantic and passionate, Folquet tells Dante that God has the ability to transform his sinful offenses. He explains that the souls in Paradise “don’t feel remorse,” but “smile at ease … for the power that orders and foresees” (Para. 9.103, 105). In Paradise, the souls are not troubled by their past sins. They recognize that God has forgiven them and replaced brokenness with beauty. As a result, the souls in Paradise do not dwell on their past sins but submit to God, turning their “love and vision to one goal” (Para. 31.27). 

Just as the heavenly souls surrender their will to God, Dante’s own will also aligns with God’s as he ascends towards the higher spheres. In Paradise, Dante no longer desires worldly pleasures, and his “soul [is] free / of all its many cravings to possess / anything else” but God (Para. 18.13-15). He has replaced his fleshly appetite with his hunger to learn more about God and His character. As he wanders through Paradise, speaking to souls and gazing upon the beauty that adorns each sphere, Dante acknowledges that no Earthly pursuit can compare to his current pursuit of God. Everything below is meaningless unless it somehow coincides with divine revelation. When Dante desires to know more about Christ’s atoning sacrifice in the seventh canto, Beatrice explains how Christ descended to Earth, “uniting human nature,” so that He could eventually die on the cross and save mankind from their sins (Para. 7.31). Dante the poet suggests that Jesus’s death was all the more generous because Jesus was sent to Earth in the flesh (Para. 7.116). Rather than simply giving humanity a pardon, God sent His son to be crucified. Such information helps Dante understand God’s abundant love for mankind which then allows him to discern and conform to God’s will. Near the end of the book, Dante finally reaches the highest sphere where his sight “[grows] pure and whole” (Para. 33.52). Because his will moves in harmony with God, he can look upon the radiant brightness that is God’s light. As he writes about his overwhelming, almost unimaginable, experience with this magnificent light, he explains that “all good—the object of the will— / is summed in [God]” (Para. 33.103). True goodness is contained in God, and the soul is unable to desire anything more when it comes in contact with that ultimate good, explaining why Dante and the souls in Paradise so easily conform to God’s will (Para. 33.105). 

Throughout his journey, Dante is enlightened about God’s character and will; however, he also recognizes that humans are limited beings and cannot understand everything. In canto nineteen, Dante presents questions about God’s just nature to the Eagle of justice. He asks the Eagle if an unbaptized person whose “actions and desires are good” will be condemned to Hell (Para. 19.73). Rather than giving Dante a straightforward answer that explains the inner workings of God’s mind, he simply asks “who are you, to perch upon your bench / and judge of things a thousand miles away, / who can’t see any farther than a span?” (Para. 19.79-81). The Eagle reminds Dante that he is a mortal. The human mentality is extremely limited and unable to judge such matters with their narrow understanding. God’s justice is far more complex and complete than humans’ intellect. In a later canto, the Eagle draws a parallel between Dante’s physical body and his intellect, stating that Dante’s “hearing is as mortal as [his] eyes” (Para. 21.61). Not only is his physical body extremely limited, but his mind is as well because God and “the profundities / of Heaven” (Para. 24.70-71) are “deeply concealed from human eyes (Para. 24.72).          

Although Dante and mankind as a whole lack understanding in regards to God’s divine will, both he and mankind can be certain that God’s will is supreme and just. Through conversations with the souls in Paradise, Dante learns that God deeply cares about His people and unites creation with Himself. As Paradise concludes, Dante says that his “will and [his] desires / turned—as a wheel in equal balance—by / the Love that moves the sun and the other stars” (Para. 33.143-145). His attitude towards God’s will and towards Paradise now matches that of the soul Piccarda’s. God’s love acts as a catalyst that unites Dante’s will with His own, and Dante is fully content, no longer desiring anything other than this

divine will.