The Curious Catholic Podcast

We've made it to the heights of the Empyrean—Heaven—with Dante and Beatrice. Surprisingly, we are met at this late stage by yet another guide, Bernard of Clairvaux. With Bernard we will praise the Blessed Mother, all the while preparing ourselves for the vision of God enjoyed by the blessed in Paradise. This vision—all too much for human language and craft to communicate

In this installment, we continue ascending with Beatrice and Dante through his "Paradiso." At the outset we find ourselves upon the Sun, encountering two 13th-century theological masters: Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. Interestingly they each courteously sing the praise of the other's spiritual father. Thomas the Dominican celebrates Francis of Assisi, while Bonaven

Now having ascended the heights of Mt. Purgatory, we are propelled by our love and desire into the Heavens as we enter the realm of Paradise with Dante and Beatrice, his guide.In this episode, we consider what Dante is up to in his imaginative conceiving of Heaven, some general themes of the Paradiso, and how we are meant for glory, both God's and our own.Then we consider the

Having moved beyond the obstacle that is pride, we now continue our journey up Mt. Purgatory. To aid our ascent and understanding, Virgil discourses on the nature of love, how we are by nature lovers, and how our love can go awry. That is, how it is that we sin. Before long, though, we get swept along--with Dante and his guide--by a bustling pack of the slothful who are making up f

Having washed off the soot of Hell, it's time to enter Purgatory. But not without humbling ourselves at Peter's Gate. The door is readily opened, we just have to humble ourselves before the angel guarding the way, expressing our contrition and sorrow for sin. Once on the inside, it's time to make our crooked loves straight. The first to uncrook is our pride. The purg

The good news is that we've made it out of Hell. The even better news is that we are now ready to begin our ascent of Mount Purgatory. In this episode we join Dante and Virgil by the sea, taking in the fresh air, the birdsong, and the warmth of the sun. We can breath free and deep. But we can't remain content with where we stand, we must begin our journey upward. To do th

Not that we've made our way through the Gates of Hell, today in our Lenten Dante Series we consider with Dante and Virgil the chosen fate of the denizens of the Inferno. This also happens to be a way for us to face, uncomfortably, the hellish tendencies hiding within ourselves. More specifically, in this episode we visit those characterized by their attachment to carnal sins--

Today we continue our Lenten journey through Dante's Divine Comedy as we approach the Gates of Hell, which bear the famous and harrowing inscription: "THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE CITY OF WOE, THROUGH ME THE WAY TO EVERLASTING PAIN, THROUGH ME THE WAY AMONG THE LOST . . . ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE."Now, we among the living, along with Dante the pilgrim in the

Come join us on a Lenten journey through Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, one of the most celebrated works in the Catholic imagination, and for all of us, an invitation to spiritual transformation.This first installment finds us, with Dante, waking in a Dark Wood, midway in our life's journey. Unaware as to how we arrived there, we seek the way forward, fearful, thoug

We've recently been considering briefly some of the contemporary Catholic poetry scene by conversing with poet A. M. Juster, and the Editor-in-Chief of Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, Mary Ann Miller. Today we'll wrap up this three-part series by speaking with poet Jane Greer, whose new collection of poems, titled Love Like a Conflagration, is a must-read, and I d