In the closing cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Dante the pilgrim finally beholds the vision for which his entire journey has prepared him: the beatific vision of God. The whole Comedy unfolds as a path towards that vision, a preparation. Dante does not begin in paradise, nor even in clarity. He begins “in a dark wood”, lost, disorientated, unable to find the straight way. His journey in search of himself and his love, Beatrice, leads him not just to a discovery of his true self but also to a discovery of the origin of his being, God Himself. His personal narrative leads him to a fuller understanding of his own soul, the world in which this soul has been placed, and the author of his soul Himself; the culminating end sees Dante diving into the endless sea of Love and Light that “moves all the stars”. But the path is long and arduous: the path is a process of purification, confession, forgiveness and finally transformation in grace.