Status Updates From Purgatorio

“'Please, so may justice and mercy soon unburden you and give you wings to lift you up as high as you desire,

show us the shortest crossing to the stairs, and if there is more than one ascent, let us know where the drop is not so steep,

'for he that comes along with me, burdened with the weight of Adam's flesh, though eager to ascend, is slow at climbing?”

“If good is always said of us up there, what can be said and done for them on earth by those whose wills have roots in good?
Surely we should help them wash away the stains they carried with them, so that pure and light they may approach the star-hung spheres.”

“One may go up to San Leo or descend to Noli or mount to the summits of Bismantova or Cacume on foot, but here one had to fly—

I mean with the swift wings and plumage of great desire, following that guidance which gave me hope and showed me light.”