died or have not yet completed the process of repentance or all of the sevensacraments. Unlike Hell where it is eternal, people in Purgatory will eventuallycomplete their penanceand make it to Paradise the Kingdom of God. If you are in Purgatory youare on your wayto Paradise or Heaven but you still need some cleansing but you willeventually make it intoParadise. Purgatory is not eternal. Purgatory is not probation or apunishment; the peoplethere are glad to be there because they know that someday they will be atGod's side inParadise. Purgatory is a place of discipline. This is one of the moreimaginary elements ofthe Divine Comedy because we do not know much about it, although we reallydo notknow much about Heaven or Hell either except for what we read about in theBible andthere really are not many references to Purgatory in the Bible.Dante depicts Paradise as a very Holy and beautiful place which ishow peopleperceive it, but it is still different in many ways. Paradise is a placeof reward for peoplewhom consciously chose a righteous way of life. To enter Paradise aperson must bewashed pure and white as snow. To be saved is not enough to get intoParadise; you musteither live a fully righteous and Godlike life, or you must be repentantfor all sins. In orderto repent you must go through the seven sacraments of baptism,confirmation, matrimony,extreme unction, Eucharist, ordination, and penance step- by-step. DantedepictedParadise as a White Rose or Mystic Rose in which God was at the center andsaintssurrounded Him. This is a good picture in that a white rose symbolizespurity, perfectionand divine love which are all characteristics of God, so it is fittingthat God place is thronein the center of a white rose. The white rose is a fitting word picturefor God, but is justdifferent from what people would imagine as the home or throne of God.The Divine Comedy was a somewhat realistic yet somewhat imaginarystory thatentertained mill...
