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This year is the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, perhaps the greatest poet philosopher in the Italian language. Dante’s most famous work the Divine Comedy, is set around the events of this coming week in the Christian calendar: Holy Week. Dante begins his poem in the dark gloom of a desolate forest the night before Holy Thursday. From here the utterly weary soul sets out on an arduous journey. Descending into hell, confronting the demons, Dante climbs the seven stepped mountain of purgatory, and emerges eventually on Easter Day into the beautiful garden of paradise. The Divine Comedy is a journey into the heart of what it means to be human: our fears, torments and passions, in search of what might be truly good and truly redemptive. All of life is in its pages. Given that physical journeys have been off limit for so long, most of us can only dream of epic journeys through mountains and forests, but we might still identify with Dante’s arduous journey of the soul. No two journeys through this pandemic have been the same, and our stories of loss, anger, surprise joy, grief, realisation, renewal have yet to be told. We hold them tightly to our chests, no place yet to let them go. At the end of this year, we are the same, and we are not the same. It is a journey we have made together, but it has been an intensely personal journey. Dante enters the forest alone but what saves him from despair is the companionship he finds. He is guided first of all by the philosopher Virgil, representing reason. And then by the beautiful Beatrice, representing love and hope. Through companionship, Dante learns that no one saves themselves alone. When Dante finally reaches Easter with the aid of his companions, he is able to see and feel differently. He can see and feel with a full heart that he is being ‘turned, like a wheel revolving smoothly by the Love that moves the sun and all the stars.’ Seeing that creation is love that holds all life in motion is overwhelming for him, and his spirit soars. Whether it is in the rituals of holy week, that too, hold all of life within them, or glimpsed in birdsong, spring growth or the face of another person, this is a week to renew weary souls. On this anniversary we might raise a toast to Dante as our literary guide to this life-long journey of love.