Each step is different. The first step is polished white marble. The second step is black and crumbling. And the third step is a vibrant red, like fire or blood.
Commentators tend to associate the three steps with the three stages of repentance. The polished, mirror-like first step represents self-examination. The black and crumbling second step represents grief and sorrow for sin. And the final, flame-red step represents penance and purgation.
Examen.
Sorrow.
Penance.
These are the three steps into Purgatory, the three steps of repentance, the preliminary requirements that set up the purification that is to follow as the Pilgrim ascends the mountain.
In my daily prayer discipline, I struggle with that first step, examen. I dutifully pray the Evening Office, but I don't regularly take the time to add the prayer of examen, going back over the day and meditating on consolations and desolations, where I drew close to God and where I moved away from God. Because of this, I think my prayers don't impact me as much as they should, from a spiritual formation perspective.
All that to say, this bit of the Divine Comedy reminded me how important it is to take that first step of self-examination. Nothing changes if you don't take the time to look closely at yourself.
