Some Wisdom from Von Balthasar

"When you say Yes to God unconditionally, you have no idea how far this Yes is going to take you.  Certainly farther than you can guess and calculate beforehand… but just how far and in what form? At the same time, this Yes is the sole, non-negotiable prerequisite of all Christian understanding, of all theology and ecclesial wisdom."   ~ Hans Urs Von Balthasar

Hans Urs von Balthasar
1905-1988

Last year at this time, I was knee deep in dense, heavy theological works by and about Hans Urs von Balthasar. Although I definitely don't miss the long reading schedule, I do sometimes miss von Balthasar. Call me crazy, but spending a year and a half intensively reading the works of one man (and barely making a dent in his over 100 published works) made me a little attached to him. An embarrassing anecdote to illustrate this point: I had finally finished the last formal biography of von Balthasar, which ended on his funeral, and I started crying! In my defense, the author painted a very moving portrait of the event and listed all the ways in which von Balthasar would be missed, but I had gotten a little bit emotionally attached to this little Swiss priest who seemed to embody childlike humility and humor in his writings.

My favorite work to read of his was Unless You Become Like this Child. Written in 1988, it was one of his last published works, meant specifically for John Paul II, who was a close personal friend of von Balthasar's. It was such a beautiful reflection on spiritual childhood, that it almost seemed irreverent to have to breeze through it to maintain my reading schedule. I do hope to read it again in the near future, and take the time to reflect on the words of von Balthasar.