We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it.
Hans Urs von BalthasarWonder — the enthusiastic ardor for the sublimity of being, for its worthiness to be an object of knowledge — promises to become the point of departure for genuine insight only where it has reached the stage in which the subject, overwhelmed by the object, has, as it were, fused into a single point or into nothing.
Hans Urs von BalthasarGod defines himself as "I am who I am", which also means: My being is such that I shall always be present in every moment of becoming.
Hans Urs von BalthasarNo one should think he can quickly dispose of questions posed here offhandedly. It was precisely because writers were in the habit during the time of the Reformation of theologizing with a hammer that the split in the Church became irreparable. And to work at overcoming this split means much effort. Only the patient need apply.
Hans Urs von Balthasar