But the saints are never the kind of killjoy spinster aunts who go in for faultfinding and lack all sense of humor. (Nor should the Karl Barth who so loved and understood Mozart be regarded as such.)For humor is a mysterious but unmistakable charism inseparable from Catholic faith, and neither the "progressives" nor the "integralists" seem to possess it - the latter even less than the former.
Hans Urs von BalthasarConsequently, Christian meditation is entirely trinitarian and at the same time entirely human. In order to find God, no one need reject being human personally or socially, but in order to find God all must see the world and themselves in the Holy Spirit as they are in God's sight.
Hans Urs von BalthasarThe Passion narratives are the first pieces of the Gospels that were composed as a unity.
Hans Urs von BalthasarA truth that is merely handed on, without being thought anew from its very foundations, has lost its vital power.
Hans Urs von Balthasar