Prayer

I have found this book to be a challenging but rewarding read. Read it through once to get an overview, second time to get her message and subsequently to chew on selected passages for their affective value. Balthasar writes in a quasi-poetic style, reminiscent of writers like Alexander Schmemann and Abraham Heschel, on the subject of prayer and contemplation. He uses the word 'contemplation' in the broad sense of lifting one's heart and mind to God. He contends that the possibility of prayer is materialised through God's self-revelation in salvation history and particularly through the Word made flesh. It is the particularity of God's engagement with the world through the historical covenants that defines and gives shape to Christian prayer. This is different from attempts to connect with the Other through self-contemplation or absorption into the absolute being. Contemplation in the Christian tradition is therefore a concrete response to the Word of God that has entered into space and time through the particularities of human lives and supremely in the life of the Son of God. The fine example of Mary in her words, 'Let it be to me according to your word' is the embodiment of Christian contemplation that allows the Word to be born in us and take us where it will. "Contemplation's ladder, reaching up to heaven, begins with the word of scripture, and whatever rung we are on, we are never beyond this hearing of the word.... neither can we get beyond the word in its human form. It is in the humanity that we find God, in the world of sense that we find the Spirit." (preface, p.9) It is out of this Word-centred view of contemplation that Balthasar takes us through the various aspects of the prayer life that is rooted in the the total self-offering of the worshippers, liturgy, personal freedom and eschatology as well as the odd tensions within which one finds himself praying on this side of the eschaton. What we find here is a deep and comprehensive exposition of the full contours of Christian prayer that is characteristically trinitarian, rooted in salvation history and mediated by the Church. Written in the spirit of prayer, this spiritual masterpiece can be deeply nourishing when we take in a small portion at a time and ponder it deeply in our hearts.

Of all the books that I own by Hans Urs Von Balthasar this is my favorite. I have read it once and I still think I need to read it again to totally grasp the spiritual richness contained in it. Can't wait to read it again on my next vacation.

For American Christians lazily accustomed to psychospiritual pap, this book might seem overwrought and inaccessible. But don't get the wrong idea: this is not a book for arm-chair intellectuals either. Rather in this book we witness how a "kneeling theologian" savors the theological bouquet that is released in the vital practice of prayer. Doctrinally meticulous the way a lover is attentive to his beloved's every move, von Balthasar masterfully grounds Christian spirituality in Scripture and Patristic witness. Some familiarity with the Catholic tradition would help, but this book will be deeply edifying for anyone who believes that in Christ, heart and mind must interpenetrate each other--a compelling corrective to modern faith's flaky preoccupation with spirituality full of feelings and me-centeredness but void of Christological substance.

This book is refreshing. Deep down refreshing. Balthasar is one of those rare theologians that could write beautifully. Every sentence is like a rare jewel. I read this book slowly and savored every single thought.

The late h.u. von balthazar, the theologian du juer of the vatican was a brilliant,cultured theological giant,and also a man of deep and profound prayer.{do not let the fact that von balthazar has been co-opted by reactionaries daunt you. he is infinitely rewarding.}This book, divided into 3 sections;the act of contemplation;the object of contemplation andthe tensions of contemplation.though von balthazar can be dense and at times obtuse,this book is rich, the prose clear and at times,poetic,befitting its subject.This book is qiute literally a lifetime companion, for i believe it contains all of von Balthazar's wisdom, eriudition, and holiness[which is ,of course, a subjective thing.]Well, well worth the effort.As an aside, the publishers have done a commendable job with the presentation of this book. The binding is excellent, the pages themselves of fine qulaity. well done all around