{"id":3753,"date":"2015-09-09T06:05:02","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T11:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?p=3753"},"modified":"2015-09-09T06:22:12","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T11:22:12","slug":"there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/","title":{"rendered":"“There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God” – Hans Urs von Balthasar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"682px-Mother-Child_face_to_face\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar<\/a>:<\/p>\n

After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s smile in response.<\/p>\n

She has awakened love in the heart of her child, and as the child awakens to love, it also awakens to knowledge: the initially empty-sense impressions gather meaningfully around the core of the Thou.<\/p>\n

Knowledge (with its whole complex of intuition and concept) comes into play, because the play of love has already begun beforehand, initiated by the mother, the transcendent . . .<\/p>\n

The first thing that must strike a non-Christian about a Christian\u2019s faith is that it is all too daring.<\/p>\n

It is too beautiful to be true.<\/p>\n

The mystery of being, unveiled as absolute love, coming down to wash the feet and the souls of its creatures; a love that assumes the whole burden of our guilt and hate, that accepts the accusations that shower down, the disbelief that veils God again when he has revealed himself, all the scorn and contempt that nails down his incomprehensible movement of self-abasement\u2014all this, absolute love accepts in order to excuse his creature before himself and before the world . . .<\/p>\n

God . . . \u201cI am who I am\u201d . . . also means:<\/p>\n

My being is such that I shall always be present in every moment of becoming . . .<\/p>\n

There will never be beings unloved by God, since God is absolute love . . .<\/p>\n

Faith means the fundamental response to the love that has offered itself up for me.<\/p>\n

It thus becomes clear that faith is ordered primarily to the inconceivability of God\u2019s love, which surpasses us and anticipates us.<\/p>\n

Love alone is credible; nothing else can be believed, and nothing else ought to be believed<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From\u00a0<\/span>Love Alone<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(1968),\u00a0<\/span>Unless You Become Like This Child<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(1991), and\u00a0<\/span>Dare We Hope?<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>(1988), with all due credit, and my many thanks, to \u00a0UCAN Spirituiality<\/a>\u00a0for today\u2019s inspiration, as well as all of the quotations and their specific placement herein derived from these von Balthasar references.\u00a0<\/span>Any errors in transcription remain solely mine.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>,\u00a0Robert Whitehead<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s smile in response. She has awakened love in the heart of her child, and as the child awakens to love, it also awakens to knowledge: the initially empty-sense impressions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1976,"featured_media":3754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God" - Hans Urs von Balthasar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God" - Hans Urs von Balthasar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Pending\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-09T11:05:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-09T11:22:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/454\/2015\/09\/682px-Mother-Child_face_to_face.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Zampino\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Zampino\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God\\\" - Hans Urs von Balthasar\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-09T11:05:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-09T11:22:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7\"},\"description\":\"A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God” – Hans Urs von Balthasar\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/\",\"name\":\"Grace Pending\",\"description\":\"Verso L'alto\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7\",\"name\":\"Tom Zampino\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tom Zampino\"},\"description\":\"Tom Zampino is an attorney in private practice in New York City who makes his home on Long Island. He and his beautiful and accomplished wife have raised two fantastic daughters, four cats, two dogs, and various other domesticated creatures over the past three decades.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/author\/tzampino\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God\" - Hans Urs von Balthasar","description":"A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God\" - Hans Urs von Balthasar","og_description":"A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/","og_site_name":"Grace Pending","article_published_time":"2015-09-09T11:05:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-09-09T11:22:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":682,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/454\/2015\/09\/682px-Mother-Child_face_to_face.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tom Zampino","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Zampino","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/","name":"\"There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God\" - Hans Urs von Balthasar","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-09T11:05:02+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-09T11:22:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7"},"description":"A contemplation for today, from\u00a0Hans Urs von Balthasar: After a mother has smiled at her child for many days and weeks, she finally receives her child\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/09\/there-will-never-be-beings-unloved-by-god-hans-urs-von-balthasar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“There Will Never Be Beings Unloved by God” – Hans Urs von Balthasar"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/","name":"Grace Pending","description":"Verso L'alto","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7","name":"Tom Zampino","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tom Zampino"},"description":"Tom Zampino is an attorney in private practice in New York City who makes his home on Long Island. He and his beautiful and accomplished wife have raised two fantastic daughters, four cats, two dogs, and various other domesticated creatures over the past three decades.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/author\/tzampino\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}