12/03/2026
"The contemplative’s gaze continually returns with great attention to the humanity of Jesus. It is the inexhaustible treasure entrusted to us. The Son is no floating interstellar body: he is born of this earth and its history; he comes from Mary just as he comes from the Father. He is grace ascending just as much as grace descending; he is just as much creation’s highest response to the Father as he is the Father’s Word to creation. He is no God in disguise, acting 'as if.' No. He is the apex of the world in its strivings towards God. All the kitsch to be found in Christian life and Christian art arises from the failure to take the humanity of Christ seriously."
–Hans Urs von Balthasar, Prayer