Word and Silence: Hans Urs Von Balthasar and the Spiritual Encounter Between East and West by Raymond Gawronski

Author:Raymond Gawronski [Gawronski, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Christianity, Catholic
ISBN: 9781621381105
Google: dA8UrgEACAAJ
Amazon: 1621381102
Publisher: Angelico Press
Published: 2015-02-03T23:00:00+00:00

IV

Hochzeitlichkeit: The Word Weds Silence

Introduction

It is a curious thing that in our sex-obsessed culture, the differentiation of the sexes in expected social roles, occupations, clothing, appearance should be diminished to the point of disappearing. Or perhaps this should be put differently. Perhaps it is in a society that would turn a blind eye to gender differences that sexuality emerges as a raw wound. We had seen earlier that Balthasar loudly and constantly celebrates the diversity of creation. The uniqueness of each bit of reality speaks of the imaginative power of the poet-God who has created all by His Word. Moreover, this God is a Trinity of Persons who in Himself has the Other, a richness of diversity within unity which is at the essence of the Creator. It thus stands to reason that His creation should mirror this diversity.

Because of the Incarnation, one must go further. We have seen that because there is the Other in God, there is room for the Other in God: there is room for a world redeemed on the Cross to be taken up into the divine life, in the Son. In this chapter, we turn our attention to that Other “outside of” God, the creature(s) to whom His Word is issued. We first consider the qualities required of one who would receive that Word which Balthasar habitually describes as a “seed.” We then turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was the perfect receiver of that Word, a virgin whose virginity will bear fruit. We look at her preparation for that reception in the history of her people Israel, as a member of the anawim. Mary’s reception of the Word was such that she was the perfect “hearer of the Word.” Yet as we shall see her hearing was not merely passive: the divine action was to provoke a responding word from her, in which her action revealed her affirmation, her “yes” (Jawort).

The whole issue of eros and agape requires our attention, as eros—human longing—is so much at the heart of being human, and as its interplay with agape forms the distinctive ambience of Christian spirituality in Balthasar. Here we will spend some time exploring what Balthasar calls the “theology of the sexes,” which includes what today might be called a study in “sex roles.” Analogy being the lens through which Balthasar views reality, the whole question of male and female, how each originates and how this determines their interaction will richly illustrate the relation of God and His People.

This relation which we have seen take concretion in the Virgin Mary moves into a new dimension as the “bridal mystery,” connubiality (Hochzeitlichkeit), in which the divine Bridegroom creates His Bride from His fullness on the Cross. Here we find:

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