Christmas and adoration

Natal and Adoration: Mary before the Son of God

A Meditation by Hans Urs von Balthasar (1977)

Who was von Balthasar?

Hans Urs von Balthasar (Lucerna, August 12, 1905 – Basel, June 26, 1988) was a Swiss priest, theologian, and writer. He is regarded as one of the most significant theologians of the 20th century.Von Balthasar was a Jesuit until 1950. That year, he left the Society of Jesus in Basel, due to his close friendship and spiritual guidance of Adrienne von Speyr, a widowed Protestant convert to Catholicism.She was a Protestant doctor who converted to Catholicism in 1940, twice widowed, and suffered from chronic health issues. Through her mystical experiences, she profoundly influenced Balthasar’s subsequent thought.Most of Balthasar’s writings were translated into Italian, and the journal he founded with Henri de Lubac, Karl Lehmann, and Joseph Ratzinger, *Communio*, is currently published in twelve languages. He is known as the theologian who advocated for a “*theology of the knees*”, where theological reflection must be connected to prayer and adoration.

*Natal and Adoration* [Full Text]

From the three Magi who visit the Child and His Mother, it is said that «they prostrated themselves and worshiped Him» (Mt 2:11). The same can certainly be said of the shepherds, and no Nativity scene representation fails to show their act of veneration, for they know, by the angel’s words, that this Child is the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord.How many ancient images also show Mary in silent adoration before the Child, lying on the ground. Christmas offers completely new opportunities for worshiping God as the Old Testament always knew it, for example in the Psalms, and thus also in a completely new way: it is permitted and requested that we worship God in this little Child whom He has sent to us.This arouses such astonishment that it also obliges us to reflect in a new way on the act of adoration, an act that has become largely alien to us in our secularized age.If we still have a personal relationship with God, we pray mainly to ask Him for something, and that is right. But we rarely thank Him. Of the ten lepers healed by Jesus, after all, only one returned to thank Him. Or we make an act of resignation to the divine eternal counsel in its incomprehensibility, if, for example, a suffering befalls us, and that is also right. But it is not the same: to resign oneself, to be content with one’s fate, is not to worship.What then is adoration?God is unique and incomparable, and infinitely mysterious. So also the act by which we recognize Him as God, as our God, with all our being, is unique and therefore not easy to define: nevertheless, let us try. It is to recognize that God exists only for Himself, while all created reality exists because of His omnipotent will and action, and therefore has its roots in Him, the only Unconditional, Absolute. And therefore to recognize that God is pure and simple truth, that Truth in which all truth is true and, consequently, always certain, whatever He does or permits. It is the greatest folly to argue with God, as if one could convince Him of an error or injustice, and that l’homme révolté destroys his own nature. Let us then recognize that God is pure and simple good, that Good in which all good is good and, therefore, not only is always just, but is also, by His being and disposition, always worthy of being loved without condition, with the respect and abandonment of all our heart.How and where can I worship God?Let us then acknowledge that God is purely and simply beautiful, that Beauty in which all beauty is beautiful, and therefore we cannot but agree with Him enthusiastically and serve Him in joy, as the Psalmist exults in the spirit and as Paul demands of the Christian: “Sing hymns of praise to God, full of gratitude in your hearts” (Col 3:16; Eph 5:19).As an absolute truth, God is, according to Scripture, “our rock” that cannot fail (cf. Deut 32:4; Ps 17:3; 30:4; 143:2). As goodness, He is our “pastor,” the “wing under which we take refuge” (cf. Ps 22; 60:5; 62:8; 90:4). As beauty, He is the Lord of “glory” (herrlichkeit, δόξα), the full blessing and enchanting charm that captivates us (cf. Ps 28:3; 18:2).All this we already find in the Old Testament: the heart of the pious Israelite already surrenders itself into God’s hands, returns to Him with gratitude and trust, in a reverence so profound as the abyss, yet without fear.Do so, because God is also like that!If God is then a child, with this He tells us: in all my omnipotence, that I truly am and possess, I am at the same time poor and humble and full of trust like this child, indeed, not only “like”: I am that child.And when Jesus teaches, He will speak of placing oneself last, of serving, of giving one’s life for the brothers: but this is not a moral teaching for men, but something He Himself does, and He is, and therefore it is a manifestation of the heart of God, His Father.And again, trembling!, if Jesus suffers for sinners, and bears the weight of sin, He no longer hears His Father, and cries out as one who is forsaken, thirsty for God, again, God is!”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16), down to a moment outside of time, a point of abandonment by God. And if Jesus distributes himself as food and drink: “God is also!”In fact, it is the Father who offers us the Word and the flesh of God, this Word and flesh stained with blood, torn and lacerated by men, to make us participants in his eternal life. And if the heart of Jesus is pierced and, emptied, becomes a hollow in which one can place their finger (cf. John 19:34, 20:27), and a whole man, “In thy wounds I take refuge” (cf. Anima Christi prayer): “God is also!” A wound that reaches the depths of the heart and in which we find healing.The Simplicity of the Mystery of ChristmasTo say such things is not exaltation, but a Christian reflection with all the simplicity on the mystery of Christmas. The Word of God became flesh: flesh that suckles the mother’s womb, that then has to travel its path amidst life’s difficulties, that has to suffer terribly and die, and yet, in all conditions, it is the Word of God and speaks to us about the essence of God, his truth, goodness, and beauty.Do we adore the flesh, then? No: only God do we adore, God, the only thing we are not, God, the “altogether Other,” who is by himself, Almighty: but who loved to show us that he is powerful enough to be even defenseless.Blessed is he who is even sufficient to suffer. Glorious is he who is even placed in the lowest place of his creation. And God does not act “as if”: as if he were humble, a child, and poor. Instead, this is precisely his mystery: his wealth consists in an eternal love that is poured out without retaining anything, and his power consists in the possibility of giving power and freedom in turn to other beings, whom he does not want to dominate with his power, or with any other power than the impotence of his cross.God Knows the Heartfelt Feelings of a SonAnd how could we think that God does not know in his heart, the one who created the sons, the heartfelt feelings of a son?And here we may ask: is there a more mysterious and inconceivable God than the God of Christians, precisely because He is a God not only distant but near, a God who does not need to seek out above the clouds and worship from an insurmountable distance, but rather that concerns us as humans, even being human, and with all this He does not cease to be truly God, the “totally Other”, the Eternal, the Immortal, and the Omnipotent?With the mystery of Christmas, this God has not lost any of His indefinability, on the contrary, He has become even more elusive. Only now are we beginning to understand to what extent the divine omnipotence really reaches: the power to be even a defenseless child. And we cannot turn away from this God, under the pretext that here “we understand nothing at all” (for God is indeed God, or only a man?).Indeed, we are continually sent back, whether we want to or not, to His presence among us: a presence that has remained visible to all since the birth of Jesus. No matter how we turn and turn over, the figure of Jesus always appears before us. We can become Marxists or Buddhists: we cannot escape Him.Since the first Christmas, the history of the world has become different. From now on, only a yes or a no to this God who became concrete in Christ. To be truly atheist is only possible now. And the possibility of a deeper worship than Christianity, if it is authentic, is henceforth excluded.The Magi, the shepherds, and MaryThe Magi, the shepherds, and Mary: all of them adore the Child, as later the disciples, upon reaching faith, will adore the Man Jesus, because they recognize that He is the Personal Word, the expression, the “explanation” of God. There is not an aspect of Jesus Christ that does not declare: thus is God, thus is my and your heavenly Father, thus is our eternal Spirit. I am showing you so that you may know, and so that you may also direct your life in the same way: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, who makes his sun rise on the good and the evil” (Mt 5:48).In the Word Incarnate, therefore, we can worship God in a new and Christian way, since this Word does not merely indicate God from afar, but is itself the divine Word, coming from the mouth and heart of God. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1), and this “Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14) and “explained” that God who no one has ever seen (Jn 1:18).But what about the rest of the world? Of the men around us, of all our occupations? All of this is not God in any way, and therefore not worthy of worship. Is there not some truth in the cliché that there is something divine in the depths of man?As Christians, we answer: yes, every man has something divine in him. However, not because of his nature, but because of God’s grace, in which all men are destined, chosen, and called to be sons of the Father and brothers of Jesus, and to bear the Holy Spirit of God.Many, probably the majority, know little or nothing about this vocation and live their lives as if nothing is eternal. And so too, when they meet another man, they do not see anything transcendent. They see his face, his mannerisms, his pleasant and unpleasant traits, they like this and that irritates them. They do not see that he is in Christ, a son of the Father, loved because Christ became a surety for him and made him his brother. Or, if you prefer, a son whom the Father loved so much that he gave his Son Jesus Christ for him. Paying, therefore, a high price for this love (cf. 1 Cor 6:20, 7:23).In men like these, men generally do not see anything beyond a similar being, a random example among millions of others, minted in the same coin: a small coin. There are some who have had more success: they have greater purchasing power, or greater value for the collector, than the rest, the majority. The sociology and psychology that are in fashion today always start from the assumption that “a man is a man,” that basically everyone is replaceable by everyone else, because in the end they are all made according to the same model, cast in the same mold, shaped on the same lathe.Only the Christian has the possibility of perceiving in each man who comes to his encounter something unique: a being that God does not know summarily, as if it were a random example, but that God loves in his singularity, which cannot be repeated or replaced. This possibility is given only from Jesus Christ. The voice from Heaven resounded over him: “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Mt 3:17, Lk 3:22). You and no one else. You, who with no one else can be equal or exchanged. But in you, Jesus, all these men, in whose name you give your life, have become dear to me, each of them in you has acquired something of your uniqueness.Conformed to the image of his Son.We are all, says the Apostle, “conformed to the image of his Son,” who thus became “the firstborn among many brothers” (Rm 8:29). And in God’s eternal thought, we have never been anything but these beloved children and daughters, “chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world to be holy before him” (Ef 1:4).If this is true, and it is, then what does the Christian see in his fellow man? Not a problematic specimen of humanity, cheap and supremely imperfect. Rather, despite all his faults, a unique and irreplaceable piece that God loves personally with a unique love, regardless of how buried the image of God may be in him. But the love that loves this man is worthy of adoration. We do not say, it would be ridiculous, that men should worship each other. We mean to say only one serious and far-reaching thing: each one can and must become an opportunity for the other to adore God’s love for us, for each individual as God sees him.Thus, on the one hand, there is no need to raise any dividing wall between the moments we set aside for prayer and (we hope) adoration to God. On the other, everyday life, in which we have to think about completely different matters. Of course, if in our days we do not reserve a free moment to direct our thoughts expressly and directly to God, remembering his eternal love for each one of us, nothing of this kind will come to mind when we meet others in the confusion of everyday life.But once, meditating on the mystery of Christmas, we penetrate to find God’s love, that love worthy of our adoration, there is no longer any reason to leave this attitude of adoration throughout our day: for not only are we constantly surrounded by this mystery, but every encounter with any man places it back before our eyes.There is a wonderful ancient Latin hymn for the adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, which used to be found in all prayer books. Its first verse reads as follows:> “I adore thee, hidden Deity, which beneath these figures truly reveals thyself to my heart, for in contemplating thee, my whole being is consumed.”We could translate these words thus: «I adore you devotedly, O hidden Divinity, who truly hides herself under these figures, to you, my heart submits entirely, for, contemplating you, all fades away».The figures of the worldIt seems to me that the expression «these figures» can be read as referring not only to the types of bread and wine in which the Divinity is hidden, but also to all the figures of the world: first, those of men, then also the others, who are created for man and form part of his earthly home. Whoever is able to see the world with this attitude, and thanks to this gaze, is able to resist the trial of the world, of a man like this, will be said to be in the presence of God.Many hold the opinion that to reach this point, a long preparation is needed, a diligent practice of meditation techniques. I do not believe this. We simply need to recall our faith, which at Christmas takes on its visible pledge: «God so loved the world» (Jn 3:16), each one of us individually. This entirely given Son is before our eyes. Here at Christmas, here on the Cross, here at Easter. Here, every day holy to the Church.We cannot conclude our contemplation of Christmas without a final thought. The Son was not forced by the Father to become incarnate like this, to make himself this Son before us: he is indeed the same and unique God with the Father, perfectly free and sovereign as the Father and the Holy Spirit are. He, the Son, offered himself from eternity, in divine freedom, to act as guarantor of the Father’s creation. And it is on the basis of this offering that the Trinity was able to dare to create a world as it actually became, and even to say of it «very good» (Gen 1:31).The Son, on the Cross, will make a single bundle of all the indescribable pains of the world and will take them upon himself, presenting to the Father the proof that even in the midst of abandonment by God, one can still love and adore God above all.But what happens in the heart of the Father in the meantime?Was the offer of himself by the Son not touched by him from eternity and pierced to the core?Must it not have remained eternally filled with wonder that such a thought could have arisen from the abyss of divine freedom?How, then, can we express this idea of opposition or distinction between divine persons in the single divinity in a way that remains faithful to human language?

And if, on this Holy Night, the work is done, and the Father sees His Son lying before Him, a child, already marked by the hour of darkness that is to come: is this not a marvel of the Father, a form of adoration of a very high order?

And how could the Father not adore the miracle of the divine love of the Son, just as the Son, in His earthly life, constantly adored the Father and His will, which is one with His love?

“Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:9-10): this is certainly a prayer of adoration. And how could the Holy Spirit, who is the expression and witness of the mutual love between the Father and the Son, not adore this eternal mutual adoration?

In the unfathomable depths of His essence, God is a miracle. He is so by Himself in the mystery of His threeness. God never gets used to God. Everything in Him is an eternal present event: the generation of the Son from the Father and the procession of the Holy Spirit, a flame that breaks forth from the constant new penetration of the Father’s and the Son’s love. And all this is, in the eyes of God Himself, worthy of adoration.

Therefore, we cannot think that to adore God means to fulfill a problematic duty. With adoration, we only enter into the truth, goodness, and beauty of God Himself. And we do nothing but fulfill the law of truth, goodness, and beauty of our own existence: since God “is not far from each of us. In Him we live, move, and have our being, because we are from Him” (Acts 17:27-28).

To delve deeper into the presence of Mary at Christmas and the devotional aspects of the Nativity, consult Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus on Marian feasts in the liturgical year.

Further Study: Explore Mariology, Theology Mariana, Marian Apparitions, and the Post-Graduate Studies in Mariology.