Welcome back to the Word on Fire show.

I'm your host, Matthew Petrusig.

We are continuing our walk through Bishop Barron's lecture series

on one of the most important Catholic theologians

of the 20th century, Hans Ores von Balthasar. Enjoy. With this lecture, we're making a

transition from the hairlishkite, the glory of the Lord, those books that are the first part of

Baltazar's trilogy. Now to the second part, which is called theodramatique, the theodrama, and then finally you go to theologic, theologic.

Again, the movement is from the beautiful, the splendid, to the good, which is the level of play.

And then finally to the true, which is understanding.

Remember my baseball analogy, it was the splendor of the game that first drew me in.

And then I wanted to play. Then having played, I came to understand. And that's the rhythm here in Baltazar.

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind as we get going. First of all, remember, this is someone trained in the

Jesuit tradition. So I've talked a lot about the spiritual exercises and sitting in a

contemplative spirit in the presence of the form of Christ. That's a very important part.

As the Jesuit will meditate upon scenes from the life of Christ, he's taking in the objectivity of the form.

But here's a second dimension, very important, of the Ignatian exercises.

The purpose is to bring someone to the point of what they call election, of choice, of decision. Having been summoned by Christ, you now have to make a

decision. Do I give my life to him or not? Do I fight with his army or with Satan's army? That's a way

to put it very dramatically. But the exercises

are meant to summon you to action. They're about the play, if you want, between the infinite

freedom of God and the finite freedom that we have. So that's an important dimension of this, the Ignatian. Here's a second thing.

Critics of Baltazar, when the first part of the trilogy came out, when they read the

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