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 Ors von Balthasar. Enjoy.

We're talking about Urs van Balthasar's Theodramatique, the Theodrama.

Theodrama is always about the play between finite freedom, that means our freedom, and the infinite

freedom of God. It's that play that will matter. Now, when you're

talking about freedom, you're talking about the value that is probably most important to modern

people, right? Think of our own country. You know, we're the land of the free and the home of the

brave. Don't tread on me. My personal freedom is perhaps the supreme

value. What's really interesting about Baltazar, and he's standing here right in the heart of the

Catholic tradition, is to say that our freedom is real, but it's most real precisely in relation to

a higher freedom. See, the goal that we often set for ourselves is autonomy. I'm in

charge. I'm in control. I'm free. I decide what to do or not to do. When in fact, that's a false

form of freedom. Authentic freedom is always in relationship to a higher freedom. So how can we begin just to approach that question to see what he's driving it?

Here's a first suggestion.

If you're saying there is something in French, you'd say ilia,

which means like it there has.

Or in Spanish you'd say aye, and I is related to Abert, to have, right? But in German, mind you, Baltazar's mother tongue, in German, if you want to say there is, you say

es gipped, which means it gives.

That's a very curious thing.

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