Human satisfaction comes from the discovery and manifestation that God has prepared for each of us in
the creation of our individual natures.
All of creation has a truth and purpose known fully only in the mind of God. Balthasar
describes how God “safekeeps” all things: “The archetype of every creature lives in God, and, because
it was conceived and beheld by God, this archetype contains and expresses the entire plenitude of the
creature's perfection (which is possible only in God).”15 We need not fear the truth, because the truth
about our best-self is in God's “safekeeping”. So, following God's plan is never contrary to our best
interests. Our deepest desire is to discover this plan and thereby serve God's majesty. The awareness of
God's “safekeeping” holds the great joy that turning to accept with “indifferent readiness” the vision
God has of us will lead us to fulfillment.
Balthasar holds that we must be receptive to find the truth in God's “safekeeping”. He defines
receptivity variously as “accessibility to another's being,”16 to have the “capacity to be approached,
affected, and prompted to activate knowledge,”17 to have the “capacity to let oneself be enriched with
the gift of another's distinctive truth.”18 This receptivity is evidenced in the Blessed Trinity. The Trinity
he writes is, “a giving (in the Father), a receiving (in the Son), and a gift given to the Spirit by Father and
Son together, and a cause for thanksgiving by the Son and the Spirit....always both what is possessed and
what is given away....God is essentially spirit, self-giving, receiving, and loving.”19 This receptivity is also
revealed in the life of Jesus Christ. Balthasar explains, “the Son is the archetype of all creation and the
15
16
17
18
19
Ibid., 264-265.
Ibid., 264-265.
Ibid., 44.
Ibid.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, Vol. V: The Last Act, trans. Graham Harrison (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998), 76.
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