perfect image of the Father .” 20
He writes :
Balthasar explains that God as “ safekeeping ” is also the only means to obtain truth of another .
Creatures are veiled from one another in their ultimate truth , but they are unveiled together before God . For this reason , the place where they were unveiled even for one another is no other than God . Just as each of them has its full truth in God , so , too they all have together their common truth in him . If one wants to know another , it must try to contemplate the other with God ' s eyes ; it must , like God , look above the other ' s defects through the medium of the archetype and measure , in order to overcome the distance between archetype and image in ( and unfailingly just ) love . 21
To contemplate the other through God ' s eyes is what love enables one to do . By gazing with the
receptive acceptance of what God intends in the person , we see the truth . God sees human potentiality . This unveiling of the truth in another is very clearly seen in the writings of Alice von Hildebrand .
Universal Call for All Women
“ each woman who lives in the light of eternity can fulfill her vocation , no matter if it is in marriage , in a religious order , or in a worldly vocation .”
- Edith Stein , The Spirituality of the Christian Woman 22
Women in every vocation are gifted with an insight comparable to the “ Tabor vision ” of the bride described by Alice von Hildebrand . In each state of life a woman is called to live , the special vision granted her is a share in God ' s vision held in safekeeping . It is a true participation in His own divine love and fruitfulness . The bride , the mother , the consecrated virgin , and even the single woman
20
Hans Urs von Balthasar , Theo-logic II : Truth of God , trans . Adrian J . Walker ( San Francisco : Ignatius Press , 2000 ), 181 .
21
Balthasar , Theo-logic I , 270-271 .
22
Edith Stein , Essays on Woman . Translated by Freda Mary Oben , Second Edition , Revised . ( Washington , D . C .: ICS Publications , 1996 ), 128 .
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