The Grain of Wheat / Hans Urs von Balthasar

This volume is unique among the works of the great theologian and spiritual writer von Balthasar for it is a collection of short, personal and very readable reflections and aphorisms that are the fruit of his prayer and study over the course of his life on the central themes of the Christian spiritual life. Balthasar's style-intimate, lucid, precise and yet poetic, along with the intensity of his contemplative vision-invites every reader to meditate deeply on the fullness and dynamism of Christian truths in all their splendor.

In addition to his own meditations, Balthasar also includes quotes and thoughts from some 30 saints and spiritual writers including Augustine, Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Teresa of Avila, Fenelon, Therese of Lisieux and more.

These rich, thought-provoking gems provide wonderful meditations for laity by one of the masters of the spiritual life.

"Every careful reader of Hans Urs von Balthasar will discover that the precious alchemy of his thought results from the deeply fruitful marriage he achieves between keen intelligence and ardent piety, which is the very heart of the Christian intellectual endeavor. Balthasar proves to be one of the scant few thoroughly reliable teachers and pathfinders in the thicket of late-twentieth-century life because he himself exemplifies the truth of his own aphorism that only the one whose eyes can encompass much may be said to have an integrated vision."
—Dr. Erasmo Leiva, From the Foreword

“…meeting Balthasar was for me the beginning of a lifelong friendship I can only be thankful for. Never again have I found anyone with such a comprehensive theological and humanistic education as Balthasar and de Lubac, and I cannot even begin to say how much I owe to my encounter with them.”
— Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)