The Victory of Love: A Meditation of Romans 8 / Adrienne von Speyr

The mystic von Speyr provides profound and original meditations on each verse of St. Paul's rich summary of the meaning of the Christian faith. The eighth chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans, a radiant trumpet-call in the tremendous symphony of the Pauline writings, proclaims the ultimate victory of the love of God through Christ in the Holy Spirit in the faithful united as the Church. In our age, which has become focused on the darker side of man, von Speyr shows how the Christian needs nothing more urgently than the courage, inspiration and hope that God offers to us through these writings of St. Paul.

"For I am convinced that there is nothing in death or life, nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Our Lord."
— Saint Paul

"The Word of God must be accepted by man in the nakedness of his heart without compromise or safety-measures.... Nothing can hold back the constant extension of this victory of Christ's love. Saint Paul's proclamation has here the character of absolute though progressive totality."
— Hans Urs von Balthasar, From the Foreword

"A gripping meditation on Romans 8, one of the pivotal texts of Pauline Christology. A powerful trumpet blast for the prayerful reader sounded by one of the most extraordinary writers of our century."
— Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., Author, Spiritual Passages

Adrienne von Speyr was a contemporary Swiss convert, mystic, wife, medical doctor and author of some 70 books on spirituality and theology. She entered the Church under the direction of one the greatest theologians and spiritual writers of the 20th century, Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, who became her spiritual director and confessor for the last 30 years of her life. Her writings, recognized as a major contribution to the great mystical writings of the Church, are being translated and published by Ignatius Press. Among her most important works are Book of All Saints, Confession, The World of Prayer, Handmaid of the Lord, and The Passion from Within.