Heart of the World – Conference 1 – Meditations on the Paschal Mystery with Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor



Heart of the World – Meditations on the Paschal Mystery with Dr. Anthony Lilles

Join Dr. Anthony Lilles and Kris McGregor as they offer a type of “online retreat” based on the spiritual work Heart of the World written by Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar.

In this first “conference” talk, Dr. Lilles discusses, as a primer for the retreat, the teachings of Fr. von Balthasar found in Christian Mediation.

Dr. Lilles will talk about the disposition for entering into prayer during this particular time.  He will discuss the nature of “spiritual exercises” as expressed by St. Ignatius of Loyola

Dr. Lilles will offer solid direction about entering into mental prayer during this “retreat” time and how to experience the encounter with the Word.

He will also offer suggestions for further reading for this grace-filled time and how to create a space for prayer given the circumstances you mind find yourself.

He would especially encourage the listener to read The Gospel of John 13 – 19 during this time.

Though having the books mentioned in this “retreat” are not necessary, we would encourage you at some to purchase these outstanding spiritual classics.

You find the paperback book and ebook discussed in this first conference here

From the book description:

When it comes to meditation the decisive question, according to Hans Urs von Balthasar, is whether God has spoken or “whether the Absolute remains the Silence beyond all words”. Christianity claims God has spoken, and spoken fully, in his Son, the Word made flesh. While God remains mysterious, he is not utterly unknown or unknowable.

Von Balthasar insists through Christian meditation we enter with mind and heart into God’s self-disclosure. In Jesus, God reveals his own inner depths to us. At the same time, because Jesus is God-made-man, he also reveals our inner depths to ourselves.

Christian Meditation is at once a book about what meditation is, in light of God’s revelation, and a book that assists believers to meditate. In a treatment that is both fresh and profound, von Balthasar describes the central elements of all Christian meditation, provides a guide for meditation and then points the way to the union that prayer achieves in the footsteps of Mary, within the Church and in and for the world.

You find the book here

From the book description:

A great Catholic theologian speaks from the heart about the Heart of Christ, in a profound and lyrical meditation on Our Lord’s love for his Bride the Church.

Avid readers of Hans Urs von Balthasar often describe Heart of the World as a “surprise”. The “pure serenity of a volcano under snow” readers usually find in Balthasar, as translator Erasmo Leiva puts it, gives way to “the poet-theologian” who dares to “bare his own heart”. The sult is what can only be described as lyrical, even  intimate spiritual reflections.

“Heart of the World”, the  translator continues,  “deserves a place next to

the Imitation of Christ. Especially in the passages  where Christ speaks to  the  soul,  Father  von Balthasar shows  himself a worthy successor of

Thomas a Kempis. Both works combine an intense personal piety with

a precise awareness of the believer’s position as child and servant of Christ’s Church…. For Balthasar, as for Kempis and all genuine Chris­ tians, the saint is first and foremost the one who renders constant thanks for having been loved.”