Thanks to Lola for suggesting today's Name of the Day: the exotic Balthasar.

Along with Caspar and Melchior, Balthasar was one of the Magi who set out to shower the newborn Jesus with gifts.  Balthasar brought frankincense, a resin from the Boswellia tree, used to make perfumes back in the day.  It's worth noting that those three names do not appear in the Bible - the Western church settled on them sometime in the 700s.  Ethiopian, Armenian and Syrian Christians have their own traditions for the trio.

The name is derived from the ancient Babylonian phrase balat-shar-usur - save the life of the king.  Some sources suggest that it incorporates Ba'al, a Semitic word referring to several ancient gods, but also used as a title equivalent to lord or master. 

Suffice to say that Balthasar is a deeply ancient name, long known, but with few bearers.  In English, Balthazar and Balthasar appear almost interchangeably.

A few noteworthy bearers of the name include:

• Two 17th century Jesuits - spiritual teacher Father Balthazar Alvarez of France, and the Spanish-born Balthasar de Torres, martyred in Nagasaki along with many of his fellow missionaries;
• Balthasar Bekker, a 17th century Dutch philosopher whose writings helped usher in the beginning of the Enlightenment, and end witchcraft persecutions in Europe;
• Four Shakespearean characters:  Servants in Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice; a merchant in The Comedy of Errors and a musician in Much Ado About Nothing;
• Demons appearing on sci fi TV shows Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and in the movie Constantine;
• Balthasar Gérard, the assassin of William I of Orange, motivated by the French King Phillip II's promised reward - a hero in France and a villain in the Netherlands;
• Balthasar Oomkens von Esens, a 16th century Frisian nobleman we mention mostly because his brothers were Melchior and Caspar;
• The 17th century Spanish Baroque writer Baltasar Gracián, best known for The Art of Worldly Wisdom, which has been a bestseller as recently as 1992;
• The actor Balthazar Getty, of the ABC drama Brothers and Sisters and great-grandson of oil magnate J. Paul Getty.  Balthazar is actually his middle name; his given name is Paul.

It's a mixed picture - a little bit evil, a little bit pious; part-noble and part-humble; artistic and dramatic, but thoughtful, too.

Balthasar's shortcoming appears to be the lack of an easy nickname.  A few have worn other starts-with-B names like Bobby or Bart.  Balto might work, save that it's attached to the heroic sled dog who pulled a shipment of life-saving diptheria vaccine to Nome, Alaska back in 1925.  Baldy is not a great choice.  Zar and Sar seem awkward, too.

So Balthasar emerges as a tempting choice, and yet one quite challenging to wear.  Perhaps the best bet is to tuck it in the middle spot and hope that, just like actor Paul B. Getty, your kiddo grows into the exotic appellation.

Some of the many stories appearing in the Scriptures include:

The story of the Law

The story of Sojourn

The story of Slavery and Exodus

The love story between a Groom and Bride

The story of Father's and Sons

The story of rebellion and redemption.

These are just some of the many stories that appear, reappear and reappear again. All these stories might and probably would have seem disconnected. But Jesus comes and fulfills/embodies every story. All the stories are flowing in and out from Him.

These stories might also be thought of as bardic songs. The ancient Celtic bards would sing songs of adventure and love and nature and war to the people. Their songs not only entertained but also helped forge a common memory of the tribe.

As we read the story (and sometimes realize we are acting in some of the story patterns), we also discover that we are being forged into a common memory of a family that spans time from beginning to end.

Hans Urs Von Balthasar speaks of the complexity of interwoven stories. He calls this a "symphony," " a dance fo sound." Here are few of his thoughts on symphony from the classic treasure, Truth is Symphonic - Aspects of Christian Pluralism.

In his revelation, God performs a symphony, and it is impossible to say which is richer: the seamless genius of his compositions or the polyphonous orchestra of Creation that he has prepared to play it. Before teh Word of God became man, the world orchestra was "fiddling" about without any plan: world views, religions, different concepts of the state, each one playin gto itself. Somehow there is the feeling that this cacophonous jumble is only a "tuning up": the A can be heard through everything, like a kind of promise. "In and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets..." (Heb 1:1). Then came the Son, the "heir of all things," for whose sake the whole orchestra had been put together. As it performs God's symphony under the Son's direction, the meaning of its variety becomes clear....Initially, (the musicians) stand or sit next to one another as strangers, in mutual contradiction, as it were. Suddenyl the music begins, they realize how there are integrated. Not in unison, but what is far more beautiful--in sym-phony.

I first discovered Von Balthasar while ambling through a used bookstore in Knoxville. I found a small, stained book with only one word on the cover: Prayer. For three dollars I purchased his classic theological devotional that wounded me with God's love. Since then I have been enriched and mentored by many books from this man who wrote with a heart to stir God's people to prayer.

Here is a small excerpt from this rare treasure:

“We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living. But we fail to look for Him where He is waiting for us, where he is to be found: in His Son, who is His Word….we fail to listen where God speaks; where God’s Word rain out in the world once for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God’s Word as been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up, that it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Words resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is as near to us as it always was. “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (Rom 10:8). We do not understand that once God’s Word has run out in the midst of the world, in the fullness of time, it is so powerful that it applies to everyone, all with equal directness; no one is disadvantaged by distance in space or time. True, there were a few people who become Jesus’ earthly partners in dialogue, and we might envy them (in) their good fortune, but they were as clumsy and inarticulate in this dialogue as we and anyone else would have been. In terms of listening and responding to Jesus’ real concerns they had no advantage over us; on the contrary, they saw the earthly, external appearance of the Word, and it is largely concealed from them the divine interior.”

Here is an excerpt from another stunning classic, The Heart of the World.

« Depuis la Révolution française - accord final qui éclater au terme d'un long crescendo – l'Église vit essentiellement dans un dépassement d'elle-même. Détachée de cette base naturelle qu'était pour elle l'ordre social chrétien, sa relation au « monde » est plus polémique qu'organique. Il semble qu'elle n'ait pas seulement perdu le champ naturel où elle pouvait semer ses graines, mais aussi le sol nourricier où pouvait croître sa propre transcendance ; elle court le risque de perdre ses véritables attaches au monde, soit qu'elle se contente de prendre appui sur cette base qui est proprement la sienne – celle du sacrement et du ministère – et fuie ainsi hors du temps, soit qu'elle se laisse séduire par le temps lui-même et perde ainsi la force de réaliser la transcendance chrétienne dans une expérience dont nous avons vu qu'elle était une exposition, une extrapolation, un abandon de soi, un risque. »

Le chrétien Bernanos, Seuil, 1956, p. 272

It occurred to me then that what was really needed was an account of why any proof should ever deliver intuition, ever explain as well as prove.  After all, a proof isn't supposed to add any information to the hypothesized axioms and rules of inference it starts out with - if it does, it's not a proof.  There doesn't seem to be any reason that a proof that A implies B, for instance - which has to show that as soon as you've hypothesized A, you've already got B along with it - should deliver anything else, such as an intuition for why the proof is true.

I don't have a great answer to this, but today I ran across something that may introduce a new way of looking at the problem.  Over at Speculations and Such Jonathan has posted on Balthasar's introductory remarks in The Glory of the Lord, in which he 'discusses why he begins his long-term theological project with the "third transcendental" of beauty'.  These words stood out to me:

In a world that no longer has enough confidence in itself to affirm the beautiful, the proofs of truth have lost their cogency. In other words, syllogisms may still dutifully clatter away like rotary presses or computers which infallibly spew out an exact number of answers by the minute. But the logic of these answers is itself a mechanism which no longer captivates anyone" (The Glory of the Lord, Vol. 1, pp. 18-19).

Proof v. explanation is not where Balthasar is setting his sights, and I don't mean to read any claims of that sort into his words.  Nevertheless there are two intriguing things about this quote for a consideration of the difference for seeing that something is true and understanding why.  The first is simply the implication that a proof may be sound without being cogent, where the latter appears to have to do with being captivated, not merely receiving an answer.  The second is the introduction of a dimension that I've never really brought to this problem:  what role might aesthetics play in an account of how a proof ever goes beyond proof and becomes explanation?  We talk about 'beautiful' proofs all the time, and it seems obvious that beauty and intuitive appeal, what I'm calling explanation, are related.  Are they causally related, and if so, in what direction?

-Hans Urs von Balthasar

From Joel at Sacra Doctrina, a short summary:

The topic of the conference is Balthasar's theological interpretation of scripture.

It looks like there is a great line-up of papers covering a variety of topics in relation to Balthasar: biblical hermeneutics, the influence of von Speyr, aesthetics and revelation, interpretation of particular texts or biblical themes, and so on.

The book opens with Captain Pete McKinnon in Anita's office. There has been what they think is an arson and need Anita's help. At the end of the meeting, Anita gets a call to come pick up Larry at the hospital. He's okay but needs a ride home. He'd been called to do a vampire staking but arrived at the morgue and there was no paperwork. He went to investigate and found one of the nurses trying to stake the vamp. Turns out it was one of the doctors on staff - he'd gone into a closet when the sun came up and this woman didn't think vamps should be doctors.

Anita gets a call from Stephen and Nathaniel is introduced. Anita killed the wereleopards' pack leader so now she gets the job until she finds someone else. Zane has been trying to act as leader but not doing well. Zane is pretty happy that Anita outpowers him and takes over. He'd been trying but not doing a good job.

Richard is off getting a master's degree and pretty much being depressed and suicidal and, typical of Richard, an emotional wimp. Like *that* is going to get Anita. Sylvie is acting as pack leader in his absence. Against Sylvie's orders to not help the wereleopards, Anita, as lupa, orders three wolves to come to the hospital and act as bodyguards for both Nathaniel and Stephen.

Anita and JC have a date at a fancy restaurant. While they are there, representatives from the Council show up. Apparently the Council is there because Mr. Oliver (who Anita killed in Circus of the Damned) was a Council member and to kill a Council member means you have to take their seat. They think that JC did it. JC doesn't want to be on the Council because he knows that he's not strong enough to hold the position so he'd be killed.

Asher makes his first appearance. He's still pretty irate with JC after several hundred years because he thinks that JC let his human servant, Julianna, die. Asher was tortured by the Church with holy water so half of his face is scarred and half of his body. JC realizes that he can not feel his vampires and his wolves, so he knows that Council is at Circus of the Damned.

When they arrive, Liv shows up. Liv has gone over to the Council side and betrayed JC and all their wolves and vampires that are his. When JC and AB walk through the building, they find a person's skin nailed to the wall with silver nails. The question is, whose is it? It takes a while for us to find out that it's Rafael's. The Traveler is there in the body of Willie McCoy.

Fernando comes in with Hanna, who is Willie's girlfriend, and two wereleopards: a black one and a yellow one. Fernando is also a shapeshifter. His father, Padma, joins the party and Anita isn't sure exactly what he is because he feels like both vampire and shapeshifter which is supposed to be impossible. Turns out the black wereleopard is Elizabeth who hates Anita for killing Gabriel. Vivian came in with Padma and seems to be appealing to Anita to help her but Anita doesn't know why. Vivian is a wereleopard.

AB and JC find Damian with a sword in his heart. He is being guarded by a new vampire, Warrick. They aren't sure they can save him but they do, with Warrick's help. Yvette has Jason and had a choke collar around his neck. JC gets him away from Yvette. But that isn't everything: Sylvie (who is a lesbian) has been raped by Fernando and is bad emotional shape as well as physical. Sylvie was tortured because she would not give up the pack. AB promises Sylvie that all of them who had hurt her will die.

They take Sylvie and Rafael to the shapeshifter hospital but tell Dr. Lillian that they are going to have to move because Elizabeth knows where the hospital is and she is with the other side. Sylvie's partner, Gwen, is with Sylvie when AB goes to see her at the hospital. They tell Anita that she is the wereleopards leoparde lionne, the "rampant leopard" who is the protector, the defender. AB also finds out the Vivian expected AB to rescue her, so now AB feels that she has to go back and rescue her, somehow. Liv was the one who hurt Sylvie. AB manages to get them free for the night.

Belle Morte is mentioned but so far hasn't shown up.

Dolph calls Anita to question a witness. First she goes to Burnt Offerings to talk to Detective Perry. She finds out what happened, then goes to the police station. When she arrives at the police station, there are penguins everywhere. Zerbrowski's work, she is pretty sure. AB ignores them and goes to talk to the witness. The witness, Vicki Pierce, says that this vampire bit her and she threw alcohol on him and then lit him with a lighter. Vamps will burn until someone puts them out or they are burned to ashes. AB figures out that VP is lying.

More of Dolph's attitude toward Anita with regard to JC.

AB goes back to the hospital and Zane and another woman, Cherry, show up. Vivian isn't with them and neither is Gregory, Stephen's brother. Padma said that anyone who wished to acknowledge AB's dominance and could walk out could leave. Vivian was unconscious and Gregory's legs were broken.

Anita is at the hospital, more or less recovering, when Richard shows up, they fight but then they go to get Vivian and Gregory. Richard finds out that Fernando raped Sylvie.

They meet Gideon and Captain Thomas Carswell, who are with Padma. Human servant and animal to call, just as AB and Richard are for JC. They all go in to get Vivian and Gregory and Richard, foolishly, tries to kill Fernando. In order to stop him, Anita takes his beast for the first time at Gideon and Thomas' suggestion and it works. They take V and G back to Anita's house.

Vivian won't let any of the men touch her so Anita has to carry her but she is still wearing the high heels and dress, so it's hard and she at one point has to send someone to get Cherry to help. Cherry comes and takes Vivian and Anita goes to see why there are so many butterflies around and is that really a vampire she sees lurking around her woods? It is. It's Warrick. Turns out he's a master vampire after all and Yvette has somehow been keeping his powers under wraps, so to speak. Turns out, he thinks this is all a sign from God that he isn't eternally damned.

Ronnie and Louie show up at Anita's ready to run. Ronnie and Louie are dating. Richard is there. At some point, earlier in the book, JC and the other vampires went to Anita's to sleep in the basement. He also took a bunch of gifts, including flowers and strew the gifts about the house. Richard isn't happy about it. Ronnie doesn't like JC and Anita realizes that Louie, who is Richard's best friend, doesn't like her anymore. Richard and Anita fight again and a delivery man comes and tries to kill Anita.

Another subplot: there is a terrorist group trying to re-enact "the Inferno" or "Day of Cleansing", depending upon your viewpoint and is targeting all vamps and also the non-vamps who are known to be associated with them. There was a fire at the main branch of the Church of Eternal Life and Anita goes to help. But first, she goes to the hospital. She has to try to help Nathaniel. She winds up "calling the munin" - channeling Raina, essentially and nearly having sex with Nathaniel but she doesn't and he's healed anyway. Anita sends them all to her house.

Off to the Church of Eternal Life. There are "revenent" vampires there who attack some fire fighters and Anita. Larry is there, along with Detective Reynolds, who he is dating but both are okay. Anita wants to go to the Council for help. She figures out that the Council being there is what is causing all these vampires to wake up early and the new vampires to go revenent. The Traveler came to the Church and took over the body of the revenent vamp and stopped the attack. Turns out Vicki Pierce was dating Harry, who owned Burnt Offerings and a human anti-vamp guy. She staged the scene at Burnt Offerings so that it wouldn't be the only vamp business not to have been hit.

Finally, they had to go to "dinner" with the Council. Anita wins over Asher, shockingly enough. Yvette gets mad that she doesn't get what she wants. Padma gives up Fernando and Liv to be killed by Sylvie. Once again, Anita and JC get themselves out of trouble. Elizabeth joins Anita's pard (the wolves are lukoi, the leopards are pard.) Warrick burns himself and Yvette to death.

The leopards call Anita their Nimir-Ra or "leopard queen." Nathaniel wants to move in with Anita but instead she pays for his aparment. Nathaniel is a 'pet' and needs someone to take care of him. Stephen and Vivian are dating. Asher stayed in St. Louis.

Lukoi: thronos Rokke - the Throne Rock people.

Council Members: Belle Morte, Padma, the Traveler, Morte d'Amour, Oliver/Earthmover (dead)

Today must be Doctor Who Tuesday: the complete Series Three of the new series is being released on DVD alongside two classical Doctor Who stories. Since I decided not to buy the third season until it was released as a boxset, I will have to get it now that it is out.

My Balthasar reading continues to move slowly forward; I am right now at a stage where I need a break from it, but I know I cannot take that time. I guess that truly turns my reading from pleasure to work. It's not that it is not good, it is just there is so much that one gets bogged down with the particulars when one does a massive study like this. 

However, I found it difficult to find the books I wanted locally. I can get Faust without problem. I can get some of his novels without problem. But his other works, all I could find was from his travels in Italy. It wasn't what I was after, and after almost buying it, I decided to return from the bookstore empty-handed.

Since I drove to and from the bookstore, I decided not to wear any jackets. I would be inside either my car or the bookstore for most of my journey. But when I was outside, I did notice the dip in temperature continues. One older woman in the elevator noticed I did not go with a coat, but when I told her I wasn't really outside for any length of time, she agreed it probably is not necessary. But she said it's clear winter is coming.

Within this speculative world, one does not abandon logical consistancy. There is a logic within the mathmatical world that is self-containted within the argument. In Balthasar's statement above, I see at least two worlds. First, I see the natural world where Christian action takes place. Then there is the world of revelation that is not discovered through natural observation.

The gospel makes the audacious claim that Jesus is God in the flesh. Some people may like the story but refuse to listen to logical claims within the context of the world of revelation created by the Bible. There are actually two arguments to explore here: one, the logical continuity of this world of revelation, and two, whether this world of revelation corresponds to this natural world. In other other words, is the archetect of the moral universe with the gospel story, the same architect of the natural in which we live.

Obviously, for Balthasar this world of revelation does correspond to the natural world. Working from a theology of analogy, Balthasar is wrestling with the question of a transcendence and immanence. How can man who is limited by time and space speak of a Creator outside of time and space? Space doesn't provide a place to work through his analogy of being here, but bascially man does learn of the transcendent God through analogy.

As author of time and space, God creates a world of analogy with pointers to his character in all of creation. Man himself is created as the image of God. Yet, at the point of analogical connection, creation's dissimilarity with the Creator is greater than its similarity with God. Without expanding on this idea further here, I suggest this idea provides the basis for that this world of revelation directly corresponds with the natural world.

Using the Bible and the Tradition of the Church, Balthasar works through the logic of revelation, which ulimately suggests that Jesus's self-emptying act in the cross is God's absolute expression of love. The first question one asks when facing this world of revelation might be, "Is the story of revelation satisfactory?" Does the story work? When someone says that they like the story of Jesus or that they find the story appealing, they are on some level responding to the logic of this world.

While not all Christians work through the logic of this world, they do begin with a belief in the story. As faith seeks understanding, this belief may work through the logic of the world on some level. As one makes a connection between the world of revelation and the natural world, one begins to discover the historical claims of Christianity. Thus revelation is seen as historical. It is not reached through reason but through faith. Yet working from faith, reason wrestles with the claims of revelation and the implications of revelation for action.

So for Balthasar dogmatic theology articulates how this world of revelation both creates the possibility for action and the implications for that action within the natural world. This is where it becomes difficult. In wrestling with the claims of revelation, theology explains the implications for actions in ideal terms. For example, the Christian is called to love as Jesus loved. The self empyting act of the cross is the pattern for behavior.

Yet as real human beings seek to act out these implications, their adherence to the challenge of Christian action is always less than ideal. Some people outside the world of revelation look at Christians behavior. Seeing actions that fail to reflect the image of love, they reject or challenge the claims proceeding from the world of revelation.

How does a Christian respond to this unbelief, scorn and even strong rejection and even hatred of the world of revelation? I think we continue to listen to the claims of dogmatic theology. We continue to observe the pattern of the cross. We continue acting by the power of the Spirit who helps us to translate this revelation into the natural world. In spite of our flaws, we continue seeking to embody self-emptying love revealing in some small measure that claim of revelation that love alone is credible.

Of course, come Monday, I'm back to the Theo-Drama, of which I am near completion -- I just I have Volume IV: The Actto get through. Once done, I plan to go through some Buddhist texts before reading Balthasar's Glory of the Lord.

In "Love Alone is Credible," Von Balthasar presents an extensive discussion on the nature of the the Son's kenotic (self-empyting) act as the absolute expression of love. In the midst of his essay he talks about the act of remembering this act through the grace of the Holy Spirit. In the Eucharist, the church actively remembers Christ. Much more than simple recall, eating the bread and drinking the wine is act of faithful remembering that is only possible via the Holy Spirit. Von Balthasar writes:

In the ever-present Anamnesis ("Do this in remembrance of me," 1 Cor 11:25) of the self-sacrifice of God's love (unde et memores), the living and resurrected Christ becomes present "until he comes again" (Mat 18:20)--but present "until he comes again" (1 Cor11:26), and therefore, not looking backward, but with eyes set forward, into the future and full of hope. Only non-faith and nonlove can imprison Christians in their past.; the Spirit has set them free to enter into every age and every future; indeed, the move forward, fashioning and transforming the world in everything they do in light of the abundant image that rises before the, not subjectively but objectively, at every moment.

This one passage has stuck in my mind. If I am hearing him correctly, I hear that the physical act of communion that is memory and presence is both a human act and a Spirit act. The church is freed from simple subjectivity that relegates it to an ahistorical existence on thought and inner experience. TheEucharist grounds us in time and yet by the Spirit in all times.

In remembering the church is enacting. The communion meal sets the tone for action in all spheres. We becomes the self-emptying body of Christ poured out for the world. Thus like Paul, we are compelled to reconcile all things to God. From the mundane to the spectacular activities of each day, we exist as living witnesses of Christ's presence by His Spirit.

I can only hope.

I was able to get it to the sidelines yesterday enough to do some reading; I have much more reading to do today. I'm going slower through Balthasar than I would like. I have decided that once I am finished with the Theo-Drama, I need a break from his writings and will look into some of my Buddhists sources for the sake of variety.

People have noticed how few the plugs are at Caribou, and are doing something about it; one guy brought in an extension cord, allowing three of us to use laptops at the same area of the store.

This means I am now able to experiment with my laptop and get it set up for the wireless network a the CUA library. I have to get used to the keyboard (which will take a couple weeks I suspect), and until then my typing on it will be slow.

I went to the student center to get some coffee, and on the way out, I saw a rather sad site: a green bird had been trapped underneath one of the doors and, it looks, had even had a part of its body cut off from it. Its death woes were sad to watch but there was nothing one could do for it.

I noticed  a considerable number of new faces at the library, although the people behind them did not seem to be too communicative. I wonder how long that will last -- will they want to stay at the same place where there is a very active, vocal group of doctoral candidates discussing theology in-between studies? Either they will tire of us and move on or they join in on the conversations; there is no other option.

One of the things I do as a Doctor Who fan is Doctor Who memorabilia, especially from the 5 inch line of toy figurines. I use them to create my own stop motion videos and to create various scenes on top of my bookcases. Today, my source for such memorabilia, WhoNa, got their newest shipment of Doctor Who figurines in, and, as a collector, I had to order them. I should have them by the end of the week and then I will have to consider whether or not I will do any new videos. I am still in the middle of one I started at the end of July which I need to finish, but many things have got in the way, so if I do plan on doing any other videos, I need to finish that one first.

While Doctor Who boards are discussing the credibility of the Doctor Who Online and whether or not there is any truth to the lead story of the day -- that an important lost Doctor Who story had been found -- the people who should be in the know have heard nothing and this suggests that the story is all hype.

And yet there remains the hope.

I went to Caribou again this morning to read more from Balthasar. I was able to go through the text quicker today; I am not sure as to why because the text is still the same, hypnotic, trance-like text as before. Some of what I read will be quite useful for my dissertation -- especially his discussion on time and its relation to eternal life and eternal damnation, where he even said, at least this once, that eternal damnation is a state (Theo-Logic Vol I, 199). I will have to check the German for this passage to see how accurate the translation is.

While reading, I noticed one guy was going around, handing to some people, but not everyone, a sheet of paper. He walked past me, but he put one such paper on someone's chair while they were getting some coffee. The only thing I could make out was the bold letters on top of the sheet saying "News Alert."

If he wanted to alert people on something important, he should have left one on the bulletin board. He didn't. I checked on my way out.

Every unveiling that does not serve love is comparable to an exhibitionism that offends against the intimate laws of love. It is not permissible to reveal everything on every occasion. In the silence of love, which veils both itself and the truth, there is more truth than in any loveless surrender. This point makes it clear how the truth serves love, while love embraces and transcends the truth. Truth is the unveiling of being; the laws of love are its limit and measure. Love, on the other hand, has no measure and no limit other than itself.
 --Hans Urs von Balthasar. Theo-Logic Volume I: Truth Of the World. trans. Adrian Walker (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), 125.

It is very easy to start reading what he writes and end up falling into a hypotic trance, finding oneself no longer paying as close attention to his words as one would like. What he says is beautiful and rich -- but like a rich cake, one must consume it only in small pieces.

After returning to my apartment from Caribou Coffee, I decided to take a walk around Rock Creek Park and to take some pictures while I was there. While I was able to walk to and from the park as I wished, the path I wanted to take while I was there was blocked by trucks taking care of a large fallen tree. I tried to find a side path to travel upon, but I did not find any that I wanted to take. Since I had already been walking for a half hour, I figured I had walked far enough for one day. I should have been satisfied with the little walk I had done, especially since it is still in the middle of the summer with its humidity. Yet I was not. I wanted to walk around the park, listen to the birds (which were unusually silent) and just relax, soaking in the beauty of nature.

Thankfully, on my way back home, I was able to enjoy the sight of two wild deer grazing on some leaves. The younger one took an interest in me and looked at me with a bit of curiosity, but decided to turn away just as I wanted to take its picture. The older one saw I was keeping my distance from them and quickly turned its attention back to its meal. Eventually, after hearing the sounds of some cars nearby, they took off.

During the afternoon I had a very unpleasant sensation in my hands; it is if they were under stress, trying to grab hold of something, and hold it tight, yet without actually holding anything. They felt this way in whatever position I had them in -- typing, reading a book, or resting. It made it difficult to concentrate on my studies.

While on campus, I made sure I stopped by my mailbox and finally picked up a book I lent to Dr Casarella last May.  While there, I found a large stack of books and journals were being given out to anyone who wanted them. I took a few old volumes of the proceedings from the Catholic Theological Society of America. There were a few others I thought about taking, but I decided I did not have enough room to start collecting journals.

At the library, I was able to get through a little more than a third of Vol I of Balthasar's Theo-Logic before lunch. Mark and I went to Col. Brooks', where I had a Spanish Omelette. We talked about teaching, and how student evalutions of professors hinder those in a tenure-track positions from actually teaching their students. Professors end up more concerned about their own grade by the students than the students by the professor, because their livelihood depends upon favorable evaluations! Moreover, Mark mentioned how, in an art class he took years ago, the class all agreed to write upon the evaluation that the professor was "like a second mother."  Apparently, the dean thought there was something fishy with that response and had a meeting with the instructor before the end of the semester about it.