I find myself with time now to begin reading Baltazar again. In volume 5 of the Glory of the Lord he describes some of Nicolas of Cusa's thoughts on the glory of the Lord. I thought them to be meaningful for me in this Lenten season.
"...The view from heaven to earth is one thing: this view sees only order, harmony and beauty .... To the view upwards from below ... the eternal love must make itself accessible by grace in order to be caught site of at all ....
The blessedness of God is grace ... only God's incarnate Word and his Spirit breathed into our souls draws us into the kingdom of his inner glory. Thus Jesus Christ is the medium without which God's glory cannot be communicated .... Where we acknowledge that we are in need of the grace of redemption and implore it in all humility, there we give God the glory, as is fitting, and the more greatly, we acknowledge our depravity ....
Quoting Nicolas directly:
'He made me man to prove by means of me his great power, by raising me to fellowship with the Angels. He made me frail and weak to prove by means of me his power, by accomplishing his mighty works in me. He allowed me to sin, to show by means of me the power of his mercifulness and grace, when I am converted to him. He let me go astray to show by means of me the power of his wisdom in which he can raise me up again to knowledge of the true ... life. He let all men sin, so that all might need grace, in order to prove the riches of his grace in Jesus Christ as Savior of all.' "
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