"It is just that the saints are given to see without veils what the rest of us would just as soon not care to know."
Hans Urs von Balthasar makes this statement in his book on Karl Barth (The Theology of Karl Barth, by Hans Urs von Balthasar, translated by Edward T. Oakes, Ignatius Press, 1992, p. 375.) Balthasar goes on to remind us of the communal nature of sin; something we intuitively know to be true, but somehow fail to keep in the fore when considering the behavior of our brethren.
"Here we confront the mystery of man's solidarity in sin. Every personal sin is also a community sin: both in the sense of impairing the community but also being caused, to some extent, by the community’s sin. Far from circumscribing sin, it makes it weightier, putting new burdens of responsibility in the sinner. And since the effects of evil committed and good deeds left undone increase and multiply relentlessly, our debt is not paid off when our personal guilt is forgiven."
"The just man, to the extent that he shares an active portion in the holiness of the Redeemer, also receives a more active portion in the task of bearing a guilt not his own, thereby sharing in the very work of redemption. This finally reaches the point where he can no longer distinguish whether he is suffering for his own sins or for that of others. For Christ himself, when he was hanged on the Cross, no longer wished to make this distinction either. He endured God's malediction against sin, suffering vicariously for us all. And, because of Christ, the sinner who wants to share in the sufferings can no longer make this distinction either. The true follower of Christ joins Christ in that darkness that is all the more bitter because he knows he can never suffer alongside of Christ. No, this suffering highlights how deeply bound he is in solidarity with all his fellow sinners, who are jointly responsible for the cross of Christ."
