Inspired by the spiritual exegesis of the early church fathers, and modeled on the revival of an imaginative and contemplative approach to Scripture developed by Adrienne von Speyr, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, and Erasmo Leiva-Merikakas, BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD takes a small portion of a single letter of St. Paul and invites us to communion with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through an extended exercise in lectio divina. According to the ressourcement theological vision advocated by the authors above, our reading of Scripture should be a living encounter with the Eternal Word in every word of the Bible. BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD invites us into just such an encounter.

Evidence Unseen is the most accessible and careful though through response to most current attacks against the Christian worldview.

To appreciate the theological genius of Hans Urs von Balthasar, we must note his inseparable connection with Adrienne von Speyr. Balthasar referred to Von Speyr as the inspirational source of his theological vision and literary achievements. Says Balthasar: ‘Her work and mine are neither psychologically nor philologically to be separated: two halves of a single whole, which has as its center a unique foundation’ (My Work: In Retrospect, 105, 89). This ‘unique foundation’ is a mystical apprehension of the immanent Life of the Trinity. At the heart of the Trinity, Balthasar and Speyr see a primordial Mystery of Kenosis, i.e., self-dis-possession. Balthasar terms this Trinitarian self-expropriation Ur-kenosis, since the self-emptying (kenosis) within the Trinity applies not only to Christ but also to the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Father divests himself of himself in the begetting of his Son; the Holy Spirit is the fontal Power of self-abnegation (kenosis) within the Trinity, so ‘emptied of himself’ that he, as Spirit, is absolutely incognito. DIVINE KENOSIS is an attempt to draw attention to the neo-patristic synthesis and anagogical vision promoted by Han Urs von Balthasar and Adrienne von Speyr. It is also an extension of my personal mission to ‘promote a Trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer.’

This little book is an exercise in theological imagination - a theologumenon. It is a modest attempt, in an intentionally untoward way, to re-acquaint us with a patristic vision of the universally salvific love of God that reconciles and divinizes all things in Christ that he may be ‘all in all’ (1 Cor. 15:28). Aporiae approaches the most controversial issues in theology - universal salvation, freedom, evil, etc. - using an entirely interrogative form. I’m not trying to get anyone to believe anything. I’m pointing towards a Horizon and a Mystery of divine goodness and love that infinitely exceeds anything of which the human mind and heart can conceive (cf. 1 Cor 2:9). I pray the questions I raise in this little book will affect the reader as I intend - as sincere ‘inquiries from the eschaton’. They are inspired, I believe, by an intuitive apprehension of the universally redemptive Mystery of trinitarian Love, and filled with the ‘hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit’ (cf. Rom 5:5), convincing us that ‘just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive’ (1 Cor. 15:22).

In 2002, St. Pope John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the rosary, writing that 'the whole mystery of Christ is a mystery of light. He is the "light of the world'" (Jn. 8:12). ILLUME is a contemplative reflection upon the Luminous Mysteries in the life of Jesus, written in a lectio divina key, inviting us to enter into the Uncreated Light of the Most Holy Trinity.

LISTENING TO THE FATHERS: A Year of Neo-patristic Reflections is a day-by-day prayer journey based on selections from the Early Church Fathers. In this book of prayers, Philip Krill, whose personal mission is ‘to promote a Trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer,’ seeks to introduce the reader to the Fathers’ vision of divinization in Christ and the universally salvific impact of His Incarnation. It is also his hope that those who pray with these texts will enter more deeply into contemplative prayer.

PAROUSIA (, parousia) is a Greek term meaning ‘presence’ or ‘arrival.’ Because it is used as a technical term referring to the return of Christ in glory, its more immediate, existential impact is often overlooked. Presence restores the epiphanic power of Parousia, opening us to the Eternal Now of a divine Fulness (Plrma) that is not yet completely revealed. Presence is a simple, immediately accessible entrée into what metaphysicians and theologians call the Mystery of ‘God.’ Presence is not identical with ‘God’ - what is? Yet Presence is that sophianic handmaid of ‘God’ - Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) - who was ‘created at the beginning of God’s work’ and who rejoices in God’s created world and delights in the human race (Prv. 8:22- 31). Presence is the Sapientia of ‘God’, providing us with a taste of divine bliss otherwise inaccessible to the human heart (cf. 1 Cor. 2:9). I offer this book as an invitation for you to enter more deeply into the mystery of Presence where you may experience the Parousia of God.

After Jesus of Nazareth fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes (Lk. 9:10-17), his apostles collected twelve wicker baskets of leftover fragments. The perfection of these numbers - seven and twelve - indicates the Divine Abundance of everything that comes from the hands of God. Mystics of the ancient Orient also knew of Divine Abundance. They called this mystery Saccidannda, a Hindu term that connotes the divine Bliss (Ananda) that arises within us when our Awareness (Chit) rests in Being (Sat), not in thinking. The experience of Saccidannda is what Jesus meant when he said, 'The kingdom of God is within you' (Lk. 17:28). One way of entering the kingdom of God, or experiencing Saccidannda, is to contemplate the Mystery of Presence. Presence, like the Mystery of God, is impossible to describe, yet, is as undeniable as it is indefinable. Presence is the experience of being completely empty of thought and devoid of agenda. Presence is the experience of transcendental Awareness that intuits the infinity of Being, and imparts such Divine Bliss that we sense it can only be coming from God. This book is a collection of fragments gleaned from the experience of Presence. They are given here to help the reader be present, and grow in contemplative prayer.

‘At the Center of our being is a point of pure truth, ‘ wrote Thomas Merton, ‘ a point or spark which belongs entirely to God...This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.’ Merton called this Center Point, Le Point Vierge the Virginal Point. Here, we and God are untied in a Mystery of inexpressible Presence. LE POINT VIERGE: Meditations on the Mystery of Presence is a year of daily meditations exploring the Mystery of Presence as we experience It in the Virginal Point in our hearts. Practicing Presence is a sure and certain way to make fresh contact with God. God is not an Object of our understanding but a Mystery of Presence encountered in the Virginal Point of our hearts. It is hoped that by reading LE POINT VIERGE, the reader will discover the truth of St. Augustine’s words: ‘You, O God, were more inward to me than my most inward parts and higher than my highest’ (Confessions 3.6.11).

Gelassenheit is a German word with many meanings: relinquishment, surrender, abandonment, submission, detachment, letting go, allowing, acquiescence, etc. Meister Eckhart's favorite term for Gelassenheit is releasement. Eckhart, like mystics of every age, experienced God as a Mystery of Releasement. Gelassenheit involves the whole trinitarian Life. The father 'lets go of' Himself to be begotten in an intra-trinitarian act of Gelassenheit, and together, Father and Son 'release' the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of the world. These meditations on Gelassenheit are offered to help us experience God as a Mystery of Divine Releasement. And since the spiritual life is also a progressive growth in interior Gelassenheit, the author also hopes that this book will inspire a trinitarian vision of deification and contemplative prayer. Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) was a German theologian, philosopher, and mystic. A Dominican priest, his writings, comprised mostly of sermons, were considered heretical during his lifetime but are now considered the mystical gold standard of the Middle Ages.