I wrote Das betrachtende Gebet [Contemplative Prayer, 1955] because I realized that it was impossible to find any introduction to such prayer that was not merely ascetical and spiritual but built upon the truly biblical foundation of hearing the Word of God. Once again, the suggestive ideas and example of the Fathers were in the background, but the immediate source of inspiration was Adrienne’s scriptural exegesis. Taken as a whole, this was nothing other than a hearing and contemplating of God’s Word in Old and New Testaments. What was set forth here as a kind of model and forerunner had to be reproduced in the ordinary framework of every Christian’s prayer, especially that of the Community of St. John.

From Hans Urs von Balthasar, Our Task, 1984