“Even now, thirty years later, I could still go to that remote path in the Black Forest, not far from Basel, and find again the tree beneath which I was struck as by lightning…. And yet it was neither theology nor the priesthood which then came into my mind in a flash. It was simply this: you have nothing to choose, you have been called. You will not serve, you will be taken into service. You have no plans to make, you are just a little stone in a mosaic which has long been ready. All I needed to do was ‘leave everything and follow,’ without making plans, without wishes or insights. All I needed to do was to stand there and wait and see what I would be needed for.”
English Translation: Peter Henrici, S.J. “Hans Urs von Balthasar: A Sketch of His Life.”
Amen.
When I consider the times I have tried to go by my own plans, I also recall how I have been corrected (thankfully) as a result of having them.