Von Speyr - Jesus desires salvation of all (also includes her interpretation of "the elect")

When Paul speaks of the elect he means definite individuals. He sees before his eyes the image of the disciples who followed the Lord: they are types and models, the central light falls on them. That this light falls from them on to others, is brought by them to others, is a new truth not excluded but included in the first. At first Peter is intended, or John, and not Zebedee, though he stands near the circle of light. The number itself is the Son’s secret. It could be that the Father means “many” and that, to speak in a human way, he allows himself to be surprised by the work of the Son who demands “all”. Little Thérèse “chose all” when she was offered a basketful of things to choose from. She chose not only what was beautiful but also the unattractive. Thérèse is only imitating what is the deepest in the attitude of the Son of Man: he was the first “to choose all”, even the last human being in the basket of creation, perhaps unrecognizable because of sin, but beautiful because the Father created him.

Adrienne von Speyr - Unpublished, quoted in preface to The Victory of Love

The second half of this is a wonderful description of Jesus's desire that all be saved (1 Tim 2:4), with an interesting trinitarian angle. As for the first half, I'll be interested to see whether von Speyr develops this thinking about election later in the book or perhaps elsewhere in her writings.

Von Speyr - Death of a loved one as "the breaking off of a dialogue"

The most compelling consequence of death is not merely separation but a growing limitation of understanding, the breaking off of a dialogue, a rapport, a love which had thought it was wider and bigger. My friend is dead, but this death tears holes in my own existence.

Adrienne von Speyr, The Mystery of Death (1953) 

It has occurred to me that the moments when I find myself most noticeably missing Mum tend be those when I have the impulse to "converse" with her, whether figuratively or literally (either "Mum would have said this about what just happened" or "I would say this to Mum right now"). I think there really is something to the idea that relationships with those we love are like life-long conversations where we share ourselves with each other, and that one metaphor for the loss of a loved one is a conversation interrupted, seemingly before it was finished.