Time and the Temple

This bookcollects a series of meditations given by Father Luigi Giussani, the founder ofthe Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation. It represents a concise andilluminating synthesis of what Fr. Giussani wanted to communicate to youngpeople, whose needs and expectations he understood so well. At theheart of these reflections is the theme of vocation. Father Giussani reminds usthat the vocation of every baptized Christian echoes the calling of theapostles: it is not something that ultimately depends on us, nor does itrequire particular conditions. Rather, it comes about through the encounterwith an exceptional presence within a concrete place and time. In other words: thetemple, in time.Incontrast to modern figures like Kafka, who once said that There is a goal, butno way, Father Giussani points us to the one who claimed to be the way. Themethod of discernment outlined in these pages has implications for every momentof our lives. Nothing is uselessand everything reveals an ultimate positivity. A new morality arises in those who thus begin to follow Gods method, as it didfor Simon Peter when, to Christs question, he replied: Yes, you know that Ilove you. Thus all of life becomes the offering of every instant for the gloryof Christ, so that he may be recognized as having the capacity to save thepresent moment.