Time and the Temple

This book collects a series of meditations given by Father Luigi Giussani, the founder of the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation. It represents a concise and illuminating synthesis of what Fr. Giussani wanted to communicate to young people, whose needs and expectations he understood so well. At the heart of these reflections is the theme of vocation. Father Giussani reminds us that the vocation of every baptized Christian echoes the calling of the apostles: it is not something that ultimately depends on us, nor does it require particular conditions. Rather, it comes about through the encounter with an exceptional presence within a concrete place and time. In other words: the temple, in time. In contrast to modern figures like Kafka, who once said that “There is a goal, but no way,” Father Giussani points us to the one who claimed to be “the way.” The method of discernment outlined in these pages has implications for every moment of our lives. Nothing is useless—and everything reveals an ultimate positivity. A new morality arises in those who thus begin to follow God’s method, as it did for Simon Peter when, to Christ’s question, he replied: “Yes, you know that I love you.” Thus all of life becomes the offering of every instant for the glory of Christ, so that he may be recognized as having the capacity to save the present moment.