To Give One's Life for the Work of Another

by Luigi Giussani, Julián Carrón (Editor)

Overview

Father Luigi Giussani engaged tirelessly in educational initiatives throughout the course of his life. Much of his thought was communicated through the richness and rhythm of oral discourse, preserved as audio and video recordings in the archive of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation in Milan.This volume presents the last three spiritual exercises of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, drawing from the transcripts of these recordings. In these exercises Giussani investigates the rise of ethics and the decline of ontology that have accompanied modernity and the spread of rationalism. Bearing up against old age and illness, he resisted the urge to withdraw, instead finding new avenues of communication and the technological means to reach all corners of the movement. To Give One’s Life for the Work of Another explores the nature of God, the powerful human experience of self-awareness, and the fundamental components of Christianity, in the unmistakable voice of a consummate teacher.At a time when young people are abandoning the church and questioning the value of faith, Father Giussani’s method of judging and verifying Christianity as an experience is a timeless intervention.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780228011651
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2022
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Monsignor Luigi Giussani (1922–2005) was the founder of the Catholic lay movement Communion and Liberation in Italy. His works are available in over twenty languages and include the trilogy The Religious Sense, At the Origin of the Christian Claim, and Why the Church?, as well as the three volumes of Is It Possible to Live This Way? Julián Carrón was president of the fraternity of the lay movement Communion and Liberation from 2005 to 2021. He is professor of theology at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.

Table of Contents

Preface: "Christ Is the Life of My Life" ix

Editorial Note xxv

You or About Friendship (1997) 3

Introduction 5

"God Is All in All"

1 A New Beginning: Ontology 6

2 Two Temptations: Nihilism and Pantheism 7

3 The Existence of the I 8

4 Asking for Being 12

5 The Choice of Extraneousness 13

"Christ Is All and in All"

1 Nature and Destiny of the Person 14

2 The Imitation of Christ 15

3 God is Father 17

4 Jesus' Behaviour towards the Father 18

5 From Friendship to Morality 21

6 Light, Strength, and Help 22

7 Within the World History: Ecumenism and Peace 25

Assembly 30

Christ the Life of Life

1 "He Did and Taught" 33

2 An Event in the Present 36

The Miracle of a Change (1998) 41

God and Existence

1 A Problem of Knowledge 43

2 Experience and Reason 44

3 Three Serious Reductions 47

4 The Corruption of Religiosity 53

5 Tradition and Charism 56

Faith in God Is Faith in Christ

1 A New Mentality 58

2 A Faith Emptied Out: The "Five Withouts" of Modern Rationalism 62

3 A New Morality 69

Assembly 73

"Only Wonder Leads to Knowing" 80

Christ Is All and In All (1999) 83

A Decisive Word for Existence

1 The Need for and Evidence of Belonging 85

2 The Denial of Belonging and its Consequences 89

3 The Historicity of Belonging 93

If One Is in Christ, He Is a New Creation

1 The Event of a New Humanity 101

2 The Aim of Belonging 106

Assembly and Synthesis 113

Speeches and Greetings (2000-1004) 121

2000 "What Is Man and How Does He Come to Know It?" 123

2001 "Abraham: The Birth of the I" 125

2002 "The Life I Now Live in the Flesh, I Live by Faith in the Son of God" 127

2004 "The Destiny of Man" 129

Notes 133