The theme of the four meditations in the book is vocation, that is, human life as a response to God’s call. For a Christian, in fact, the relationship with the Mystery is not fixed or imagined by a human being, but determined by the presence of God who takes the initiative by involving Himself with human life through a precise, carnal point, in a certain place and time. The temple, in time. A new morality arises in those who recognize the method of God; this morality consists in indulging the fascination of the encounter with Christ, in accepting His unpredictable but real presence. As was the case with Simon Peter who, when questioned by Christ, replied, “Yes, you know that I love you” (Jn 21:15). Thus, a new feeling of life, a seriousness, a responsibility, an unexpected creativity arise; there is nothing useless anymore and everything reveals an ultimate positivity. This fecundity is the origin of a people that becomes the protagonist of history.

God: The Temple and Time

The Kingdom of Christ is like a great organism that develops according to the law of election: in order for Christ to appear “all in all,” the form and content of all things, God makes a choice. First of all, He chose Our Lady, the first temple, the first home of God in the world; then those who have been baptized, the Church, the body of Christ that expands in time and space, becoming present in every particular environment. The capillary terminals embodying the Church are the homes, the dwelling places. Home is the place of those who are called to set up a family; the monastery, the convent and the house (of Memores Domini) are the dwelling place of those called to virginity.
Men and women called to virginity have the task of crying out before everyone, in every instant, with the very form of their lives, that Christ is the only thing worth living for. Virginity is the miracle of miracles, for there is no greater miracle than a man or a woman devoting their whole life to Christ, sacrificing natural tendencies and instincts that God has placed in them. This is the reason why virgins are prophets: by their very way of living, they force us to think of God.
For virgins to fully realize their prophetic vocation, they need to live their faith more than others, to be able to give reasons for their faith more than others, and to make faith the form of their actions. Men and women called by God to virginity are sent all over the world so that everything they do may be offered to Christ; they do not renounce the world, but start on a journey to the true possession of the whole world, in which no aspect of reality is estranged. The call to virginity is ultimately independent even of one’s mistakes: even in the face of betrayal a virgin is called to say “yes” to Christ, as Simon Peter did.

Recognizing Christ

“There is a point of arrival but no way”: with these words Kafka described man’s attitude before the Mystery. This statement is true theoretically, but it is not true historically. In fact, one historical fact says otherwise: two thousand years ago, a man, Jesus of Nazareth, said of Himself, “I am the way.” The first ones who met Him were John and Andrew on the shores of Lake Tiberias. It was the encounter with an “exceptional” man, a man who corresponded deeply to the needs of their hearts. For the first two, and for all those who later met Him, it was easy to recognize Him, and it was easy to live their relationship with Him: it was enough to adhere to the sympathy that He aroused, a profound sympathy, similar to that of a baby with its mother. Watching that man and following Him was the morality that His sympathy demanded. In those who followed him, “compelled” by amazement, the question “Who is this man?” arose: this question introduced the problem of Christ into world history.
The encounter made by John and Andrew was told to their wives and friends; it passed from the 1st century to the 2nd century as the stream swelled, and it has come down to the present day. The encounter with Christ did not happen yesterday, but it happens today, for each one of us, and even today the sign of His presence is that exceptionality that corresponds to one’s heart. What is not in our present experience, does not exist.
The formula summarizing the description of the figure of Christ is, “sent by the Father.” His life, in fact, is defined as a call by the Father to carry out a mission. He is the ideal of life: he is the ideal for the way we treat everything, we experience affection, we conceive everything. A sense of gratitude arises in those who follow Christ as their ideal of life (for all that man owns did not come from man himself); and, consequently, a gratuitousness, an absolute purity in the way of dealing with everything. The outcome is what the Gospel calls “the hundredfold here below”: a richness, an intensity, a fruitfulness in everything.
There is a form of vocation that chooses a road that is unthinkable for anyone’s mind, and it constitutes the miracle of miracles—it is called virginity. Within it, work becomes obedience, love for a woman is exalted as a sign of perfection, and every moment of life becomes charity: watching every man caught in the soul by passion for Christ, tenderness for Christ.

God and man

With the Incarnation, a new ontology made its way into the world. It is characterized by three aspects: God, the Mystery that makes all things, involved Himself with man, became flesh; He wanted to perpetuate His presence through the lives of the men He called; despite man’s forgetfulness, His mercy prevails.
From this new ontology comes a new morality: our whole life is spent to affirm Christ, Peter’s “yes” is the answer to the question of Christ (“do you love me?”), the glory of Christ is the purpose of every action.
A man made new by the presence of the Word made flesh has three characteristics: a new feeling of self, where the definition of the self lies in being possessed by Christ (“You are my true life”); the density of the present time and the unrelenting dissatisfaction of the instant in which he grasps things according to instinct; an inconceivable respect for every other man, which arises from the awareness of Christ’s presence in each one of us.
Thus, a new people is born, one that is marked by what it desires. What you love, in fact, defines you.

In time and in the temple, the subject—the “I”

All that has been proposed in the previous meditations is existentially actualized in the “I.” All that the Father wants from the Universe—the glory of Jesus—is entrusted to the existence of a few men.
One can be faithful to the path of vocation only by following a living man. But who is a living man? One who lives the faith, affirming that the only purpose of life is for Christ to be recognized; one who recognizes Christ as the constitutive presence of self; a man who is humanly certain, thus capable of sustaining hope. Finally, a living man is one who stands in the place set by God, where his destiny is shaped, fulfilled.
Secondly, one cannot be faithful if one does not generate, if one is not a missionary. A living man is therefore one who generates, carrying within himself these characteristics. He is simple, that is, he recognizes the simplicity and objectivity of his vocation; he is free from sin and from the evil committed, and therefore free in his relationships; he is capable of joy, a consequence of simplicity and freedom; he is desirable: when you are far away, you long for the place where a living man lives.

Translations

English - Time and the Temple: God and Man - Giussani - Slant Books - 2026