Il presente volume raccoglie le trascrizioni inedite di alcune riunioni tenute dall’Autore ai giovani del Centro culturale Charles Péguy dal 1968 al 1970. Sono qui proposte esclusivamente le lezioni da lui tenute, non compaiono infatti assemblee e discorsi svolti da altri relatori. 

Come si legge nell’ampia Nota editoriale (p. XXVIII), i testi sono stati redatti a partire da trascrizioni di registrazioni. Questo metodo si è reso necessario per il fatto che Giussani ha svolto lungo il corso della sua vita un’instancabile attività educativa, è accaduto quindi che gran parte del suo pensiero si sia comunicato attraverso la ricchezza e il ritmo di un discorso orale e sia giunto a noi mediante registrazioni audio e video conservate presso l’Archivio della Fraternità di Comunione e Liberazione a Milano.
I testi raccolti nel presente volume sono stati elaborati attenendosi ai criteri formulati a suo tempo dallo stesso Giussani: fedeltà ai discorsi nella forma in cui sono stati pronunciati; rispetto della natura dei discorsi (in relazione all’occasione in cui sono stati pronunciati); minime variazioni per favorire la resa scritta di un pensiero comunicato oralmente.
Si segnala che in qualche caso le registrazioni presentavano lacune che non è stato possibile colmare con una documentazione suppletiva (p. 2).

La selezione delle registrazioni da pubblicare e la curatela dei testi è di Davide Prosperi, presidente della Fraternità di Comunione e Liberazione (redazione di Carmine di Martino e Onorato Grassi, coordinamento editoriale di Alberto Savorana). 

Il volume, che si articola in sei capitoli, è aperto dalla prefazione di Prosperi «Aderire a Cristo, costruire la Chiesa» (pp. V-XXIV). Segue la notizia storica dal titolo Il centro culturale Charles Péguy (pp. XXV-XXVII).

Il capitolo primo, “La vita cristiana come comunione” (pp. 3-34), propone la lezione tenuta da Giussani la mattina del 22 settembre 1968, nel corso della Giornata d’inizio anno del Centro culturale Péguy (Oreno di Vimercate, MB).

Il capitolo secondo, “L’essenza del cristianesimo” (pp. 35-74), raccoglie i testi delle lezioni dell’Autore durante gli Esercizi spirituali del Péguy svoltisi a Varigotti dall’1 al 4 novembre 1968.
- “Vivente è un presente” (pp. 37-52) è la trascrizione della lezione introduttiva (1 novembre 1968, sera). Si tratta dell’unico testo già pubblicato con il titolo “L’introduzione di Luigi Giussani agli Esercizi spirituali del Centro culturale C. Péguy (Varigotti, 1 novembre 1968)” (testo a cura di Julián Carrón, pubblicato in Vivente è un presente!: Giornata d’inizio anno degli adulti e degli studenti universitari di Comunione e Liberazione, supplemento a Litterae Communionis-Tracce, 9, 2018, pp. 3-12). La registrazione, da cui ha origine il presente testo, conservata presso l’Archivio della Fraternità di Comunione e Liberazione, fu infatti riprodotta durante la Giornata d’inizio anno degli adulti e degli universitari svoltasi ad Assago il 29 settembre 2018.
- “L’annuncio della salvezza” (pp. 53-59) è il testo della lezione tenuta la mattina del 2 novembre.
- “Una fede che investe il quotidiano” (pp. 60-65) è la lezione del 2 novembre, pomeriggio.
- “Il problema è la fede”(pp. 66-74) corrisponde alla lezione del 4 novembre, mattina.

Il capitolo terzo, “Il volto del cristiano nel mondo” (pp. 75-113), raccoglie i testi delle lezioni dell’Autore durante la Giornata d’inizio anno del Péguy svoltasi a Sotto il Monte (BG) il 7 settembre 1969.
- “L’identità cristiana” (pp. 77-100) è il testo dell’intervento svolto la mattina di quel giorno.
- “Una presenza visibile” (pp. 101-113) corrisponde alla lezione del pomeriggio.

Il capitolo quarto, “La certezza della fede” (pp.115-160), raccoglie i testi delle lezioni dell’Autore durante gli Esercizi spirituali del Péguy svoltisi a Riccione dall’1 al 4 novembre 1969.
- “Le caratteristiche della fede” (pp. 117-137) è il testo della lezione tenuta la mattina del 2 novembre.
- “Costruire la Chiesa” (pp. 138-155) è la lezione del 3 novembre, mattina.
- “Con i fratelli uomini” (pp. 156-160) corrisponde alla lezione della mattina del 4 novembre.

Il capitolo quinto, “L’autocoscienza nuova” (pp. 163-208), raccoglie i testi delle lezioni dell’Autore tenute alla Giornata d’inizio anno del Péguy, il 4 ottobre 1970 a Milano.
- “L’urgenza di una personalizzazione” (pp.163-192) è il testo dell’intervento svolto la mattina di quel giorno.
- “La vita della comunità” (pp. 193-208) corrisponde alla lezione del pomeriggio.

Chiude il volume il capitolo sesto, “La moralità della creatura nuova” (pp. 209-282), che propone i testi degli Esercizi spirituali del Péguy svoltisi a Riccione dal 5 all’8 dicembre 1970. 
- “L’origine del male in noi” (pp. 211-233) è la lezione del 6 dicembre, mattina.
- “Il criterio di Dio sulla nostra vita” (pp. 234-259) è il testo dell’intervento tenuto la mattina del 7 dicembre.
- “Essere in comunione” (pp. 260-282) è il testo dell’intervento tenuto la mattina dell’8 dicembre.

Seguono gli indici (“Indici dei riferimenti biblici”, pp. 285-288; “Indice tematico”, pp. 289-292) e il sommario (pp. 293-294). [P. M]  

Published for the first time, the speeches given by Luigi Giussani to members of the Charles Péguy Cultural Center, in Milan, offer a documentation, not known to all, of a fundamental period in the history of Communion and Liberation as well as a clear outline of the Christian experience.

The texts here collected are speeches, lessons and meditations from regular meetings and spiritual exercises; on the one hand, Fr. Giussani outlined the protests of 1968, their demands, misunderstandings, and the crisis they generated, and, on the other hand, proposed a “qualitative leap” of the Christian and human experience that had begun at the Berchet High School.

This turning point also marked the transition from the Péguy Center, which arose in 1964 through the initiative of a group of young graduate students and university assistants, to the movement that would assume the name of Communion and Liberation.

The volume has a main title (Una rivoluzione di sé [A Revolution of Self]), a subtitle (La vita come comunione [Life as Communion]) and is divided into six chapters with varying length (the ones related to the Beginning Days are shorter, while the ones related to the Spiritual Exercises are longer). Although these speeches were addressed on certain occasions and to a specific audience, the text follows a precise logic and the different parts are joined together in a kind of circularity that helps the reader grasp its main and secondary contents.

Change in oneself, event, self-awareness, person, communion are the most recurring words, and they are defined through both a specific exploration of their meanings and an analysis of the relationships between the separate concepts. Throughout the text we find pairs of words and concepts that become clear in their mutual reference and inseparable polarity—person and communion (the main pair), personal and social change, movement and institution, authoritativeness and authority, community and universal Church, Church and world.

The book is also a testimony and documentation of the rebirth of the Movement and the response Fr. Giussani gave to the protests of 1968.

Chapter One, Christian Life as Communion, reports the lesson given during the Beginning Day at the Charles Péguy Cultural Center that was held at the Convent of the Capuchin Friars in Oreno, on September 22, 1968.

Four paragraphs articulate the proposal for a practical understanding with regard to a recovery of the movement: 1) A new beginning; 2) The pillars of a conception; 3) The dimensions of communion; 4) The idea of a group. Specifically, point 2 indicates the two pillars of the conception that, according to Fr. Giussani, qualifies Christian experience: a) life as communion and b) collaboration in the event of the world through Christian communion. The chapter continues with a description of the dimensions of communion (authoritativeness, gestures, goods, judgment) and an analysis of the methodological value of “group,” a concept taken up in Chapter Two by the terms “microclimate” and “group of communion.”

Chapter Two, The Essence of Christianity, reports the meditations from the Spiritual Exercises of the Péguy Cultural Center (Varigotti, November 1-4, 1968) and its dominant theme is the nature of Christianity and the centrality of faith in the Christian life. The first meditation (“Alive means present”) starts from the emptying of faith in today’s world and proposes a rediscovery of Christianity as an event. “Christianity,” says Fr. Giussani, “is an event” that showed itself to the first disciples as “a presence charged with a proposal,” that is, an announcement loaded with novelty. A mature faith must therefore look at this living, present reality, overcoming the crust of prejudices and not resting on a tradition that otherwise does not reach the present. The section “Christendom and Christianity” gives a reading of the signs of the times regarding a Christian tradition that no longer reaches contemporary man and the need to rediscover and relive Christianity in its radical originality. The second meditation (The announcement of salvation) delves into the content of the Christian announcement as the announcement of salvation of the whole of humanity and the figure of Christ as the “savior” of men and women. In the third meditation (A faith permeating everyday life), the response of faith becomes essential as new human relationships, as communion in the environment, as a new dynamic in personal, community and daily life. These points are taken up in the last meditation (The issue is faith), with emphasis on the “essence of the matter”—conscious, personal and mature faith, generating communion and the origin of a true “movement.”

The call to a Christian identity and to a personal faith is the main content of the Beginning Day at the Péguy Center in 1969, reported in Chapter Three (The Face of a Christian in the World). Interpreting the steps of the journey taken, Fr. Giussani invites the members of the Péguy Center to a radical “recovery” in the direction of Christian maturity. In these pages, we can find the general intent of the book—to make the shift from a youthful condition, even in the way of living Christianity, to an adult perspective, defined by the sought-after and experienced correspondence of our person with the contents of the proposal we have encountered. Christian maturity is fully summed up in the certainty of faith, and this certainty has as its content the “fulfillment” of the promise encountered, “the certainty that Christ will fulfill His purpose.” 

All of Chapter Four (The Certainty of Faith) is devoted to this subject. It consists of meditations from the Spiritual Exercises held in Riccione, November 1-4, 1969, and these are divided into three parts. Part One describes the three features of faith—integrity or totality, historicity and judgment on the world—and emphasizes its strong connection to hope. Part Two is focused on the subject of the Church, understood as the continuity of Christ in history and as the way in which, by cooperating with it, we can love the world and be helpful in the lives of all people. The conditions, both objective and subjective, of this building of the Church are taken into account. The first of these are “the conditions set by Christ,” which can be summarized in two main elements—communion of life, the new place that faith generates in the world, and authority, according to the apostolic succession. The second conditions, that are subjective, are the two “poles of inner tension”—waiting, a feeling of expectation, typical of those who are poor in spirit, and freedom in detachment, a new way of possessing things (“virginity, in Christian terms”). In the final meditation, contained in the concluding and short Part Three (With our fellow men), are observations on the dynamic vision of constructing a discourse or theory, “continually evolving” around a principle of inner unity, and a clear and concise reflection on the Church-world relationship.

The physiognomy of adult Christians is the focus of the last two chapters.

Chapter Five (A New Self-Awareness) reports the two lessons given on the Beginning Day at the Péguy Center that was held on October 4, 1970 in Milan. The first focuses on the personalization of faith, a condition that was felt necessary for the continuity of the journey begun two years earlier. A new self-awareness, resulting from a conversion of mind, from categories of judgment, from one’s mentality, is a new rebirth of the Gospel, a new person, the subject of a new mode of action in history and of a true change in the world. This change of action, produced by the new self-awareness that is generated by the encounter with Christ, introduces novelty and diversity into the world, and this leads to conceive the whole of life as mission. Commitment to mission thus defines the dynamics of life and enlivens communion, otherwise reduced to social life or associational forms. The idea of a movement, which had appeared several times on previous occasions, takes on its full force here and becomes the essential perspective of the Péguy Center, that is, of the experience that would shortly thereafter assume the definitive name of Communion and Liberation. The second lesson is devoted to a renewed life of the community; as regards this life, understood as a place where one is summoned to self-awareness and mission, the value of authority, the function of authority and the criteria of its choice are specified.

The last chapter (The Morality of a New Creature) consists of the meditations from the Spiritual Exercises of December 5-8, in Riccione. Entrusted to personal responsibility, these lessons develop the theme of morality as a tension towards destiny and as a struggle against evil, in the world and in each one of us. The first lesson is dedicated to the origin of evil, understood as “non-faithfulness to God” and as forgetfulness of the gift received, of the encounter made, and, therefore, as the application of our own measure to life, the root of power, which withers human life and makes us slaves to one another; and it ends with a hopeful invitation to personal conversion. Morality based on the newness brought by Christ into the world, rather than mere obedience to the law, is discussed in the second lesson, which is a great meditation on how God’s criterion enters into the life of the human person, making him a new creature, and how the encounter with this criterion is possible in history through the communion of believers. The third lesson, devoted to life in communion, focuses on the meaning of Christ’s incarnation, the nature and image of Christian community, the task of building it up, and concludes with the pressing call to renew our mind, not conforming to the common mentality, so that “in the place where we are, we have to be a new world.”