Secondo volume della serie “Quasi Tischreden”, che riunisce conversazioni dell’Autore con un gruppo di Memores Domini.
Le Tischreden, “dialoghi a tavola”, propongono oltre duecento incontri svoltisi con ritmo all’incirca settimanale a partire dal 1990 e raccolti per tematiche.
Nel presente volume, introdotto dalla Nota per la lettura (pp. 5-6) che approfondisce motivo e metodo di pubblicazione, sono raccolte alcune delle conversazioni tenutesi fra il 31 agosto 1991 e il 16 maggio 1996.

L’“Introduzione” è la trascrizione di un intervento dell’Autore a un gruppo di novizi dei Memores Domini (21 dicembre 1997, inedito).

La Tischrede dal titolo “Cristo e le stelle” (pp. 75-92; T155) era già stata pubblicata integralmente con lo stesso titolo in 30 Giorni (12 1997: pp. 43-58).

I testi di riferimento utilizzati come spunto di riflessione per i dialoghi di questo volume sono “Decisione per l’esistenza” in Alla ricerca del volto umano (Rizzoli, 1995; T28), “Tracce d’esperienza cristiana” in Il cammino al vero è un’esperienza (SEI, 1995; nuova edizione: Rizzoli, 2006; T68), Il senso di Dio e l’uomo moderno (BUR, 1994; T136), Perché la Chiesa: Il segno efficace del divino nella storia (Tomo 2, Jaca Book, 1992; nuova edizione: Rizzoli, 2003; T112, T144-145, T150-151, T155), L’alleanza: Volume uno dagli Esercizi spirituali (Jaca Book, 1979; T98), Il tempo e il tempio: Dio e l’uomo (BUR, 1995; T159, T165-166), oltre ad alcuni pro manuscripto e scritti inediti (trascrizioni di appunti) relativi a eventi legati alla vita dei Memores Domini.
In particolare, la Tischrede “Un’altra sei, più bella” (T167, pp. 201-217) è nata dalla lettura di alcune poesie di Ada Negri (cfr. A. Negri, Mia giovinezza, BUR, 1995).

Il volume si chiude con la “Legenda” (pp. 329-331), l’“Elenco analitico” in ordine cronologico di tutte le Tischreden pubblicate (pp. 332-337) e gli indici (“Indice dei riferimenti biblici” pp. 341-345, “Indice dei nomi e delle cose notevoli” pp. 346-354, “Indice tematico” pp. 355-365). [P. M.]

Introduction. Christ is a present event that makes a human person really human in all her dimensions—time and space, affection, work, society and history. That is why it deserves to be not the first, but the only point of view from which to start. If you do not understand this, everything ends in death; by sensing this, time increasingly illuminates the way.

1. Subjected to Experience
1. “Since from things sensible alone ye learn…” Man comprehends the spirit through a normal experience: the supreme example is the experience of “you,” with which you can address the Infinite as you can address your own woman or child. We can thus comprehend God and Christ and deepen our knowledge of Them only through a human experience: the richer our experience, the greater our understanding. This is the testimony of virginity.

2. The “shift”. The futility of the passing of time is given by a lack of faith in the words Christ spoke so that man could verify them; and by a lack of humanity aiming to formulate the reason of their own existence. Faith and experience are not opposed to each other, because “faith tells you words about experience that are truer than words that come from experience as such.” Therefore, there needs to be a shift from the usual distraction to Jesus’ words and to your own experience, seeking their meaning.

3. Committed to your own humanity. Since the encounter with Christ takes place in human form, it is necessary—through your own experience of belonging to the companionship—to commit your restlessness and conscience, that is your own humanity, while perceiving its change. “Encounter” and “belonging” coincide: the first word underlines the novelty of a relationship; the second word underlines the fact that this relationship affects the path and its destiny. Similarly, “event” indicates the mystery of the companionship’s origin, while “adventure” introduces the mystery of the destiny towards which the commitment of your humanity is directed to.

2. Through Creatures
4. Christ and the stars. “We do not want Christ alone, we also want trees, we also want a woman […] we want all creatures!” Compared with the excitement for the ultimate end (Christ alone), this second path, seeking in creatures the sign of the Creator, is pedagogically more appropriate to human weakness. Indeed, it is possible to understand the relationship with Christ within the flesh, “Though living in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God” (Gal 2:20). Thus, the limitation of creatures, ordered to the end, becomes an opportunity for freedom.

5. Taste for singularity. From openness to the totality made present in Christ comes openness to singularity, as it is concisely expressed by the liturgy: Lord, we pray to you “so that, by loving You in all things and above all things, we may attain your promises, which surpass every human desire.” “In all things” indicates singularity, “above all things” totality: from the total perspective, affirmed through sacrifice, comes a taste for the detail that surpasses every desire.

6. In the detail, everything. There can be two flaws in a relationship: failing to live it according to moral values (that is, the form dictated by the memory of Christ) and forgetting the connection of that detail with the totality (personalism). Instead, love is recognizing everything in the detail: that is why one can be happy in all circumstances, because Christ coincides with the relationship one lives. As for the apostles, by looking at Christ a friendship is born among those who follow Him, and resentment toward self and others is removed.

7. In all things, above all things. If we do not understand in what sense Christ is everything we shall be crushed by abstractness. We need to ask the Spirit, who can make this clear according to the words of the liturgy as they call for loving Him “in all things and above all things.” “In all things” means that Christ is the consistency of every presence encountered: this enhances it and realizes the carnality of Christ’s Presence. “Above all things” breaks through the limit of presence because it “shows the depth of the movement by which that presence is made […]; this movement […] is being loved.” Herein lies the origin of the worship of what one loves and the desire to recognize that Christ is the consistency of everything.

8. Research and anticipation. In life the more you ask, the more, paradoxically, the anticipation increases, because the prospect of reality is infinite. Thus, the truth of scientific research is to compare oneself with the infinite, moved by passion toward man to serve his path: research becomes charity. The glory of Christ means that the design of the world—that is Christ, “laughter of the universe” (Dante)— may shine in the eyes of all.

3. The Hundredfold Here Below
9. How will it be? Fr. Giussani asks about the meaning of the sentence “Whoever suffers with me will have a hundredfold here below.” In rejecting abstract answers from those present, he refers them to the next meeting, asking them to reflect on their own experience. The misunderstanding of the sentence “Whoever loses himself, finds himself” is at the root of the false conception of Christianity as a desire for suffering, which is so prevalent in the modern mindset. Instead, the meaning of the sentence is, “Whoever loses himself for me”; it is indeed about love. And love has its origin in accepting a gift, otherwise it becomes a claim to create for the other.

10. The fulfillment of human feeling. “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29). Eternal life is “the fulfillment of the feeling that you experience in human experience, through a condition of sacrifice that you accept.” “A hundredfold” means a human experience a hundred times more intense here in this world. Sacrifice is to accept look at things like Christ, and it happens only out of love for Him, who is eternal life and a hundredfold. “Being made of flesh, the relationship with Christ begins with the flesh, […] ‘Though living in the flesh, I live in faith.’”

11. “You are another, more beautiful.” Commenting on some poems by Ada Negri, Fr. Giussani describes the experience of a hundredfold. It is impossible to understand how the hundredfold happens, while it is possible to make explicit the reasons why the Christian experience is “a hundredfold”: you love the other without demanding to be loved back, because he or she is there; you love him or her more; you have a hundredfold greater self-awareness, as misery and as vocation and task. Love for Christ because He is there is expressed in Peter’s yes (Jn 21:16-17), which is permanence in the original wonder in front of Being.

12. From Resurrection, a new generation. Christ’s Resurrection, when recognized, generates a new man. You can step into this true experience by following, that is, by asking for something that can never be fully measured. It is an inexhaustible possession that occurs in humility: the awareness of one’s own nothingness and the immeasurable wealth of the “I” given by Another. In the sorrow for one’s own error, the ideal is affirmed, coming to a deeper and deeper feeling of Christ.

13. The exaltation of reality. Christ’s Resurrection enables the exaltation of reality because it is the supreme proof of His relationship with the infinite. Christ’s Resurrection becomes the content of the “I” in belonging to Him, that is, to vocational companionship. Belonging—the law of which is obedience—decides therefore the content of a personality (defined as “responsible maturity”) as culture and morality.

4. The Human Glory of Christ
14. Living as intensity. The intensity of living is yearning for the glory of Christ—so that Christ may be known—and this yearning is expressed in the offering; it is running through everything conscious of this common purpose that sustains the commitment. In such a shift from faith to hope lies the fulfillment of affection and the root of a conscious gladness.

15. A glimmer of hope. Hope emerges from faith when man, by virtue of faith, expects the Risen Jesus to change him and the world. If the content of hope is the total affirmation of personality for eternity, this implies the struggle in the world for a more fully lived personality. The root of hope is Peter’s yes (Jn 21:16-17), because “Only He is.”

16. The density of the instant. An affection with no sufficient reason—or, in other words, that is not in function of destiny—empties the instant. Therefore, the presence of Christ is the only perspective that gives density to the instant and allows the other to be not a pretext for one’s own selfishness, but the real term of the relationship. In every instant, it is thus possible to embrace the whole world, because every action can be offered for the glory of Christ. We cannot understand how it can possibly be that, even we eat, we serve the universe, but this should not obscure the ontological truth of the fact.

17. “Building the Temple.” “All circumstances are amiable in themselves,” but man can recognize them as such and use them only if he lives the relationship with the Creator, starting with a positive assumption about reality. Therefore, our Christian mentality is the one that most favors the use of reality in its totality. The victory of this truest conception, brought into history by the Church of Christ, may or may not manifest itself, according to God’s plan; but our being certain of this prompts us to always rebuild what has been destroyed, without triumphalism. The opposite is to adapt the Christian proclamation to the standards of modern mentality.

18. The plan of history. Human plans fail as they are partial, while the plan of history is unique and has a name: Jesus. To make memory of Christ and offer one’s own work means to embrace it, recognizing that it derives its value from the attempt to be part of Christ’s plan. Doing this when our work hurts is something even greater. “It is easier to be rational than to live faith”: committing oneself to what appears good and right is easier than admitting that fullness comes from doing things “for Christ.” As a matter of fact, reason finds it difficult to open itself to faith. Thus, in working for Christ there is a time when we feel we are losing everything, and so we open ourselves to the totality.