Living the Liturgy

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

There is an ancient Christian saying from the Patristic Era which is known in its most concise form as lex orandi, lex credendi. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church translates it: "The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays."

While the elegant simplicity of the phrase contains an abundance of wisdom, the liturgy has always been subject to forces that threaten to reduce this understanding to partial interpretations. As several observers have noted, these reductions include the "archeological" approach-explicating the liturgy's historical origins but in the process treating it as a dead letter-and the sociological approach-focusing on liturgy as little more than an expression of contemporary concerns.

In Living the Liturgy: A Witness, Father Luigi Giussani (1922-2005) restores a more balanced view, reminding us that (according to Roberto Braschi's introduction) in the liturgy "God is its pres-ent subject and that the essence of every celebratory action is the possibility of a gaze toward Him-because it is always from Him that the dialogue with humanity moves." The memorable, bracing insights in Living the Liturgy were taken from conversations that Father Giussani had with members of the international lay movement he founded, Communion and Liberation.