“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and dine with him, and he with me.”
(Revelation 3:20)

Last year while I was working as a hospital chaplain, I was struck by a painting of Jesus that hung near the entrance to the office. It depicted Jesus gently knocking on a door and I titled it, Jesus, the Gentle Knocker. On His side of the door a light radiated from Jesus’ face and a peaceful scene surrounded him, while on the other side a tumultuous, dark scene dominated. The image reminded me that Jesus is continuously knocking on my heart through the daily circumstances and encounters I had as a chaplain. That painting inspired me to ask Jesus for the grace to open my heart when He would knock on it through the suffering patients, their families, and the staff.

In Living the Liturgy: A Witness (published by Slant Books in 2024), Fr. Luigi Giussani invites the reader to open his heart to Jesus who gently knocks on it through the liturgy of the Catholic Church. In this meditative work, Fr. Giussani offers reflections that incarnate his personal love and experience of the liturgy. Even before opening the book, one is struck by the beautiful cover art that shows the Blessed Sacrament on the altar for adoration. It is an image of the chapel of the Venegono Seminary in Milan where Fr. Giussani spent eight years of his formation. The light that emanates from the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament reveals the heart of this Ambrosian priest’s reflections. The liturgy, for Fr. Giussani, is the privileged way we are in touch with this light, the “light of the world.”

In Italy in the 1950’s, Fr. Luigi Giussani (1922-2005) was the chaplain for the youth section of the Catholic Action movement called Gioventù Studentesca (GS). He would celebrate Mass for the school once a week; he never obliged his students to come but proposed it to them freely. Gradually, the students who belonged to the GS groups distinguished themselves by the intensity with which they participated in the liturgy: as teenagers they began reading the Divine Office and communally reciting the Psalms, attending Mass and learning about Gregorian chant and polyphonic music (Life of Luigi Giussani, p. 319).

The meditations in Living the Liturgy are a compilation of the lessons he gave to the young people of GS in the period from 1965 to 1973. The first part of the book is a commentary on the parts of the Mass, and the second contains reflections on the liturgical seasons of the Church year and a few feast days. Fr. Giussani’s reflections are deeply rooted in Sacred Scripture and are permeated with the profound awareness of the intimate relationship between life and liturgy: rather than something we merely attend or do once a week, liturgical life is the paradigm of life itself (p. 94). Every dimension of one’s life is called to be lived in the memory of Christ’s presence.

During this time of the National Eucharistic Revival initiative (2022-25) called for by the United States Bishops Conference, four aspects from Fr. Giussani’s reflections can offer a contribution to this important initiative of renewal.

Awareness of belonging. For Fr. Giussani, the most profound unity among Christians is rooted in the sacrament of baptism through which one dies and rises with Christ and receives a real belonging to the Church. He affirms that the awareness of belonging to Christ through the Church, His Body, is the source of one’s truest identity and personality. Fr. Giussani would invite his students to verify this affirmation through their experience, and to discover that life is more beautiful when one’s life is permeated by this belonging to the Church. In our culture today, we often have a sense of belonging to a sports team, university or college, a music group or club. This more common sense of belonging needs to recall us to our true belonging to Christ in the Church, and to our commitment to and joy in belonging to the Resurrected Christ.


Living the liturgy. The liturgy is where humanity becomes aware that the adoration of God is its supreme meaning (Preface, p. xvii). Fr. Giussani proposes that there is an unending conversation with God that is carried out by the power of grace in the liturgy; it is where the mystery of God becomes incarnate in the world. “Living the liturgy” is not “activism” or “intellectualism” but the cultivation of the encounter between the Christian liturgical rite and one’s personal vocation. It implies letting one’s whole life, one’s questions, difficulties and sufferings and joys, be impacted by God’s living Word present in the liturgy. It requires a Marian position of expectant waiting for the coming of the Lord, who comes through the liturgy but also through our daily lived circumstances.

Faith and commitment. For Fr. Giussani, “living the liturgy” requires an attitude of faith, which he calls being “poor in spirit.” This receptive position seeks to receive and respond to the initiative of the Word of God who speaks through the liturgy. Second, it requires a total commitment to the mystery of God. It is necessary to live one’s whole life within the encounter of grace. If one does not include everything in his relationship with Christ, he creates a separation and excludes Christ from part of his life and the world.

The sacrifice of the Mass. The most important gesture in the entire history of the world is the death and resurrection of Christ, which continues in time through the sacrifice of the Mass. For this reason, Fr. Giussani invites us to see the Mass as the center of the day, or of the week, its most important and privileged moment. It should embrace and impact every dimension of life.


Veni sancte Spiritus, veni per Mariam. Commenting on this prayer, Fr. Giussani says it is the synthesis of everything that the liturgy and Christian life are. Veni sancte Spiritus: By regularly asking the Spirit to come, one becomes aware of one’s true nature as a beggar, and that one’s greatest needs can be satisfied only by God. It is the Spirit of Christ that opens the human heart to the possibility of the encounter with Him. Veni per Mariam: The Blessed Virgin Mary shows the way and is the star of hope for a true encounter with the Lord. She reminds us of the primacy of God’s action in the world and the freedom to respond to His initiative.

As we continue this time of Eucharistic Revival, let us entrust our lives and this initiative to the intercession of Mother Mary and the Holy Spirit. “Jesus, the Gentle Knocker” is calling at your door!