The Inspiration of the Divine Calling of all People 15 ecclesiology”.6 Vincent Pallotti is not primarily an academic theologian and did not want to be one, despite his studies and his teaching. Instead, perspectives can be recognised and implications can be drawn from his life and activity, which can pollinate today’s Christianity. Therefore, a systematic work tied into Pallotti is directed back to the origins, which lays in the historically concrete and personal witness of faith. Thus, the one source of understanding consists of a pointed review of the origins in the life of the saint and the stream of life of the Pallottine family that fl ows from it, and the other in the, at least cursory, debate with presentday controversial and trend-setting topics of ecclesial life. Regarding the Format of the Study Beginning with a look at the essential characteristics of the era in which Vincent Pallotti lived, his personal experience of Church will fi rst be sketched out in order to present the context within which his life was lived and his diverse and numerous writings arose. Thereafter, the work is divided into fi ve chapters. In reading his writings, two topics stand out in particular. The fi rst is Pallotti’s conviction that all people are created in God’s image and are, therefore, called by him (Chapter I). The second concerns the foundational holiness of all people, which is bestowed on them through creation, by their participation in the life of God and his infi nite holiness, and then also becomes their vocation (Chapter II). Chapters I and II, based on the textual fi ndings of Pallotti’s writings, present his Image-Theology and Image-Anthropology and the calling contained within them to pass on the love of God, to be an ambassador of God, an apostle of Jesus. For Pallotti, the human being as the image of God was not the representation of one who is absent, but of the presence of God itself. This presence of God in his creation and in humans effects a fundamental trust in the holiness of all creatures and has social as well as pastoral implications. In Chapter II it will be developed from the Old Testament schekhina over Eucharistic spirituality and the signifi - cance of the Holy Spirit and its consequences will be considered: God’s presence in creation as the motive for responsibility, love and dedication for all creatures. In a time of decreasing solidarity, an impulse can come out of the Pallottine approach for a Church that recollects anew the call to love and service. 6 Cf. the use of the term in Walter KASPER, Katholische Kirche. Wesen Wirklichkeit Sendung, Rom 2011.
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