George Matulaitis Journal
NOTES ON THE JOURNAL Origins of the Journal The Journal of George (Jurgis) Matulaitis spans a fifteen-year period, almost a third of his life. It was written intermittently from the fall of 1910 to the summer of 1925. When he began to keep a Journal in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1910, his intention was to do this as a spiritual exercise rather than simply to write a diary. He started to write in a small notebook which he kept with him. He titled it thus: Thoughts, Enlightenments, Inspirations, and Resolutions. Having recently made his religious profession as a Marian, a step he took after 11 years of priesthood, he was also in the process of renewing the dying Marian Congregation. From 1910 to 1914 the Journal reflects his own spiritual concerns and those of his religious community. His main preoccupation was this: what is the most effective way to lead a truly spiritual and apostolic life in the turbulent modern world, a world becoming ever more hostile to religious faith and to the Church. He regarded the Catholic Church as the kingdom of God on earth, but also as a persecuted pilgrim Church. His main aim was to learn to “walk in the footsteps of Christ” and to serve the Church wholeheartedly. Matulaitis’s own spiritual struggles and joys are evident in the Journal , especially in his resolutions made on the occasion of monthly and annual retreats. The special graces he received are also noted. Later on he was to recommend a similar exercise to his spiritual brethren as a way of gaining greater insight into the workings of God in the soul and as a means of drawing strength in times of aridity and inner trials. The Journal was written in various places where Matulaitis lived and worked. It was begun in St. Petersburg in 1910, then continued in Fribourg, Switzerland, from 1911 to 1914. His own Chronicle ( Relatio ) of a trip to Rome in the fall of 1911 has been inserted into the Journal to give a fuller picture of what was going on in his life. The Chronicle records a spiritual crisis that took place in Rome and was to have important consequences for Matulaitis’s own life and for the revived Marian Congregation. There are no entries in the Journal from the summer of 1914 to the spring of 1918. In the summer of 1913, there was a brief visit to the United States. Matulaitis was in Poland when World War I broke out. He 19
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