George Matulaitis Journal

117 said that the younger and weaker students do have one. The others are free, but so far no one feels the need. We both agreed that the food must be sufficient and that each should have the clothing he needs. Everyone must bathe at least once a month. Each one must learn to keep his room and his things clean and neat. 6. I asked about what is generally done during summer vacation. He told me that after the examinations, the Jesuits take their scholastics out into the country where they rest for an entire fortnight: eating well, sleep- ing a lot, even taking afternoon naps, and, in general, taking it easy. Then they make a ten-day retreat. After that, they resume their studies and work year-round, not even taking time off for feast days. 7. We also talked about how to avoid any inappropriate tendencies within our Congregation—especially harmful nationalistic and political views. We both agreed that those whose spirit proves intractable or incorrigible in this respect should be dismissed. 8. We discussed recreation. This has been worrying me because we live in such cramped quarters that it is difficult to schedule recreation periods properly. But we have to put up with this situation at present until, God willing, we can move into another house, where we would be freer to order our daily life in a more satisfactory manner. 9. We both agreed that it would be a good thing to invite an outsider to give our retreat and considered the possibility of asking Father Weiss 1 to conduct it. It is very helpful to have an outsider, someone from another religious community, come in to direct the annual retreat. 10. We considered the possibility of renting a house and finding some sisters to take care of it for us so that we would be able to take full charge and order our daily life without hindrance. Among ourselves we had already discussed the question of finding a suitable house and adapting it to fit our needs, but we still have to wait awhile. We must put up with these inconveniences. At the beginning, other congregations had to put up with worse things than we do. Often they had to suffer hunger and could not even have a proper novitiate. Thank God, we do not lack anything. Although we are faced with certain difficulties, we are getting along. God willing, we will soon be able to organize our daily 1 Albert Maria Weiss (1844-1925): a German Dominican, professor of Apologetics at the Unviersity of Fribourg from 1890 to 1919. Both Fr. Bu ys and Fr. George Matulaitis had studied under him and admired him as a scholar and an ascetic.