George Matulaitis Journal

138 true servants, Your saints, experienced? O Lord, do not reject me, but have mercy on me. Permit me to be numbered among Your servants! Yet another special favor has been granted us through the intercession or Our Blessed Lady: she protected us from Rafalovski 1 who, to all appearances, may have been a spy. My heart was in anguish. This Rafalovski pretended to want to convert to Catholicism from the Russian Orthodox faith and even to become a priest. On the one hand, I was afraid lest I turn a man away from the Church by showing my distrust, and on the other hand, I was apprehensive about allowing a wolf to mingle among the lambs and find his way into Catholic circles and institutions. I placed the whole matter into the hands of the most Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. There is no doubt that it was through her intercession that I was able to detect Rafalovski’s lies and get rid of him. O Blessed Virgin, I thank you! Since you have protected us so many times, be our protectress and patroness always! Thank you, my gracious Lord, for all the crosses. Chastise and punish me as You will, but do not reject me. Forgive the follies of my youth and the sins of my past life. You are a God of surpassing mercy. Look down upon me, an unworthy creature, with Your merciful eyes and forgive me everything that I have done to offend You. Lord, You see my heart and You know that I love You and desire to love You more and more. If you should see a single vein in my body that is not throbbing with love of You, tear it out and destroy it! I trust You completely, Lord. Strengthen my trust. In whom else can I hope, being so poor and miserable in spirit, if not in Your goodness, if not in the heart of your Beloved Son, filled with love and mercy; if not in the powerful intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary? Lord, I firmly believe everything You have revealed and all the holy Catholic Church teaches. I believe everything contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition. You see what is in my heart, Lord, and You know that from the very first moment of my priesthood I 1 Vladimir Alexandrovich Rafalovski came to Fribourg Feb. 11, 1914, recommended by Fr. Kazimieras Matulaitis, pastor of the Lithuanian parish in London. Fr. George questioned him separately for two days, keeping him away from the novices. Convinced that he was an imposter, probably a Russian spy, Matulaitis took him to a hotel in town and sent word to Rome about him. This incident is recorded in the chronicle of the Marian house in Fribourg.