George Matulaitis Journal

18 intense interior life which kept him constantly united to God. The new Beatus is in a special way a splendid model of a bishop, one who in a heroic manner made himself “all things to all people,” a person deeply conscious of his own pastoral mission, a true apostle of unity, totally dedicated to the proclamation of the Gospel and the work of the sanctification of souls. In today’s Gospel we hear the words of Christ the Lord: “He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it (Mt 10:38-39). This is the most accurate summing-up of the life and vocation of Archbishop George . For fifty-six years he sought to be worthy of Christ. For this reason he took up his cross—many were the crosses which in those decisive times it was his lot to carry— thus he took up these crosses and followed Christ. He was prepared in different ways to “lose his own life for Christ.” He did not seek himself; he did not wish “to find his own life.” He was ready to “lose it” many times. Precisely for that reason he found himself in the fullness of life which is given to man to experience in Christ. By following Christ, he led others too along the path of the Gospel, along the path which is the result and consequence of Baptism “in Christ.” Today the Church addresses to you, dear Lithuanian brothers and sisters, the words of Christ in the Gospel: Receive a prophet as a prophet. Receive a righteous man as a righteous man (cf. Mt 10:41). This is the message of this Beatification for the Jubilee of your Baptism. The Saints are to be welcomed with the heart and with faith, so that they can show us the way— that way whose beginning consists of “immersion in Christ” through Baptism. Therefore, together with the new Beatus who presents himself to you side by side with Saint Casimir, Patron of Lithuania, we pray that you will not cease to be »worthy of Christ«. “He who takes up his cross and follows me is worthy of me.” This is what he says. So many times, in the course of your history, you have shown your desire to be worthy of Christ—often too in a heroic way. What more can we wish you today, in this Jubilee year and for the future? Our wish for you is that you will always be worthy of Christ! that you will be the People of God in the country God gave to your ancestors… and that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will always be your God (cf. Ez 36:28). Amen.