George Matulaitis Journal

November 15 What is the good of having the best Instructions if we do not keep them? It is much better to have fewer rules and regulations than to have a great many and not live up to them. Religious life, however, must be properly ordered. It is never permis- sible to allow community life to flow along at random like a river. It must always be guided by the Constitutions, Directives, and by the instructions of superiors. It must be ruled and directed in an orderly manner. Whenever a brother is sent out on a mission, it is advisable to provide him with written instructions so that he would know exactly what to do. “He who lives for the Rule, lives for God.” 1 Each religious, however, must be given enough leeway in his field of work so that he could freely use his abilities to work for the greater glory of God according to his superior’s instructions. But he should not be permitted to become lax or to lead an undisciplined life. He is required to order his life in such a way that every hour be purposeful and productive. November 17 On all sides we hear complaints about the lack of people for the work at hand. There is so much to do, but so very few to do it—practically no one. That is true. But whose fault is that, if not our own? In His providence the good God finds people whenever He needs them and calls them to do His work, gifting them with His grace, light, inspiration, love, faith, and the power of holiness. “God chose what is foolish by human reckoning; those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen” (1 Cor 1: 27b-28). The Spirit blows wherever it pleases (cf., Jn 3:8). Usually, however, God rules us through each other; He saves us with one another’s help. Ordinarily, God simply enlightens us to understand what the needs of the Church are, then we ourselves must try with His help to meet those needs. We need people—then let us make an effort to form and train suitable people. That is the point from which we must, it seems to me, begin all our work of restoring all things in Christ. 2 48 1 This seems to be a quotation; it is given in Latin in the original: Qui ordini vivit, Deo vivit. It may be from St. Benedict, whom the author has been studying, since he quotes a Benedictine saying in the previous entry. The first sentence of St. Benedict’s Rule speaks of obedience. Benedict viewed religious life as the ser- vice of God by obedience to the monastic Rule 2 “Omnia instaurare in Christo” — Eph 1:10. This was one of the guiding principles of Pius X’s pontif- icate as expressed in his first encyclical “E Supremi Apostolatus,” proclaimed on Oct. 4, 1903. It is a key idea in all of Matulaitis’s thought on evangelization.