George Matulaitis Journal

75 When preparing for meetings, it is a good thing to have the agenda ready ahead of time, including the major proposals and matters for discussion so that everything be conducted in an orderly manner and the meetings do not become long, drawn-out affairs that tire the participants and waste their time. On visits, even brief ones, the brothers should take advantage of every opportunity to be of use to people, to help and encourage them in doing good, to raise their minds to God. We should look for occasions to be of service to others. Priests should willingly hear confessions, preach the word of God, teach religion to children and adults, give retreats, and so on. Lay brothers too should be useful in whatever way they can to draw people to God. In the confessional priests should keep in mind that whatever they may whisper into the ear of their penitents may later be made public and revealed to everyone. Confessors must be careful to attract penitents not to themselves but rather to God. Charity and sincere compassion ought to fill the hearts of confessors and take precedence over all other feelings. Their greatest desire should be to bring people closer to God. When possible, they should not only give their penitents absolution, but also be willing to give spiritual direction. Religious ought to shun vainglory like fire because pride and ambition have a way of creeping into the monastery concealed under the guise of good works and good intentions. That is why we have made a special promise 1 to God to avoid high office and honors. The evil spirit, disguising his evil purpose under the veil of goodness, sometimes offers us high positions, stressing their untold advantages for doing good. He even unsettles our conscience by trying to persuade us that in refusing this position we will cause great harm to the Church and to souls. We must be careful not to permit the evil spirit to deceive us. Are high positions the only places where we can work? We can do much more good by following Christ, by observing our Rule, and by obeying our superiors. If we were to accept all these honorable and influential positions, our Congregation would quickly disintegrate. One would assume this 1 Matulaitis added such a promise to the formula for religious profession. This promise was included in the 1918 version of religious profession of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Poor.