George Matulaitis Journal

March 4 Several days have passed since I made my monthly day of recollection. I had no time to record my thoughts in this Journal. My resolutions are the same. I have added only this: I shall do my best to turn my eyes toward Jesus carrying His cross and suffering upon it; I will offer the Lord Jesus Christ all my labors, trials, and sufferings to atone for my own sins and for those of the whole world. Lord, grant me the spirit of penance so that I may be able to atone, in some small measure at least, for the great and grievous sins of my past life. Lord, make my tears flow abundantly so that I could mourn for my grave and numerous transgressions. March 5 In human beings it is the intellect that governs the will. When the mind is in error, the will follows. Our thinking influences our entire life. If our thinking has become confused and chaotic, our whole life begins to decay. It seems to me that the greatest calamity of our times is the departure of the intellect from the path of genuine truth, from the way of faith, and the terrible confusion of mind that has resulted. To repair this evil, we ourselves must take pains to acquire a thorough understanding of the teaching of the Church and to know our faith as fully and deeply as possible. Then we must try to enlighten the minds of others with the light of faith. The return to sound thinking should be one of our most vital concerns. Today we need to popularize, so to speak, the apostolic work of preaching, spreading, and defending the faith. We must recruit greater numbers of the faithful to take part in this work. Just as there are all kinds of charitable organizations with their rosters of numerous mem- bers, so too should there be similar organizations to preach, spread, and defend the faith. We should try to attract as many people as we can to join them. Nowadays, the battle to maintain a Catholic view of life is at its height everywhere and among all classes of people. A priest cannot reach them all, even if he tries his best to do so. The laity must come to the aid of the clergy so that both could work together in this most important task of spreading true Catholic teaching. The propagation and defense of the faith with the help of the laity should be one of our major concerns. 82