Theological Foundations new file

119 The Ecclesial Dimension rial goods may be helpful, too. Working for the good of the Church, we must make use of virtually everything that God created and anything good that exists on earth. “All things are yours, (...)And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3, 22). 11 One can almost see and feel the flame devouring the heart of this apostle at the beginning of this century when he expresses the desire to sacrifice even his life for God’s cause and the growth of the Church. No wonder, then, that the man animated by such a spirit can pray to God in these words: “If I may ask, grant, O Lord, that in your Church I may be like that common, dirt-scouring rag-mop which, when worn out, is tossed into a dark and filthy corner somewhere. May I be used up and worn out in the same way as long as some tiny corner in your Church is cleaned, as long as your House is a little tidier and brighter. Afterwards, let me, too, be thrown aside like that soiled and worn out cleaning rag. O God, grant that I be used in your vineyard and fields as dung, as manure, so that your harvest would be more rich, your yield more abundant. Grant that I be despised, spent and worn if only your glory grow and spread, if only I may thus share in the growth of your Church.” 12 It seems that in this song of love, Blessed George rose to the heights accessible only to the most ardent sons of the Church. He wanted to graft this love in the hearts of his religious confreres, therefore he gathered them under the motto: “For Christ and the Church!” 13 Our author writes that it had to be a wise and discerning love because such were the demands of those difficult times for the Church in that part of the world. The religious life could be reborn only in clandestine and difficult circumstances, therefore Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz looked for a safe place and tried to hide there, so that no wrong people would find him and his confreres out. The confreres were obliged to keep silent about their intentions and works. And why not? Why should they not do so if various destructive organizations involving all kinds of revolution- aries and anarchists can hide and work in conspiracy? — asks the Renovator of the Marians. The first Christians, who had to hide and live