Theological Foundations new file

78 Theological Foundations has its profound justification in the Christian tradition. Such vision has always been close to the hearts of many fathers and writers of the Church. It also occupies an important place in the contemporary theolo- gy which joins God’s eternal plan for man with the person of Jesus Christ in an inseparable bond because “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph 1, 4). *** For Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz, the example of the saints is a par- ticular stimulus to imitate Christ. With all their strength, they tried to be perfect “as their heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5, 48) and they aimed for this noble goal by becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. “If I really want to follow in the footsteps of the Saints, the end of Christ’s life must also become my end; those tools and means which Christ used must also become my tools and means. What did Christ desire? To establish God’s Kingdom here on earth, i.e., our holy Church. And what was His way to this goal? —The way of utter self-abnegation in deeds difficulties, humiliations, persecutions, suffering. He followed this way until He was crucified, until He gave His life. What follows from this? That, of our own free will, wholly denying ourselves, all of us must offer and consecrate ourselves fully to the Church. To me the core and essence of our vocation is: we must freely and voluntarily renounce ourselves, our comforts, conveniences, appetites, and plea- sures; we must renounce the world’s riches, goods and vain glory. On the other hand, we should give and consecrate ourselves wholly, all our natural and supernatural talents, to the welfare of the Church: its defense, preservation, propagation, growth, and progress.” 75 As he searches for the way to imitate Christ, Blessed George points to the need of contemplating Christ’s life. He is the model for us when He works in the peace of His home in Nazareth, when He does penance and fasts in the desert, when He spends entire nights in prayer, when He stops at towns and villages, when He visits the righteous and the sinners,