A special call from the Doctors for a return to obedience

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Emeraldlady

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I want to address this to new and younger Catholics who may feel they have to worry about our Pope and resist his authority to guide us and the Church. Please be assured by the Holy Saintly Doctors that there is every virtue in obedience to the Holy Father and trust in the presence of the Holy Spirit in his role as a bridge builder (pontificate) between God and the world.

We must put aside all judgment of our own, and keep the mind ever ready and prompt to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, our holy Mother, the hierarchical Church.
–Saint Ignatius of Loyola

”The obedience which we render to a superior is paid to God, Who says, ‘He that hears you hears Me;’ so that whatever he who holds the place of God commands, supposing it is not evidently contrary to God’s law, is to be received by us as if it came from God Himself; for it is the same thing to know His Will, either from His Own, from an Angel’s, or from a man’s mouth.”
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the Church

”Naturally we all have an inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet it is certain that it is more for our good to obey than to command; hence perfect souls have always had a great affection for obedience, and have found all their joy and comfort in it.”
–Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church

Saint Paul commands us to obey all superiors, even those who are bad. Our Blessed Saviour, His Virgin Mother, and Saint Joseph have taught us this kind of obedience in the journey they took from Nazareth to Bethlehem, when Caesar published an edict that his subjects should repair to the place of their nativity to be enrolled. They complied with this order with the most affectionate obedience, though the Emperor was a pagan and an idolator, so desirous was Our Lord of showing us that we should never regard the persons of those who command, provided they be invested with sufficient authority.”
–Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church

”The more we see that any action springs not from the motive of obedience, the more evident is it that it is a temptation of the enemy; for when God sends an inspiration, the very first effect of it is to infuse a spirit of docility.”
–Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church

”Obedience is a short cut to perfection. They who are living under obedience, if they really wish to advance in the ways of God, must give themselves up always and in all things into the hands of their superiors; and they who are not living under obedience must subject themselves to some learned and discreet confessor, whom they may obey in the place of God, disclosing to him, with perfect candor and simplicity, the affairs of their soul; and they should never come to any resolution without his advice. Nothing gives greater security to our actions, or more effectually cuts the snares the devil lays for us, than to follow another person’s will, rather than our own, in doing good.”
–Saint Philip Neri

”He who always acts under obedience may be assured that he will not have to give an account of his actions to God.”
–Saint Philip Neri
 
Those who lead us answer for their leadership. We, for our part, answer for our obedience.

Clearly, some believe that “Servant of the servants of God” makes the Holy Father a slave subject to our orders.
 
‘Go where you may, you will find no rest except in humble obedience to the rule of authority.
Dreams of happiness expected from change and different places have deceived many.
Everyone, it is true, wishes to do as he pleases and is attracted to those who agree with him.
But if God be among us, we must at times give up our opinions for the blessings of peace.’ - The Imitation of Christ
 
“The Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience.”
– St. Francis de Sales

”There are three sorts of obedience; the first, obedience when a strict obligation is imposed upon us, and this is good; the second when the simple word of the superior, without any strict command, suffices for us, and this is better; the third, when a thing is done without waiting for an express command, from a knowledge that it will be pleasing to the superior, and this is the best of all.”
–Saint Ignatius, Father of the Church

”He who follows his own ideas in opposition to the direction of his superiors needs no devil to tempt him, for he is a devil to himself.”
–Saint John Climacus
 
Distilled to its essence: who is it that incites all evil? Tempts to go astray? Sows the seeds of division rather than unity? Provokes the ego to believe that it truly knows a better way?

Genesis 3 is so utterly instructive, so illustrative, so applicable to our times. We are sheep looking for a shepherd. One is meek and humble. One is arrogance personified. One requires the denial of the self. The other teaches the flattery of self.
 
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