Humility and Obedience

[BarbaraTherese]

I am putting this thread into the Spirituality Forum as although the article is linked from “apologetics” my comments are taking humility and obedience in a spiritual context.
bringyou.to/apologetics/s20.htm
Humility

St. Teresa of Avila said,
“It constantly happens that the Lord permits a soul to fall so that it may grow humbler. When it is honest, and realizes what it has done, and returns, it makes ever-increasing progress in our Lord’s service.”
Another factor of humility is to see ourselves as fallible beings. To see ourselves as fallible beings means that we must leave room for error. As Catholics, we must always recognize this as one of the major principles of humility.

I found this an excellent article on humility…………however, I would take to task the following:

A faithful Catholic must also have the humility to accept the Church’s teachings even if it does not seem right to him. He must see that the Church is greater than he is and that he can err in his thinking. He must not be the judge of Councils, Encyclicals, and Popes, but that the Councils, Encyclicals, and Popes judge him. He must fit into the Church’s standards, not that the Church must fit to his.

I don’t think one should ever accept anything from anyone that one thinks is wrong or not right……….for this is to accept an evil which wrong and the absence of right in essence remains. Be that as it may, where The Church is concerned we need to recognize that The Church is the depository of wisdom which far surpasses the wisdom of an individual ordinarily. To suspect or hold that The Church is in error is a serious matter and not to be treated lightly. But then I don’t think anyway that anyone should commit unquestioningly to obey unquestioningly in blind obedience, which is indeed a form of blindness in truth and a relinquishing of responsibility and accountability for oneself.
Obedience is a choice we make of our free will and it is on ongoing choice accepting our own responsibility and accountability for our choices before God, and renewed in every moment. Such an obedience, I think, is a humble obedience.

Catholic Catechism: 1782 Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. “He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience, especially in religious matters.” The whole section from the Catechism on personal conscience is worth the read to bring the whole matter of conscience into perspective:
ccc.scborromeo.org.master.com/texis/master/search/?sufs=0&q=conscience&xsubmit=Search&s=SS

Being Catholic means accepting the doctrine of the Infallibility of The Pope in areas of Faith and Morals, or when speaking “from the Chair of Peter” to abandon that belief, is to abandon full communion with The Church. This goes without saying is a very serious step to take and is a moral decision of right/wrong, virtue/sin …a choice to separate ourselves from full communion with The Church……… nor will the doctrine of the Infallibility of The Pope tolerate cafeteria choices. Cafeteria choices in this instance is illogical and a contradiction in terms.
The bricks of our unity lay in the common holding of what The Church teaches on Faith and Morals and proclomations "from the Chair of Peter” and the mortar binding those bricks of unity is our love for God witnessed to in our love for each other – a humble love. This is the whole edifice of The Church.

Papal Infallibility:
catholic.com/library/Papal_Infallibility.asp

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Blessings - Barb