Obedience

[trevor]

Hello All,

How does everyone deal with their own obedience? I seem to make the same mistakes every time, even though I am completely aware of them. Frustrating does not even begin to describe what that makes me feel like.

Any ideas you can give me would be great.

ybiC,
Trevor

 

[springbreeze]

trevor:

Hello All,

How does everyone deal with their own obedience? I seem to make the same mistakes every time, even though I am completely aware of them. Frustrating does not even begin to describe what that makes me feel like.

Any ideas you can give me would be great.

ybiC,
Trevor

Dear Trevor

I can completely understand your frustration as I suffer it myself. I know what I want to do, I know what I should do, I know even how to do what I should do, I can almost ‘taste’ it and then I go and actually do the opposite of what I should be doing that would please God.

St Paul spoke at length on this. It is that infernal thing ‘concupisence’ that awful dreg left after original sin is removed that leaves us with a taste and a habit for sinning.

The lack of obedience is simply sinning and nothing else, mostly arising out of pride.

The only thing that will keep me from not being obedient is God’s grace and so therefore I spend time with Him in His real Presence as often as possible, by receipt of the Eucharist and before the Blessed Sacrament. Also making frequent use of the Sacrament of reconciliation.

My will is united to God’s but I am weak and as St paul said, it is when we are weak that we are truly strong as we turn to Christ Jesus and live in His strength not our own. I have stopped trying to do this by my own weak will, I simply unite my will to His and ask Him to sustain me in Him, because I am so very very weak.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[trevor]

Thanks Teresa,

Great reply. You pretty much nailed it. I’m not talking about big sins here, I am talking about the little ones I commit everyday. And I do believe they stem from my pride and sometimes fear of letting go entirely. It doesn’t make sense to me to not let go and let God take over everything but sometimes it does scare me. Even though I know I would be better off in God’s hands instead of my own .

Thanks again. I feel better. That was simple.

ybiC,
Trevor

 

[springbreeze]

trevor:

Thanks Teresa,

Great reply. You pretty much nailed it. I’m not talking about big sins here, I am talking about the little ones I commit everyday. And I do believe they stem from my pride and sometimes fear of letting go entirely. It doesn’t make sense to me to not let go and let God take over everything but sometimes it does scare me. Even though I know I would be better off in God’s hands instead of my own .

Thanks again. I feel better. That was simple.

ybiC,
Trevor

Dear Trevor

No thank you, it is heartening to know someone else is as frustrated with themselves as I am with myself!

I know what you mean about the small venial sins, that annoys me that I committ those more than if I fell into mortal sin, because in the venial sins, they subtley creep up on me and immediately I committ them I could kick myself and think ‘why didn’t I see that coming? I know how to avoid doing that sin, but here I am again like a lemming off a rock, hurling forward into the same old rubbish!!’

They do say the just man falls seven times a day…that is a great comfort to a sinner like myself.

I am weak and God is merciful, I am intent on doing His will and He will aid and sustain me if I trust Him

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[puzzleannie]

good thing you don’t have to vow obedience to get married, I would never make it, that’s why I never even thought about becoming a nun. Poverty and chastity I can handle, obedience–I will probably be dragged kicking and screaming into heaven (if I do get there), still trying to do my own thing.

 

[Scott_Waddell]

The product of the modern age is that you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a rebel. That is, rebelliousness is conformity these days if that makes sense. The mere fact that you want to be obedient is a cause for rejoicing.

Scoytt

 

[space_ghost]

trevor:

Hello All,

How does everyone deal with their own obedience? I seem to make the same mistakes every time, even though I am completely aware of them. Frustrating does not even begin to describe what that makes me feel like.

Any ideas you can give me would be great.

ybiC,
Trevor

welcome to the human race my friend… i can speak for a lot of people when i say that you are not alone… just remember… keep running the race, don’t give up… continue to pray, continue to make the sacraments, continue to seek ye first the kingdom of God!

the rest will fall into line… Peace:thumbsup:

 

[serendipity]

I still struggle with this in some respects. It’s one of those situations where right now I can’t think of anything specific, but I know it when it happens. I think that is the nature of life; a series of struggles to some degrees, all of which we shoudl offer up to God, and suppsoedly he appreciates our intentions as much or even more than the outcome of events (Faustina write about this much, so do Gertrude of Helfa and Catherine of Siena, among others).

I felt very much encourgaged and inspired by Catherine of Siena’s writing on obedience in Dialogue. The topic constitutes amny pages in her book. She refers to it as a ship. It may be holy orders, or it may be in the from of marriage or it may be in the from of commitment one makes to follow the advice of a spiritual advisor. But regardless of the type of ship, the benefits are similar in that it gives greater peace of mind, because through your obedience you are relinguishing some of the control that free will has to move you to sin. Those that you obey share in the responsibility for the course of your actions. Hence the peace of mind that comes form obeying.

Frances de Sales writes in his Introduction to the Devout Life that people who ask their confessors to “command them” as to how to improve their lifes receive extra grace.

In Fuastina’s diary she mentions an episode where she felt overtaken by a dark force before making her vows. I can’t remember if this was a physical presence or deep despair, but she felt unable to rise from the floor and was seriously depressed. She found it difficult to move. She looked ill to one one of her superiors who came by to check on her, and the woman ordered her “to rise in the name of obedience,” and Faustina believed that it was the obedience clause that saved her from the paralysis and spiritual dryness she was experiencing.

 

[trevor]

Thank you all for your comments. I will share them next week with our weekly men’s group. Obedience is going to be our main topic for awhile and we started today.

The insights you provided will be very helpful. We are using “Spiritual Combat” by Lorenzo Scupoli. Great book if you haven’t seen it. Saint Francis De Sales carried it for 18 years.

Thanks again. The comments were wonderful.

Peace,
Trevor

 

[springbreeze]

trevor:

Thank you all for your comments. I will share them next week with our weekly men’s group. Obedience is going to be our main topic for awhile and we started today.

The insights you provided will be very helpful. We are using “Spiritual Combat” by Lorenzo Scupoli. Great book if you haven’t seen it. Saint Francis De Sales carried it for 18 years.

Thanks again. The comments were wonderful.

Peace,
Trevor

Dear Trevor

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to draw my attention to this very important part of spirituality.

After further prayer and reflection, I have to say that all we can do is submit our will to God and trust in Him, to desire to be obedient and accept our faults and failings and embrace the knowledge that God does not sit counting our sins but looks for a contrite and repentant heart that strives ever forward in faith and perseverance in Christ Jesus for unity of spirit.

To forgive ourselves and others as quickly and readily as God does.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa