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“Responding to God’s Call” Retreat DAY SEVEN: OBEDIENCE
Scripture Reading
“For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself becoming obedient unto death, even to death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:5-8)
Meditation
Obedience is a forgotten virtue in contemporary society. Many young people have the idea that they only have to obey another if what they are asked to do is a decision arrived at by a long consultation with a panel of experts who finally decide what needs to be done. Even in families, parents are afraid to command their children to do anything. There is almost no social situation except perhaps the army where one feels obliged to obey a decision in which they have not participated.
Yet, in religious life obedience is the order of the day. Some communities have tried to lessen the sacrifice of obedience by doing away with the whole idea of a superior and adopting group government. The sad thing is that the value of obedience cannot be maintained by trying to obey a committee. For obedience is a virtue which passes from one person to another when both perceive a common need and truth which then motivates their wills: the superior to command, the subject to obey.
Many well meaning people attempt to enter religious life today but shipwreck on the rock of the problem of obedience. Real religious love to practice this virtue because it is so close to charity. Both are about a union of wills expressing a common truth. Though truth is the characteristic touch point, as one cannot long obey a command he considers absurd, the subject has to learn to submit to the superior’s assessment of the situation, at least in key issues.
Why is obedience so important? First, because Christ practiced it. Second, because humility is proven in it because one cannot be proud and obedient at the same time. Third, obedience is a practical place where a person can prove their love for God by surrendering the desire to control to another. We so often fool ourselves about our desire to dominate others. Obeying another always makes us open to the fact that there are others in the world whom our actions affect. There are consequences to others from what we do.
Someone who is contemplating entering religious life or the priesthood must seriously ask themselves if they can spend their lives allowing others to decide for them where they will go and what they will do. The person contemplating a vocation must realize that these decisions in some institutes can be on a daily or hourly basis. Religious rules do not in themselves bind under pain of sin but only under the desire to live a more perfect charity. One must realistically ask oneself if he has developed this virtue and ability, or if the living of a religious rule as interpreted and decided by another will be a stifling experience. One must also consider that asking for permission is not just a sometime thing. Theoretically, at least, permission may be required in many things and demanded often. A person who thinks he is going to escape this fact in religious life is just fooling himself or herself.
“Love, yes, but obedience, no,” is just not a religious option. For one thing, Christ did not live his life this way. For another, obedience proves the objectivity and truth of love.
Points of Reference
Have I ever confronted the joy and surrender of obedience even in my family life?
Would I find others making decisions to which I must conform my life stifling?
Would I be able to love the directives given me because I love God and the rule of my community, which the superior represents?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You showed Your love by Your obedient death on the Cross. Grant that as I embrace a generous obedience, I may lose my egotism and so become more loving after Your example. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture Reading
“For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of man, and in habit found as a man. He humbled himself becoming obedient unto death, even to death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:5-8)
Meditation
Obedience is a forgotten virtue in contemporary society. Many young people have the idea that they only have to obey another if what they are asked to do is a decision arrived at by a long consultation with a panel of experts who finally decide what needs to be done. Even in families, parents are afraid to command their children to do anything. There is almost no social situation except perhaps the army where one feels obliged to obey a decision in which they have not participated.
Yet, in religious life obedience is the order of the day. Some communities have tried to lessen the sacrifice of obedience by doing away with the whole idea of a superior and adopting group government. The sad thing is that the value of obedience cannot be maintained by trying to obey a committee. For obedience is a virtue which passes from one person to another when both perceive a common need and truth which then motivates their wills: the superior to command, the subject to obey.
Many well meaning people attempt to enter religious life today but shipwreck on the rock of the problem of obedience. Real religious love to practice this virtue because it is so close to charity. Both are about a union of wills expressing a common truth. Though truth is the characteristic touch point, as one cannot long obey a command he considers absurd, the subject has to learn to submit to the superior’s assessment of the situation, at least in key issues.
Why is obedience so important? First, because Christ practiced it. Second, because humility is proven in it because one cannot be proud and obedient at the same time. Third, obedience is a practical place where a person can prove their love for God by surrendering the desire to control to another. We so often fool ourselves about our desire to dominate others. Obeying another always makes us open to the fact that there are others in the world whom our actions affect. There are consequences to others from what we do.
Someone who is contemplating entering religious life or the priesthood must seriously ask themselves if they can spend their lives allowing others to decide for them where they will go and what they will do. The person contemplating a vocation must realize that these decisions in some institutes can be on a daily or hourly basis. Religious rules do not in themselves bind under pain of sin but only under the desire to live a more perfect charity. One must realistically ask oneself if he has developed this virtue and ability, or if the living of a religious rule as interpreted and decided by another will be a stifling experience. One must also consider that asking for permission is not just a sometime thing. Theoretically, at least, permission may be required in many things and demanded often. A person who thinks he is going to escape this fact in religious life is just fooling himself or herself.
“Love, yes, but obedience, no,” is just not a religious option. For one thing, Christ did not live his life this way. For another, obedience proves the objectivity and truth of love.
Points of Reference
Have I ever confronted the joy and surrender of obedience even in my family life?
Would I find others making decisions to which I must conform my life stifling?
Would I be able to love the directives given me because I love God and the rule of my community, which the superior represents?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You showed Your love by Your obedient death on the Cross. Grant that as I embrace a generous obedience, I may lose my egotism and so become more loving after Your example. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.