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Obedience
Note:
Obedience is necessarily limited to appropriate commands of lawful
authorities. Obedience is not accorded to commands which violate
faith or morals. |
"[H]e humbled
himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross."
(Phil. 2:8)
"Remind them
to be under the control of magistrates and authorities, to be
obedient, to be open to every good enterprise." (Ti. 3:1)
"Obey your
leaders and defer to them, for they keep watch over you and will
have to give an account, that they may fulfill their task with joy
and not with sorrow, for that would be of no advantage to
you." (Heb. 13:17)
"Do you not
know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to
death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Rom.
6:16)
"When they had
brought them in and made them stand before the Sanhedrin, the high
priest questioned them, 'We gave you strict orders (did we not?)
to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with
your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us.' But
Peter and the apostles said in reply, 'We must obey God rather
than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had
him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right
hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and
forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the
Holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him.'" (Acts
5:27-32)
"Let every
person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no
authority except from God, and those that exist have been
established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority opposes
what God has appointed, and those who oppose it will bring
judgment upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear to
good conduct, but to evil. Do you wish to have no fear of
authority? Then do what is good and you will receive approval from
it, for it is a servant of God for your good. But if you do evil,
be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without purpose; it is
the servant of God to inflict wrath on the evildoer. Therefore, it
is necessary to be subject not only because of the wrath but also
because of conscience. This is why you also pay taxes, for the
authorities are ministers of God, devoting themselves to this very
thing. Pay to all their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to
whom toll is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom
honor is due." (Rom. 13:1-7)
"...interior
obedience...is the true obedience of an orthodox man" (Pope
Clement XI, "Vineam Domini Sabaoth", 1705 A.D.)
"Can.
273 Clerics are bound by a special obligation to show reverence
and obedience to the Supreme Pontiff and their own ordinary."
(1983 Code of Canon Law)
"[O]bedience...
is, in a sort, the mother and guardian of all the virtues in the
reasonable creature" (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"It is right
to submit to a higher authority whenever a command of God would
not be violated." (St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church)
"Obey
promptly! Do not consider the age or merit of a person. And in
order to succeed imagine you are obeying the Lord." [St. Pio
of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)]
"[O]bedience
in this case [of things contrary to God] would be unlawful."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
"[E]vil should
never be done out of obedience: yet sometimes for the sake of
obedience we should lay aside the good we are doing." (Pope
St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church)
"[O]bedience
to a superior is due in accordance with the divinely established
order of things" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church
and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"[T]he order
of justice requires that subjects obey their superiors, else the
stability of human affairs would cease." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history
of the Church")
"[S]ubjection
whereby one man is bound to other regards the body; not the soul,
which retains its liberty." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of
the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"But, by its very nature as an active and
courageous company, the Catholic priesthood must have the spirit
of discipline, or, to use a more deeply Christian word, obedience.
It is obedience which binds together all ranks into the harmony of
the Church's Hierarchy." (Pope Pius XI, "Ad Catholici
Sacerdotii", 1935 A.D.)
"It is written
(Acts 5:29): 'We ought to obey God rather than men.' Now sometimes
the things commanded by a superior are against God. Therefore
superiors are not to be obeyed in all things." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"Can.
601 The evangelical counsel of obedience, undertaken in the spirit
of faith and love in the following of Christ, who was obedient
even unto death, obliges submission of one's will to lawful
Superiors, who act in the place of God when they give commands
that are in accordance with each institute's own
constitutions." (1983 Code of Canon Law)
"[A]lthough a
man should take every care to obey each superior, yet it is a
greater duty to obey a higher than a lower authority, in sign of
which the command of a lower authority is set aside if it be
contrary to the command of a higher authority. Consequently the
higher the person who commands, the more grievous is it to disobey
him: so that it is more grievous to disobey God than man."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
"Priests,
never losing sight of the fullness of the priesthood which the
bishops enjoy, must respect in them the authority of Christ, the
Supreme Shepherd. They must therefore stand by their bishops in
sincere charity and obedience. This priestly obedience, imbued
with a spirit of cooperation is based on the very sharing in the
episcopal ministry which is conferred on priests both through the
Sacrament of Orders and the canonical mission." (Second
Vatican Council)
"Can.
618 Superiors are to exercise their power, received from God
through the ministry of the Church, in a spirit of service.
Therefore, docile to the will of God in fulfilling their function,
they are to govern their subjects as sons or daughters of God and,
promoting the voluntary obedience of their subjects with reverence
for the human person, they are to listen to them willingly and
foster their cooperation for the good of the institute and the
Church, but without prejudice to the authority of superiors to
decide and prescribe what is to be done." (1983 Code of Canon
Law)
"As
the Philosopher says (Ethica Nicomachea ii, 1,2), by performing
actions we contract certain habits, and when we have acquired the
habit we are best able to perform the actions. Accordingly those
who have not attained to perfection, acquire perfection by
obeying, while those who have already acquired perfection are most
ready to obey, not as though they need to be directed to the
acquisition of perfection, but as maintaining themselves by this
means in that which belongs to perfection." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and 'greatest theologian in the
history of the Church')
"The
vow of obedience taken by religious, extends to the disposition of
a man's whole life, and in this way it has a certain universality,
although it does not extend to all individual acts. For some of
these do not belong to religion, through not being of those things
that concern the love of God and of our neighbor, such as rubbing
one's beard, lifting a stick from the ground and so forth, which
do not come under a vow nor under obedience; and some are contrary
to religion." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
'greatest theologian in the history of the Church')
"In
professing obedience, religious offer the full surrender of their
own will as a sacrifice of themselves to God and so are united
permanently and securely to God's salvific will. After the example
of Jesus Christ who came to do the will of the Father (cf. John
4:34; 5:30; Heb. 10 7; Ps. 39:9) and 'assuming the nature of a
slave' (Phil. 2:7) learned obedience in the school of suffering
(cf. Heb. 5:8), religious under the motion of the Holy Spirit,
subject themselves in faith to their superiors who hold the place
of God. Under their guidance they are led to serve all their
brothers in Christ, just as Christ himself in obedience to the
Father served His brethren and laid down His life as a ransom for
many (cf. Matt. 20:28; John 10:14-18)." (Second Vatican
Council)
"Religious
profess obedience as to the regular mode of life, in respect of
which they are subject to their superiors: wherefore they are
bound to obey in those matters only which may belong to the
regular mode of life, and this obedience suffices for salvation.
If they be willing to obey even in other matters, this will belong
to the superabundance of perfection; provided, however, such
things be not contrary to God or to the rule they profess, for
obedience in this case would be unlawful... Accordingly we may
distinguish a threefold obedience; one, sufficient for salvation,
and consisting in obeying when one is bound to obey: secondly,
perfect obedience, which obeys in all things lawful: thirdly,
indiscreet obedience, which obeys even in matters unlawful."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and 'greatest theologian
in the history of the Church')
"The
necessity of coercion makes an act involuntary and consequently
deprives it of the character of praise or merit; whereas the
necessity which is consequent upon obedience is a necessity not of
coercion but of a free will, inasmuch as a man is willing to obey,
although perhaps he would not be willing to do the thing commanded
considered in itself. Wherefore since by the vow of obedience a
man lays himself under the necessity of doing for God's sake
certain things that are not pleasing in themselves, for this very
reason that which he does is the more acceptable to God, though it
be of less account, because man can give nothing greater to God,
than by subjecting his will to another man's for God's sake. Hence
in the Conferences of the Fathers (Collationes xviii,7) it is
stated that 'the Sarabaitae are the worst class of monks, because
through providing for their own needs without being subject to
superiors, they are free to do as they will; and yet day and night
they are more busily occupied in work than those who live in
monasteries.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
'greatest theologian in the history of the Church')
"The
vow of obedience is the chief of the three religious vows, and
this for three reasons. First, because by the vow of obedience man
offers God something greater, namely his own will; for this is of
more account than his own body, which he offers God by continence,
and than external things, which he offers God by the vow of
poverty. Wherefore that which is done out of obedience is more
acceptable to God than that which is done of one's own will,
according to the saying of Jerome (Ep. 125 ad Rust. Monach.): 'My
words are intended to teach you not to rely on your own judgment':
and a little further on he says: 'You may not do what you will;
you must eat what you are bidden to eat, you may possess as much
as you receive, clothe yourself with what is given to you.' Hence
fasting is not acceptable to God if it is done of one's own will,
according to Isaiah 58:3, 'Behold in the day of your fast your own
will is found.' Secondly, because the vow of obedience includes
the other vows, but not vice versa: for a religious, though bound
by vow to observe continence and poverty, yet these also come
under obedience, as well as many other things besides the keeping
of continence and poverty. Thirdly, because the vow of obedience
extends properly to those acts that are closely connected with the
end of religion; and the more closely a thing is connected with
the end, the better it is. It follows from this that the vow of
obedience is more essential to the religious life." (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and 'greatest theologian in
the history of the Church')
"We are taught
most clearly that the obedience which men are obliged to render to
the authorities established by God is an absolute precept which no
one can violate, except if by chance something is commanded which
runs counter to the laws of God or of the Church. 'Let everyone'
says the Apostle, 'be subject to higher authorities, for there
exists no authority except from God, and those who exist have been
appointed by God. Therefore he who resists the authority resists
the ordination of God...wherefore you must needs be subject not
only because of the wrath, but also for conscience sake' (Rom.
13:1,2,5). Similarly St. Peter (1 Pt. 2:13) teaches all the
faithful: 'Be subject to every human creature for God's sake,
whether to the king as supreme, or to the governors sent through
him ...' for (he says) such is the will of God, that by doing good
you would silence the ignorance of foolish men.' By observing
these admonitions the first Christians, even during the
persecutions, deserved well of the Roman emperors themselves and
of the security of the state. 'Christian soldiers,' says St.
Augustine, 'served an infidel emperor: when it came to the subject
of Christ, they recognized no one except Him who is in heaven.
They distinguished between the eternal Lord and the temporal lord,
but also were subject to the temporal lord because of the eternal
Lord' (St. Aug. On Ps. 124). The holy Fathers have always taught
this doctrine. The Catholic Church has taught it and continues to
teach it." (Pope Gregory XVI, "Cum Primum", 1832)
Also
See: Obedience
/ Disobedience (Catholic Life Reflections) | Obedience
/ Disobedience / Assent (Vatican View Reflections) | Vows
| Religious
/ Religious Life / Religious Institutes | Obedience
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