St. Benedict for Beginners – The Third Step to Humility
“Saint Benedict of Nursia” by Fra Angelico
The Third Step to Humility
‘The third step of humility is that for the love of God a man should be obedient to his superior in all things.’
Obedience? What a sign of scandal in an individualistic age! The whole self revolts against the idea of obedience. Or if we even entertain the idea of obedience we think we should only obey when it seems sensible to do so, or if we understand and agree with the particular order we have been given.
Benedict would agree with St Therese of Lisieux who said, “There is no virtue in doing what is reasonable.” In other words, the true test of obedience is to obey when we find the order not only disagreeable, but unreasonable.
Let’s take it further: what if the order we have been given seems wrong and contrary to what we feel God wants us to do?
The lives of the saints show us just that kind of obedience.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta waited fifteen years before she was given permission to leave her convent and start her famous missionary work. It is as is their obedience (despite their feelings and convictions otherwise) wins them an even greater prize. This is because total obedience to the superior (even when it seems unreasonable) produces humility in a way that nothing else can.
Therefore the person who truly desires humility will be obedient to his superior even when it is difficult–especially when it is difficult.
Fr. Dwight Longenecker is the author of “Listen My Son” – a commentary on the Rule of St Benedict for families.
Follow Fr. Longenecker on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/frlongenecker
Brother Burrito
Catholicism Pure & Simple
Gertrude
kathleen
mmvc
teresa
The Raven
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Naturally, this seems like insanity to Toad.
If your superior says, “Go and boil you head,” you are supposed to go and do it?
Even if you think that an unreasonable command – sinful even – as we must assume God did not give us heads in order we might boil them?
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“Let’s take it further: what if the order we have been given seems wrong and contrary to what we feel God wants us to do?”
Agreed. What then?
Do these strictures only apply to religious orders?
If not, what if your “superior” is, say, Adolf Hitler, Barak Obama, or Tony Blair?
You raise some good questions Toad! I’ve been puzzling over this after I read your comment this morning.
A young nun – a friend of mine – once told me that of the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, this last one, obedience, was by far the most difficult to faithfully fulfill!
My twopence worth: Obedience is a virtue, but only obedience to the right person! (Obeying Satan or his ‘helpers’ in varying human forms is obviously quite the opposite….. that’s where discernment comes in.) When the orders of one’s legitimate superiors (whether religious or otherwise) are reasonable – in spite of them seeming unreasonable to us – and even if they are unpleasant or not what we would wish to do, one should I suppose humbly and dutifully obey…… though must admit that I, for one, would find that very challenging! But if the orders are sinful, or even unethical, than surely it would be one’s duty to God (above any man) to not obey such orders.
Would you agree to that Toadspittle (aka Tidsproggle, or whatever else you call yourself now
?)
Apart from the fact that the Rule of St. Benedict is immensely practical, such an instruction would be highly unlikely from any Superior. If such an order where issued, the Religious would have every right to question the sanity of his/her Superior.
That was a silly comment Toad dear. You know better than that.
Any thought that one might have a ‘different perspective from God’ would have been discussed with a Spiritual Director, would have to be discerned, and then, and only then, acted upon. One has to be extremely careful when acting on ‘divine instructions’. (Unless of course you are St. Paul or any of the saints that have had direct discourse). The example of Blessed Francesco and Jacinta (Fatima) and St. Bernadette (Lourdes) prove the point. There was a considerable amount of time to elapse before their conversations with Our Blessed Lady where proven to be genuine. This is also why the Church is still deliberating over Medjugorje.
Gertrude,
Whilst I agree with you that Toad’s example was a silly one, I think the point he raises is interesting and debatable. Should you always have to obey every command of your superior (or in the case of non-religious you could supplement ‘superior’ for husband, parents, boss etc.)…… or not?
No one can argue that we all have that left over of Original Sin within us, i.e. Pride. That is why ‘blind obedience’ where it is due, and even whilst knowing it to be good for our soul, is extreeeeeemly difficult….. IMO anyway. But what does one do if you think the order given is also wrong?
Kathleen: It would depend what the order given was. In the normal course of religious life most orders are fairly practical, but occasionally one comes up that tempts one to ‘rebel’. Pride? perhaps, and for me that would probably be my formemost vice! On the other hand such an order would not normally be given with any thought of malice and might therefore just provide a lesson that needed learning. St. Therese gives examples of the often onerous tasks that she was given, some of them with malice. She just got on and did them anyway – but then she is a saint!
For us lesser mortals who might aspire to such goodness – well, we just ‘offer them up’ don’t we?
And, yes, having taken a vow of obedience I would imagine obeying would be unquestionable, though I am sure if an order that was so obviously detrimental either physically or spiritually then I suppose one would be justified in refusing, but this is a point some-one actively in religious life would have to answer. As for husbands, boss etc., – well that would depend on what was being asked surely? Not having taken any vow in this case I would hope commonsense would prevail.
Btw, haven’t been to a wedding for ages (at my age it’s usually funerals); do brides still promise ‘to obey’?
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Pardon Toad, for silly squeaking, but didn’t a very “superior,” individual – called God – once tell Abraham to slit his own son’s throat?
Boiling his head would have been kinder, surely? Maybe not, but you see the point?
But if you think head-boiling is silly, let’s suggest another “superior” who tells you to abort babies, or euthanise the over 70′s, or go and kill Richard Dawkins, or burn all heretics, or stand on your head and act as a human candle-holder, or give him all your savings, or kill all the Jews?
Unlikely? Yes, but possible. Now what would you do?
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We all agree on here that we have free will. (I am assuming.) Whether it derives from God, or not, we can put aside for a moment.
But, having free will, are we not obliged to use it?
To think deeply about what people tell us, and then to decide for ourselves if we think it is true, reasonable, wicked, or whatever, or not? Then act on that?
Otherwise, what’s the point?
To put it a “Catholic” way – if God gives you the right and ability to make decisions freely, isn’t it a sin</b< not to do so, but to simply, blindly, do what some other human tells you?
Very interesting topic. Thinks Toad.
Doh! WordPressed otra vez!
“do brides still promise ‘to obey’?”
Gertrude,
I do go to weddings from time to time, but I wasn’t sure about the answer to this (obviously I haven’t been paying attention) and so had to do a bit of googling to find out. Seems like you are right, and this ‘to obey’ has now been omitted from the Catholic wedding ceremony……. wow!
http://catholicweddinghelp.com/topics/catholic-wedding-vows.htm
But for those of us who did solemnly promise to “love, honour and obey” our spouses “till death do us part” cannot get out of it now… Grrrr!
Toad @ 17:07
Anyone asking you to do any of those wicked things you mention would fall under the category of ‘human helpers’ of Satan – that I referred to earlier. Of course one would not obey such commands of such people unless you were totally brain-washed, crazy….. or equally wicked!
Yes, we are ‘obliged‘ to use our free will…… God’s great gift to mankind. Man is not a robot or a zombi when he obeys those he knows he should of his own free will. He is doing just that; he is exercising his free will to obey because it is the right thing to do.
Dear Gertrude,
When I was asking whether one should obey commands one knows to be ‘wrong’, I was not referring to sinful things…… as I’ve just said (to Toad) no one with any sense would obey sinful commands, and these against their will.
I’ll give an example of the kind of thing I was referring to: As is well known, the Jesuits take, besides the usual vows of religious orders, a vow of total obedience to the Pope. In the 17th century a delegation of Jesuit missionaries had gone to China. Over time they became some of the most valued and trusted advisors of the Emperor and were very near converting him and his whole court to Christianity. (It can be presumed that most of China would then have followed suite.) There was one thing holding the Emperor et al back though, the desire to include a prayer for their ancestors in the set Catholic prayers. It was a fairly small detail, but the Jesuit missionaries felt they could not give their consent to this request without direct permission from the Pope. This was not given…… I do not know the reason, whether it was a wise decision or not, but certainly it became the stumbling block for the success of the conversion of this Emperor and his court to Christianity. The Jesuits failed in their mission, quietly packed their bags and left China. Can you imagine the bitter disappointment and heartache they must have felt at their failure after so many dedicated years of missionary work there?
The point I’m getting to here is their complete and submissive acceptance of the Pope’s decision, without any complaint or arguing……… all in the name of their vow of obedience to the Vicar of Christ. They probably disagreed with the decision to disallow this addition to the prayers (I presume) and felt his judgement to be ‘wrong’, but as Peter’s successor to the One True Church, total obedience to him was uttermost.
(In one of Malachi Martin’s books – I forget which one – he goes into this incident in detail to show how the Jesuits’ blind obedience to the Papacy changed in the aftermath of Vatican II.)
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“But for those of us who did solemnly promise to “love, honour and obey” our spouses “till death do us part” cannot get out of it now… Grrrr! “
Good news, Kathleen, via Jabba! You can “get out of it” right now! All you have to do is ask for an anullment on the grounds that you were immature when you got wed.
Then, when they ask you for solid evidence of this, you simply say, “Well, if I hadn’t been immature, I wouldn’t have got married in the first place, would I?”
Well, not only would I not want to “get out of it” – I’d been joking when I said that – but at 23 years of age when I got married, I could not be called ‘immature‘; I was young but not under age.
You seem to be under the impression that the marriage tribunal undertaking the petitions for annulment is made up of some kinds of gullible fools. Nothing could be further from the truth.
(Anyway, this is the wrong thread for that already well-flogged debate
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Kathleen, I’m sorry that I have only just read your query regarding ‘blind obedience’. I had not heard that intsance before, and being unfamiliar with it feel inadequate to comment other than to perhaps compare it with modern China, where, even today it would be ill-advised to embark on a programme of public conversion against perhaps better informed opinion.
Regarding Toadwhatevers comment on freewill, I would just add that making vows are the ultimate expression of free will and the days are long gone when one could be forced to be enclosed in a ‘nunnery’ (or monastery) against one’s will
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I would hasten to add that it is long time since I found myself bound by such vows! – and in a pre V2 era things were in some cases a little different!