Of the First Degree of Obedience

OUR Father, speaking of obedience in the Third Part of the Constitutions, says: “It is very expedient for spiritual advancement, and quite necessary, that all should give themselves up to perfect obedience.” And he goes on explaining what this perfect obedience is. He says that it should not only be in the exterior execution, carrying out in act the order given, which is the first degree of obedience, but it should extend also to the will and the heart, conforming our will to that of the superior, willing and willing not as he wills and wills not, which is the second degree of obedience. And we are not to stop here, but pass on further, conforming our judgment also to that of the superior, so that you should think as the superior thinks, and judge that the order given is a good order, which is the third degree of obedience. When there is this conformity in deed, will, and understanding, then the obedience will be perfect and entire; and if any of these conditions be wanting, it will be neither perfect nor entire.

Starting with the first degree, we must be very diligent and punctual in the carrying out of an order of obedience.

St. Basil asks with what care and diligence we should apply ourselves to the things we are commanded, and answers that it should be with the same diligence wherewith a man who greatly loves his own life applies himself to the things necessary to preserve it, or as a hungry man sets about his dinner. Even with greater diligence, he says, inasmuch as life everlasting, which is earned by obedience, is more noble and excellent than temporal life. The blessed St. Bernard says: “The truly obedient man knows no such thing as delay, or ‘Oh, tomorrow’ or ‘Afterwards,’ nor does he say ‘Tll go about it presently,’ as lazy people do; but he applies his hearing to understand the order, his feet to go and fulfil it, his hands to put it in execution, and so punctually does he carry it out that he seems to forestall and get the start of him who gives the order”’—Fidelis obediens nescit moras, fugit crastinum, ignorat tarditatem, praecipit praecipientem, parat oculos visui, aures auditui, linguam voci, manus operi, itinert pedes, totum se colligit ut imperantis colligat voluntatem.

Our Father, speaking of putting the order into execution, and the punctuality which we should observe in obedience, says that we should be as prompt in answering the bell or the voice of the superior as if the signal came from Christ our Lord Himself. We should omit finishing any work we have commenced, leaving even a letter of the alphabet incomplete. He says two things: first, that, when we hear the bell or the voice of the superior, we should reckon that it is the voice of God that we hear. A good reflection for the occasion is to think of the saying of the three Wise Men Kings, when they saw the star that appeared to them: This is the sign of the great king; let us go and adore and offer our gifts. (Epiphany Office). So, on hearing the bell or the voice of the superior, it is good to say: “There is the voice of God; let us go at once to obey.” The second thing, he says, is that we should leave unfinished the letter of the alphabet that we have begun to form. Cassian, speaking of the monks’ occupations, says that they were all occupied, this one in writing out his thoughts on pious subjects, that one in meditation, that other in copying manuscripts; but as soon as they heard the bell or the voice of the superior, they rushed out of their cells certatim, vying with one another who should answer the call first, in such haste that he who was writing omitted to finish the letter of the alphabet that he had begun. They made obedience of more account than all the rest, preferring it not only to the manual work they were doing, but also to reading and prayer and recollection and all other works; and so they left them, not to be wanting in obedience even in the least point, as if they heard the voice of God. St. Benedict also puts this teaching in his rule, and from those authorities our Father drew it.

To give us to understand how pleasing to Him is this punctual obedience, whereby we leave the letter of the alphabet unfinished, our Lord has been pleased often to confirm it by miracles, as in the case of the monk who, when the bell rang to a duty of obedience when he was writing, left the letter of the alphabet that he had begun to form, and when he returned, found it finished, and the second half done in gold. To another monk the Child Jesus had appeared, very beautiful and resplendent, when they rang for vespers. He at once left and went to the call of obedience; when the duty was over, he returned to his cell and found the Child there, Who said to him: “Because thou didst go, thou hast found Me; if thou hadst not gone, I should have gone hence at once.’”’ Of another, Ruyshbroeck relates that he found the Child Whom he had left, in the form of a most beautiful youth, Who said to him: “So much have I grown in thy soul by the punctuality of thy obedience.” The devil, on the contrary, when he cannot prevent our obedience altogether, endeavors to make us unpunctual in obeying, so that he may have some part in it, and walk off with at least a little bit of the work between the time that the bell rings and you get up and go about it. He seeks to carry off the flower and beginning of our actions and levy toll on them; thus he tries to keep you in bed just a little after the bell has rung for you to get up, and that you should finish the letter begun when you were writing, and even sometimes the argument and clause, under plea of not forgetting it. But it should be our endeavor to give to God the whole work entirely, with the commencement and bloom thereof, which renders the fruit very pleasant, and not to give it when the bloom is off and the flower is fallen.

Our Father wishes more of us in regard of this exterior obedience. He wishes that we should in this way meet not only the sound of the bell and the voice of the superior, but also any sign and signification of his will. “Let all,” he says, “lay themselves out for obedience, and make it their effort to excel therein, not only in things of obligation, but also in others where but a sign of the will of the superior is apparent, without any express command.” Albertus Magnus, speaking of obedience, says: “The truly obedient man never waits to be told a thing; but what he knows or believes to be the mere wish of his superior, he fervently puts into execution as though it were a command.” He gives as an example Christ our Lord and Master, Who took it for a precept and command to die for men, seeing that such was the will and good pleasure of His eternal Father.

Cassian tells of the ancient monks that their obedience was so great that they not only obeyed at the voice of the superior, but at any sign whatever of his will, so that they seemed in some sort to divine and prognosticate the will of the superior, doing what he wanted before he commanded them. That is what St. Bernard says, that the thoroughly obedient man anticipates and forestalls the superior who commands him—praecipit praecipientem—doing what the superior wants before he orders it.

Our Father used to say that there were three sorts of obedience. One is when they command me in virtue of obedience, and that is good; the second is when they direct me to do this or that, and that is better, because it shows greater subjection and promptitude of will to do a thing on a simple direction than to wait for an order in virtue of holy obedience; the third sort of obedience is when I do this or that upon becoming aware of some sign of the superior’s will, though he does not command or direct me expressly. This obedience, he says, is much more perfect and agreeable to God. There in the world the servant and attendant who at half a sign understands the will of his master, and sets to work to put it in execution, pleases and satisfies his master more than another who has to be told everything expressly. Acceptable to the king is an intelligent servant (Prov. xiv. 35). So it is also here in obedience. He who meets the occasion at once upon any signification of the will of the superior is the better and more perfect subject, and the more agreeable and satisfactory to superiors and to God. And this is the teaching of St. Thomas, who, speaking of obedience, says that, when anywise one comes to understand the will of the superior, that is a tacit precept and command, and then is better seen the readiness of the subject to obey. So we should endeavor to stretch our obedience to this point. For it happens sometimes, and even often, that the superior does not like to order the thing expressly, in order to act with great gentleness and not mortify the subject, or for not knowing how he will take the order; in that case, when there is no doubt of the will of the superior, it would be a great fault not to meet him half way, and offer oneself for the obedience.

God was seeking someone to send to Jerusalem to preach, and said in the hearing of Isaias: Whom shall I send, and who will go on this mission? (Isaias vi. 8). Isaias understood that He meant it for an invitation to him, and at once offered himself: Lo, here Iam, send me. So it is right that we should take the invitation to ourselves and offer ourselves, when there is any word or sign making the superior’s will clear.

We might quote many examples teaching us the readiness and smartness which we should show in obedience. Among them a very good one is what Holy Scripture relates of the Prophet Samuel, when he was a youth serving in the Temple as sacristan to the priest Heli. One night he was sleeping in the Temple, and God called him in one word, Samuel, Samuel, to reveal to him the chastisement which He intended to inflict on Heli. Samuel awoke at the word and, as he did not understand such speech, since hitherto the Lord had not spoken to him nor revealed anything to him, he thought that his priest Heli was calling him, so he rose quickly and went at a run to him: Here I am, for thou hast called me. Heli told him he had not called him: J did not call thee, my son; go back and sleep. He went back to bed and to sleep, and God called him a second time; he awoke and thought that Heli was calling him, for he could not think of anyone else who could be calling; so he rose and ran to him, as the first time. Heli thought he must be dreaming, and told him again to go to bed. He went back to bed and to sleep. God called him a third time; he awoke, and went straight to his superior, thinking that he had called him: Here I am, sir, since thou hast called me. Then Heli realized that it must be God calling him, to reveal him something, and said to him: “Go back, child, and sleep; and if again thou hear them calling thee, remain where thou art, and say: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth (I Kings iii. 9). He went back to bed and to sleep, and God called him again, Samuel, Samuel. He awoke at the voice, and, as he was instructed, said: Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Then God spoke and revealed to him what He wished. Here let us consider the obedience and great readiness of Samuel, in that, though he found himself balked the first and second time, and Heli himself had told him that he was not calling him, and that he should go back to sleep, and he could not think of anyone else who could possibly be calling him, nevertheless he got up again a second and third time, and went to Heli to see what his commands were. This is the readiness and alacrity with which we should meet and obey our superiors.

That is also a good example which Holy Writ brings to our consideration, of Abraham’s prompt obedience when God bade him sacrifice his only son Isaac. We are told that he did not wait for the morrow, but at once rising at night (Gen. xxii. 3), before the break of day, on receiving the command, he put himself on the way, ready to execute the order, and an order so difficult, Holy Writ further observes, that he left his servants at the foot of the mountain and would not take them with him, that there might be no one who could possibly hinder his carrying out the obedience.