Of a Very Main and Efficacious Means for Gaining the Virtue of Obedience in Its Perfection, Which Is to Obey the Superior as Christ Our Lord

ONE of the chief and efficacious means for gaining the perfection of this virtue, or rather the chiefest and most efficacious of all, is to consider God in the superior, and make account that it is God Who commands us, and that we do not obey men, but God Himself. The Apostle recommends this means to us, and repeats it in many places. Thus, writing to the Ephesians (Eph. vi. 5), he commands them to obey even temporal and heathen masters as Christ our Lord. St. Basil well observes: If the Apostle St. Paul commands us to obey the powers of the world as we would Christ, though they were men whose life at that time was steeped in wickedness—and the Apostle St. Peter agrees with him: Servants, be subject to your masters, not only to the good and mild, but also to the ill-tempered and choleric (I Pet. ii. 18) how much more reasonable will it be that we religious should obey, as we would Christ, our spiritual and religious superiors, who desire in all things to do the will of God. And presently he returns to the subject: Not serving them to their face, as though you desired to please men, but as servants of Christ, doing therein the will of God, serving with hearty good will, as to the Lord and not to men (Eph. vi. 6-7). We are not to look upon man with our outward eyes, but with our inward eyes upon God, because we no longer live with men, nor have we entered religion to serve men alone, but God. And, writing to the Colossians, he repeats it once more: All that ye do, do it with good will, as serving the Lord and not men alone, and as hoping for your reward from God (Col. iii. 23-24), and not from men, Our Father, resting on this doctrine, greatly recommends this means to us, and lays great stress on it, and often repeats the mention of it in his Constitutions. “It is very conducive to improvement and quite necessary that all should give themselves to entire obedience, recognizing the superior, whoever he be, as holding the place of Christ our Lord.” And elsewhere: “It is likewise very necessary that all should obey not only the superior of the whole Society or the house, but also the subordinate officials who derive authority from him, and accustom themselves to look not at the person whom they obey, but at Him for Whose sake and Whom they obey in all, Who is Christ our Lord.” And in the Sixth Part, where he treats more expressly of this virtue of obedience, he lays down this principle: “If you wish to attain to the perfection of this virtue, you must ever keep before your eyes Christ our Lord, for Whose sake and Whom you obey in man.”

The force and efficacy of this means will be well seen by this consideration. If Christ Himself in person appeared to you visibly, and bade you do this or that, with what readiness would you obey, with what good will and cheerfulness, with what conformity and submission of judgment! Never would a thought occur to you to discuss or doubt whether it were well or ill done; but blindly, without any discussion, you would embrace it for this reason, which is above every reason: “God commands it, God wills it; it is the better thing.”’ And you would hold yourself very fortunate that He was pleased to make use of you; and the harder and more difficult the thing commanded was, the greater boon and favor you would take the command to be. This, then, is the means which we now suggest. And that we may better appreciate it, as in all reason we should, St. Basil accompanies the suggestion with these words: ‘Do not take this for a pious reflection of my own; it is a truth expressly laid down in the holy Gospel, where Christ Himself says: He that heareth you, heareth me (Luke x. 16).” So the saints explain those words, and say that Christ did not utter them for the apostles only, but for all other religious superiors. Hence came Cassian and all those holy monks to practise this doctrine and take all the commands of superiors for commands of God, because Christ Himself says so and bids us expressly not to look at the person of the superior, but at God in him, even though the superior be not what he ought to be. On the chair of Moses are seated the scribes and Pharisees; observe, then, and do ail things that they tell you, but according to their works do ye not (Matt. xxiii. 2-3).

Thus what we have to regard in obedience is God and God’s will; whether it be declared to us by Himself, or by means of an angel, or by means of a man, or by means of Peter and John, it is all one. We have to take one just as we take the other, because it is God Who commands through the superior, in His name. So St. Bernard quotes St. Benedict saying thus: “The obedience paid to our elders is paid to God Himself, since He Himself says: He that heareth you, heareth me. Hence we see that all that is commanded in the name of God by man His vicar—there not being manifest sin—is to be taken not otherwise than as God’s command; for what matters it whether it be by Himself, or by His ministers, either men or angels, that He manifests His will to me!”—Obedientia quae exhibetur maioribus Deo exhibetur; ipse enim dixit, qui vos audit, me audit. Unde quidquid vice Dei praecipit homo, quod non sit certum displicere Deo, haud aliter accipiendum est quam si praeciperet Deus: quid enim interest utrum ipse, aut per suos ministros, sive homines sive angelos, hominibus innotescat suum beneplacitum? St. Bernard, further on this topic, quotes the common saying and sentence: “Whether it be God or man His vicar that commands you anything, it must be obeyed with equal care and regarded with equal reverence, provided man command not things against God.” We must not look for miracles, nor want God Himself to speak to us and teach us in person. In these latter days God hath spoken to us by His Son, says St. Paul (Heb. i. 2). And the Apostle and Evangelist St. John: The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father himself, hath told us (John i. 18). At present God wishes us to live in faith, and take the superior to be in His place.

St. Augustine says that God has wished us to understand this in what he did to Cornelius the centurion, as related in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts x.). This Cornelius was a Gentile, but a God-fearing man, well practised in good works, in almsdeeds and prayers. God wished to convert him and teach him the truth of our faith, so He sent an angel to say to him: Cornelius, thy prayers and almsdeeds have been acceptable before God: wherefore send to call Peter, who dwelleth in this neighborhood, and he will tell thee what thou hast to do to be saved (Acts x. 4-6). St. Augustine says: “Could not the angel have taught him? Could not God, Who sent the angel, teach him by Himself?” The saint answers: “He sent him to Peter, and would not instruct him by Himself, nor by angels either, but by men; because God wishes to honor man, and that we should obey and subject ourselves to man, especially since He has become man and for our sakes became subject and obedient to men: and he was subject to them (Luke ii. 51).” The saints make the same observation on the conversion of the Apostle St. Paul. When Christ appeared to him in person, he asked Him: Lord, what wilt thou have me do? He would not declare His will to him Himself, but said to him: Go into the city, and ask there for a man called Ananias; he will tell thee what thou art to do (Acts ix. 6-7). St. Bernard says: “What great sweetness of the wisdom of God! The man whom Thou dost speak to Thyself, dost Thou send him to men to be taught Thy will? Yes, because God wishes to dignify man, and give him this honor that we should hold him in God’s place, and take the voice of the superior as being that of God Himself’—O sapientia suaviter vere omnia disponens! EHum cui tu loqueris erudiendum de tua voluntate mittis ad hominem, ut socialis vitae commendetur utilitas.

And we are not worse off on that account than those to whom God spoke by Himself, but rather our merit is greater, as we merit more by believing the things of faith, which we do not see, than we should if we did see them. Christ Himself accordingly said to Thomas: Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed (John xx. 29). So it is in this obedience, whereby we obey our superior as God. We proceed by way of faith, taking it for granted that all that the superior ordains is the ordinance of God and His will. Thus in a certain way we merit more, and there is more cause for rewarding us, than if we obeyed Christ Himself in person. The saints say of almsgiving, and Christ says it Himself: Verily I say unto you, the good ye have done to one of my little ones, ye have done unto me (Matt. xxv. 40). So God will reward a kindness done to a poor child as if it were done to Himself. Some saints even observe that in a certain manner he does more who gives a kind gift to a poor child for love of Christ than if he gave it to Christ Himself; just as he does more, and shows more love for his friend, who welcomes and entertains a servant of his for love of him than if he welcomed and entertained that friend in person. There is not so much to be said for the latter welcome, for the dignity and credit of the person entertained calls for it; but when love for a friend goes the length of welcoming aught that is his for love of him, and giving it the same good treatment that one would give to himself in person, there is more in that. So it is in obedience; and so St. Bonaventure says: “It is a high degree of obedience to obey what God immediately commands and ordains; but in some sort it is a higher degree to obey man for God, and sometimes the merit and reward will be greater; for there is a greater humiliation of heart in obeying man for God, greater denial of self-will, greater resignation of man to God, as it is more to obey a king’s servant for love of the king than to obey the king himself. If God came Himself in person to command you, would it be anything much if you obeyed with promptitude and resignation? But for love of Him to obey a man like yourself, and submit to him with entire resignation, is an act in which there is much to reward and appreciate.