Of Other Great Advantages There Are in Obeying the Superior as Christ

BEYOND those mentioned let this be the first, that we gather great strength and confidence that we shall be able to do what is commanded us and acquit ourselves of it well. There is this difference between God’s commands and men’s commands, that men often command us what we cannot do, and give us no strength or power to do what they command; but God never commands us anything but what is in our power, and gives us power and strength to do and accomplish what He commands. And here in religion we have very particular need of this strength and confidence in God, since we are called to do great and difficult things. Not to lose heart in them, it is a great help, and a source of much courage and confidence, to consider that God commands me this, and since He has put me in such an office and ministry, He will enable me to do what He commands. Thus one of the great consolations that they have who go to the missions of the Indies, and to other high enterprises, in the midst of the labors and dangers that present themselves, spiritual and temporal, by sea and by land, is: “Do Thou draw me well out of this; J am Thine, save me (Psalm cxviii. 94).” It is this, St. Chrysostom says, that Christ our Redeemer wished us to understand when He sent His disciples to preach and convert the world, and said to them: Lo, I send you (Luke x. 3). As though He had said: “Though you are weak, and your enemies strong, and the dangers great, you have nothing to fear, no ground for discouragement, because you go by My order and in obedience to Me. I am He Who sends you, and will deliver you from all the evils and misfortunes that may happen, and will give you victory over all your enemies.” This was the comfort of the disciples in all their labors and dangers. And such also should be our comfort in our ministries and in all the things that obedience commands us. God sends me, God commands it; He will give me strength to do it. When God ordered Habacuc to take the dinner he had prepared for his harvest people, and to carry it to Daniel, who was prisoner at Babylon in the lions’ den, the prophet answered: Lord, I never was at Babylon, nor do I know the lions’ den; and immediately an angel took him by the hair of his head, and carried him to Babylon, setting him at the mouth of the den (Dan. xiv. 34-35). This shows us how ready and how willing God is to assist us in the execution of His commands.

Further, this obeying our superior as if he were Christ is a continual exercise of doing ever the will of God. Thereby one may live perpetually kindled and inflamed with love of God and in continual prayer; for to make acts of doing this, the will of God, and rejoicing therein is an excellent and profitable prayer, and a very good way of walking in the presence of God.

Further, he who lives in this way does not mind whether the superior orders this or that, for he makes no account of anything except that in doing what he is ordered he is doing the will of God, and this is his meat, and his delight and purpose in all that he does.

Further, he who considers God in the superior, and makes account that he has put himself in the hands of God, and that it is God Who directs and governs him, lives in great peace. He makes no schemes, he has no cares as to what they are to do with him, since he has placed himself in good hands and is at peace. The Lord is my shepherd, and nothing will be wanting to me (Psalm xxii. 1). I am certain that nothing will befall me but what He wills, and He will never will aught but what is best.

Oh, what blessings and spiritual riches should we find if we accustomed ourselves to recognize God in the superior, and to account that we live with God and not with men! A very ancient father used to say that he lived twenty years and more in religion without understanding what manner of thing obedience as unto Christ was, and how one serves God and not men. And do you think that you understand it because you have read it or heard it somewhere? That is not enough; we must learn to put it in practice in the manner that has been laid down, that so we may attain the perfection of this virtue and enjoy all these advantages.