(LifeSiteNews) — The following is part one of a series by a parish priest.
Obedience as a virtue
When Jesus was asked what the greatest law of the 613 Old Testament laws was, he responded that Love of God was the greatest and second was love of neighbor. This, he said, was the foundation of the law and the prophets. Therefore, there is an order to our duties as set forth by just laws. Some duties take precedence over others. Love, as a habitual and firm disposition of the will, orders all the virtues and is always in conformity to truth and goodness. Love, goodness, and truth are inseparable. Those who claim to “love” and break the commandments are neither in the truth nor in love. Many persons today don’t care about truth anyway. Some will even crucify the Truth. Their evil desires are their rule of life. This is the essence of being disordered. When Jesus told Pontius Pilate that all who are of the truth “hear his voice,” Pontius Pilate derisively retorted, “What is truth?” The children of the truth are Jesus’s sheep who follow him to green pastures where they find refreshment for their souls.
All virtues, or qualities of goodness pertaining to the myriad of actions humans are capable of, are governed by truth and love. Should there be a conflict, the higher duty takes precedence. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” This ordering of priorities is why St. Thomas More stated at his execution, “I die the King’s good and faithful servant, but God’s first.” The Nuremberg trials laid waste to the defense “I was following orders” with “there is a higher law.” The first commandment tells us that God takes precedence over any “strange gods” or other creatures demands.
Obedience is a necessary virtue in that it helps order our actions to what is good, true, and beautiful. It is never an end in itself. Also, it is never “blind” to its end. St. Alphonsus de Ligouri stated that superiors may have insights from the Holy Spirit that their subjects may not have. I would think that might be true if the superior has a proven track record of goodness and wisdom. Otherwise, the subjects can question that superior as the people did when confronting Peter about entering the house of the pagan Cornelius. Peter did not ignore the dubia (legitimate questions) but explained in a convincing, non-evasive manner with humility.
And St. Benedict in his rule seems to say the opposite of St. Alphonsus. He says, “And we have thus said that all [members of the religious community] are to be called to council because it is often to a junior that the Lord reveals what is best.” (cf Chapter III)
How about blindness towards the means to that end? No. All means must also be just since “the end does not justify the means.” Obedience, when properly governed by truth and love, is ordered to following God’s will. God’s will is often sacrificial, so obedience is often a sacrifice. We imitate Jesus, who said in the garden, “Not my will Father, but thine be done.”
Because doing God’s will often requires the sacrificing of my will, sacrifice is often associated with goodness. This association is only true and therefore good when the sacrifice is ordered to truth and goodness. Sacrifice as an end in itself is useless. Sacrifice ordered to an evil end or ultimate purpose is evil. Recall the Israelites “sacrificing” their sons and daughters to the pagan weather god Baal. Some persons are deceived about this in thinking that sacrifice is somehow a good on its own, especially if it has a religious “flavor” or context. It is not! Obedience has value only when it is ordered to God’s will and that, to be authentic, must include goodness, truth and beauty. Anything (purpose of an action) lacking one or more of those three attributes is not God’s will.
Obedience in all things but sin?
In talking with another priest, he brought up the old adage, “obedience in all things but sin.” That common saying is not sufficient. It is a vague guideline. The children of Satan (cf. Mt. 13:38) generally know that they cannot be honest and reveal their true agenda. They must corrupt good practices and holy devotions that nourish faith and morals incrementally over time. They are clever enough in deceit to say one thing and do another. Then naive people can say, “See, this prelate said something orthodox so he must not be all that bad as the cynical ones claim.” Or “maybe he is seeing the light.” The book “The Dictator Pope” addresses this and many other characteristics of deceit well.[i] They are clever enough to take two steps forward toward their hidden evil agenda and one step back. Mother Angelica correctly and famously called their agenda hidden![ii] This deception fools the naive and those who do not want to face a sad and dreadful reality.
Some try to cover this fear and imprudence by claiming to be inspired by a false virtue of hope. St. Paul’s conversion is an example given. You lack faith and hope if you don’t think leopards can change their spots. Of course God the Father can work such miracles of grace like St. Paul’s conversion!
Let us consider – how worthy of such miracles are we if we will not even face the reality of the viciousness of these infiltrators? Do we not pray better when we realize the gravity of the threat? Some say we should keep silent and just pray. My question is, “what are we praying for if we will not speak up and enlighten those who are being deceived or confused by the false magisterium? How can we pray with any fervor and sincerity about something that we will not admit ourselves? What about that spiritual work of mercy, instructing the ignorant? The truth might scandalize people? Scandal is leading another into sin. The truths of the faith do not do that. What about the scandal of not telling the truth allowing the wicked to gaslight people because ‘leaders’ in the church keep silent so simple persons think they must be wrong in what they are sensing?”
Please take a moment and consider the gravity of this betraying silence. This causes a scandalous deep confusion which is sinful. There is some discernment in what we tell novices versus those with a solid faith. Certainly we must still speak as well as we can to varied audiences. Pope John Paul II once said that we must tell the truth even if it is misunderstood. Let us not remain silent while the heretics spread their false gospel. Otherwise, we are like dumb dogs that don’t bark.[iii] To be true to our prophetic baptismal grace we must be a light to the world.
Some of these hypocritically hide that fault of refusing to acknowledge reality under the pretext of avoiding “rash judgment.” The Lord teaches us “on the contrary,” “By their fruits shall you know them.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way”:
Every good Christian ought to be more ready to give a favorable interpretation to another’s statement than to condemn it. But if he cannot do so, let him ask how the other understands it. And if the latter understands it badly, let the former correct him with love. If that does not suffice, let the Christian try all suitable ways to bring the other to a correct interpretation so that he may be saved. (CCC 2478)
This is a good guideline, but it could be a formula for disaster when serious matters are involved. Try that with your building contractor! Go ahead and just ignore your misgivings concerning his integrity – enjoy the expensive protracted litigation later! Women in nightclubs described horrific serial killer Ted Bundy as looking like a “wolf.” Woe to those who were not “judgmental” and gave him the benefit of the warning doubt. We must be alert to misgivings which may be our own human senses protecting us but could also be the Spirit’s gift of counsel. Yes, we avoid rash judgment, which is a nasty and common sin, but until evidence is clear we should be on guard or “En garde” as the sword fencers would say. Trust is earned, not given. Even the apostle John warned Christians to “test the spirits” (cf. 1 Jn 4:1).
The apostles did not grant carte blanche to whoever claimed whatever. The truth is that no one is perfectly consistent but the deceivers with an agenda are consistent in two steps forward one step back. I read long ago a memorable statement that even a dog knows when he was tripped over and when he was kicked. We must not ignore our misgivings based on virtuous living. These people lie shamelessly, as Archbishop Viganò has warned. It is not rash judgment or a suspicious mindset to be astute as the snakes and as innocent as doves.
Good externals are conducive to interior conversion
I am aware that saints in history have made indiscreet statements about the glories of the virtue of obedience. I do not think that some of the bad consequences of putting into practice exaggerated claims of the value of obedience were grasped by them. There has always been a tendency to promote “obedience.” It suits those in power, but there is a true conflict of interest that interferes with telling the full truth concerning the limits of true obedience! Study the tragedy of Marcial Maciel Degollado L.C. to learn what the abuse of obedience looks like and where it leads. We are not cynics for recognizing this reality. Obedience is no sure path when there is no or costly recourse from unjust or unfaithful local religious superiors to decent God-fearing higher superiors. There also has to be the rule of law. Without either or both of these, obedience is more than problematic in achieving its purpose.
Obedience in all things but sin? The children of Satan know how to undermine the faith and practices of the Church by watering things down more and more. A few examples: greatly watering down the necessity of repentance for sins with a “dare we hope all men will be saved” distortion of hope, watering down the catechisms given to children; watering down the devotion inspiring practices of the church or eliminating them altogether, watering down the prayers and gestures of reverence towards the Holy Eucharist at the Mass. These subtle and not so subtle attacks all have potent negative effects. Omission is not seen nearly as well as commission. How many people complain to their bishop that their parish priest never or rarely speaks about certain rampant sins? Or lack of Holy Hours and other devotions? How many complain that the religious education program is low quality? Deemphasizing works well too! Spray-paint those colorful statues of saints the same color as the church walls behind them. Voila! Deemphasized!
I believe the promotion of standing for Holy Communion, and Communion in the unconsecrated hands, promoted via disobedience to the rubrics and the popes at the time, was quite potent in diminishing the sense of the sacred in the faithful. It has had a corrosive effect on belief in the Real Presence even if it may not be an objective sin per se. Good externals are conducive to interior conversion. Listen to the singing of Harpa Dei or Gloria Dei Cantores if you want to see what beautiful externals can do! I do think that good internals (conversion of heart) will always be reflected in good externals. We should not hide our love for God under a bushel basket. I realize that everyone who kneels for Communion is hardly a saint…but saints will be among those kneeling. And no, these things are not a superficial and irrelevant matter of “preference,” as some prelates dare to say. You like the color sky blue, but I prefer sea green. Of course love of God and neighbor are inseparable, so the true saints will also be zealous in doing corporal and spiritual works of mercy according to their charisms, and natural talents.
FOOTNOTES
[i] The Dictator Pope: https://www.amazon.com/Dictator-Pope-Inside-Francis-Papacy/dp/1621578321/ref=sr_1_1?
[ii] Mother Angelica ‘The Hidden Agenda’ – Against Liberalism in the Catholic Church, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-19VyUgbNQ
[iii] Isaiah 56:9-12 MSG. A call to the savage beasts: Come on the run. Come, devour, beast barbarians! For Israel’s watchmen are blind, the whole lot of them. They have no idea what’s going on. They’re dogs without sense enough to bark, lazy dogs, dreaming in the sun — But hungry dogs, they do know how to eat, voracious dogs, with never enough. And these are Israel’s shepherds! They know nothing, understand nothing. They all look after themselves, grabbing whatever’s not nailed down. “Come,” they say, “let’s have a party. Let’s go out and get drunk!” And tomorrow, more of the same: “Let’s live it up!”