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2. THE VIRTUE OF OBEDIENCE.
The Virtue of Obedience is a virtue which inclines the will to submit to lawful Superiors, as
to the representatives of God's authority.
The virtue of Obedience is so very necessary
to a Religious that all the actions of a Religious,
even the good, become bad, or at least lose their
merit, when they are done against Obedience.
The virtue of Obedience in the Religious state
is practiced on all real commands, whether general, or particular, given by Superiors, on the
Constitution, rules and regulations, and on the
directions, desires, prayers or advice of those
who have authority.
Every Superior, as the head of the Religious, is
the representative of God, and has a natural right
that the subjects should conform their will to
hers. This acquiescence for the sake of God is
Religions Obedience.
However, in itself, and rigorously speaking,
the virtue of Obedience does not oblige under pain
of sin, except when the Superior commands in
the virtue of the Vow. Holy Mother Church has
established it so, that the yoke of Religion might
be lighter, and Obedience itself more worthy of
the state of perfection.
1. There is always a grievous sin in formally despising authority in the Superior. I say
authority, and not a defect which a Religious
imagines she sees in the person or in the command
of the Superior. 2. By reason of this formal contempt of authority, there is always a mortal sin, when
a Religious dares to say to her Superior: I will not
obey, or I will not do it.
3. The sin is also grievous, when from any
disobedience there results considerable damage,
either spiritual or temporal, to the Religious herself, or the Community, or the
neighbour.
When there is no formal contempt of authority
and serious harm, the simple injunctions of the
Superior do not oblige under pain of sin.
For it is one thing for the Superior to say:
It is my wish you should do this; and another to
have recourse to the obligation of the Vow: I
wish to oblige you in conscience to do so. If, then,
the disobedience to a simple injunction contains
any fault, it must come from some other quarter, as is almost always the case. It is on account
of the violation of some other obligation, or of the
scandal given, or of a bad intention, from some
irregular affection, from want of prudence, etc.
On the other hand, the Religious who would accustom herself to such disobedience, in consequence of irregular affections, would soon lose
even the spirit of Obedience, and consequently
among the other spiritual wrongs she would inflict
on herself, and too often on her Sisters, she
would weaken in herself the principle of her Vow,
and expose it to danger.
As to the Rules, we must distinguish the Rules
that regard the matter of the Vows or any virtue
of obligation, from those which regard only discipline. The former, without doubt, oblige under
pain of sin. The Religious who obeys them is
certain of doing the Holy Will of God, but God
has not imposed His will in regard of these under
pain of sin.
A Religious should, nevertheless, know that
she will rarely fail in any of her Rules without
offending God, because it is always through pride,
or vanity, or sensuality, or sloth, or human respect, etc., that she will be led to disobey; and
every time a Religious breaks a Rule from any
bad motive, there is evidently a fault. She sins
also every time that her violation is a cause of
dis-edification, or that any other damage arises
from it.
As the Rules are established in the Religious
body to give direction to its acts according to the
Institute, they impose this obligation on each of
the members, that even in case of an involuntary
infraction, a Religious is bound to accept and perform the penance imposed by the Superior.
Habitual transgression of Rules is much more
blamable, as well on account of the contempt
which it easily engenders, as on account of the
wrong done to Religious discipline.
Religious discipline, considered in the authority
that directs, is the integrity of the Rules with their
sanction. By the Rule's the Superiors teach the
way the Religious must follow; by the penances
given in case of violation, they bring back to the
right path those who go astray, and repair the
scandal.
Considered in inferiors, discipline is also called
regular observance, and is the faithful practice
of the Rules, to which all the members of the
Community concur in a holy harmony.
So important is regular discipline, that it is regarded as morally necessary to the preservation
of the body in general, of the Religious life in a
Community, and of the spiritual life in each
individual.
From this it is easy to see that Superiors have a
grave obligation to maintain it in a Community,
and their negligence on this point can easily become a considerable fault.
As a Religious is obliged to obey her Superiors, she is, of
course, obliged to obey also the inferior officers, as far as they
have received from Superiors any portion of their authority, since
it is the same authority. You owe the Superior more deference and
respect but you owe equal obedience to all that are established in
authority.
Some Defects that Weaken Religious Obedience
There are many defects of this kind: Prejudices, antipathies against Superiors or what they
wish you to do, judgments contrary to theirs, murmurs and criticisms on their actions, sadness and
voluntary spite, excuses, pretexts, and disguises
in order to escape their directions, slowness and negligence in
obeying, especially when these endanger the success of the execution; to obey
without submission of will, only exteriorly and by
way of riddance; to obey through fear as slaves,
and only because we are seen; to obey through
policy or self-love, to attract the good graces of
the Superior.
When the Superior has refused a Religious anything, she can go to another Superior for the
same thing, but not without informing the latter
of the reply of the former and the motives of her
refusal: subordination and order require it.
It is not forbidden to make representations to
the Superiors, if we think them lawful: Superiors
are even very glad to receive such light; but:
1. Before speaking, the Religious should have
thought on the matter before God, and disposed
herself to adhere fully to the Superior's decision.
2. The representation should be modest and respectful.
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