|
The Virtue of Obedience
ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
Ignatius of Loyola to the Brethren of the
Society of Jesus who are in Portugal, wishes
grace and love everlasting in Christ Our Lord.
IT is a source of great comfort to me, most
dear Brethren in Christ, when I hear it reported with what an earnest desire and endeavor
you strive to attain to the highest perfection of
all virtue and piety, by His favor Who called you
to this kind of life and in His mercy keeps you in
it, and directs you to that blessed end whereunto
those that are chosen by Him arrive.
2. And truly, though I wish you to be perfect
in all spiritual gifts and ornaments, yet especially
do I desire (as I have told you before) to see
you most eminent in the virtue of obedience; and
this not only for its excellent and singular fruits,
which are proved by many testimonies of Holy
Writ, and by examples both in the Old and New
Testament, but also because, as St. Gregory says, Obedience is the only virtue that plants all other
virtues in the mind, and preserves them after they
are once planted. As long as this virtue flourishes, all others will doubtless flourish, and bring
forth such fruits as I desire in your hearts, and
as He with good reason requires Who by His
salutary obedience restored mankind when afflicted and destroyed through the crime of disobedience, becoming obedient unto death, even to
the death of the Cross.
3. We may suffer ourselves more easily to be
surpassed by other Religious Orders in fasting, watching, and other
austerities in food and clothing, which each according to its own Institute
and Rule holily adopts; but in true and perfect
obedience and abnegation of will, I greatly desire, dear Brethren, that all those who serve God
in this Society should be conspicuous, and that
the true and genuine progeny of the same should,
as it were, be distinguished by this mark, that they
regard not the individual whom they obey, but in
Him Christ our Lord, for Whose sake they obey.
For the Superior is not to be obeyed because he is
prudent, or virtuous, or adorned with any other
Divine gift whatsoever; but for this only, that he
is the vicegerent of God, and has authority from Him Who says. He that heareth you heareth Me,
and He that despiseth you despiseth Me. Neither,
on the other hand, if he be of less understanding
or prudence, is he for that reason to be the less
obeyed, in that wherein he is Superior; since He
represents His Person Whose Wisdom cannot be deceived, and Who will
supply whatever is wanting in His minister, whether it be virtue, or other
qualifications. Wherefore Christ Our Lord, when
He had said in express terms. Upon the chair of
Moses have sitten the Scribes and Pharisees;
presently added, all things, therefore, whatsoever
they shall say to you, observe and do, but according to their works do ye not.
4. Wherefore, I desire that you should earnestly endeavor, with all care and diligence, to
acknowledge Christ in every Superior, and with
great devotion, reverence and obey in him the
Divine Majesty. This will seem to you less
strange, if you consider how the Apostle St. Paul
commands us to obey even secular Superiors and
gentiles as we would obey Christ Himself, from
Whom all well ordered authority is derived: for
thus he writes to the Ephesians: Be obedient to
them that are your temporal lords according to
the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ; not serving to
the eye, as it were pleasing men, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart; with a good will serving as to the Lord
and not to men. And from this you yourselves
may judge of what account in his heart a Religious man ought to make his Superior, to whom
he has given himself to be ruled and governed,
not only as to a Superior, but expressly as to one
that holds the place of Christ; whether he should
look on him as man, or as the vicegerent of
Christ.
5. Moreover, I desire that this should be
thoroughly understood and deeply rooted in your
minds, that is but a very low and imperfect kind
of obedience which consists in the external execution only of what is commanded; and that it is
not worthy of the name of virtue, unless it pass
to a further degree, making the will of the Superior our will, and so agreeing with the same, that
not only is there external fulfilment of the command, but also agreement of will; that so both
may be of one mind in willing and not willing the
same thing. And for this reason it is said in
Holy writ, Obedience is better than sacrifice; for
as St. Gregory teaches us: In victims the flesh of
another, but in obedience our own will is killed.
And because this part of the soul is so excellent,
hence it is that the offering of it to Our Lord and
Creator through obedience is to be highly valued.
6. Oh, in how great and dangerous an error
are not only they involved who in things appertaining to flesh and blood, but such also as in
things otherwise very holy and spiritual—as fasting, prayer or other
good works—think it lawful to swerve from the will and appointment of
their Superior. Let them give ear to what Cassian
wisely remarks, in the Conference of Daniel the
Abbot, saying: It is one and the same kind of
disobedience, whether through eagerness to work,
or through desire of ease, one breaks the command of the Superior, and as prejudicial to go
against the statutes of the Monastery out of sloth
as out of watchfulness; and finally it is as bad to
transgress the precept of the Abbot to read, as to
contemn it to sleep. Holy was the activity of
Martha, holy the contemplation of Mary Magdalene, and holy the penitence and tears wherewith
she watered the feet of Christ our Lord. But all
this had to be in Bethania, which word is interpreted the house of obedience; whereby Our Lord
would signify to us, as St. Bernard says, That neither devotedness to good works, nor the quiet
of holy contemplation, nor the tears of the penitent, could have been pleasing to Him outside
Bethania.
7. Wherefore, dear Brethren, lay aside wholly,
as far as you can, your own wills; hand over freely, and dedicate to
your Creator in His ministers the freedom He Himself has bestowed upon
you. Consider it no small advantage of your freewill, that you are able to give it back fully,
through obedience, to Him from Whom you received it. And by so doing you not only do not
lose, but rather increase and perfect it; since by
this means you direct all your wills by that most
certain rule of rectitude, the Will of God, interpreted to you by him who governs you in the
place of God.
8. And so you must be very careful never to
seek to wrest the Superior's will (which you
ought to hold for the will of God Himself) to
your own; for this would be, not to conform
your will to God's, but to endeavor to rule His
will by yours, inverting the order of His Divine
Wisdom. Oh! how great the error is of those
whom self-love has Minded, to fancy they are
obedient when, by some means or other, they have
brought the Superior to that which they desire.
Listen to St. Bernard, a man eminently experienced in this matter. Whosever, says he, endeavor
either openly or covertly to have his Spiritual
Father enjoin him what he himself desires, he
deceives himself if he flatters himself he is a true
follower of obedience: for in that matter he does
not obey his Superiors, but father his Superior
obeys him. It follows, therefore, that whoever is
desirous of reaching the virtue of obedience,
should rise to this second degree of obedience,
and not merely fulfil the Superior's command, but
also make his Superior's will his own, or rather
put off his own will, that he may put on the will
of God, declared to him by his Superior.
9. But he who wishes to sacrifice himself
wholly to God, besides his will, must also offer up
his understanding- (which is the third and highest
degree of obedience), and not only have the same
will, but also the same opinion as his Superior;
and submit his own judgment to his, as far as a
devout will can bend the understanding. For
though this power of the soul is not endowed
with that freedom which gives the will its
strength, and is naturally drawn to assent to
whatever is represented to it as true, yet nevertheless in many things, where the evidence of known
truth does not force it, it may, by the strength of
the will, be inclined more one way than another.
When this happens, whoever makes profession of
obedience ought to lean towards the judgment of
the Superior. For, obedience being a holocaust,
in which the whole man, absolutely without reserve, is offered up to his Creator and Lord in
the fire of charity, through the hands of His ministers, and as it is also a thorough renunciation by which a Religious of his own accord abandons all
his own rights, and devotes and formally transfers
himself to God, to be possessed and governed by
Divine Providence through the guidance of his
Superior, it cannot be denied that obedience comprises not only execution, by which a man does
what is commanded, and the will, by which he
does it willingly, but also the judgment, so that
whatever the Superior commands and thinks
good, seems just and reasonable to the inferior—
so far, as I have said, as the will can by its force
bend the understanding.
10. Would that this obedience of mind and
judgment were as well understood and practiced by men as it is pleasing to God, and necessary for
all who live in Religion. For as in celestial bodies
and globes, to the end that one may influence
and move another, it is necessary that, with a
certain adaptation and order, the inferior globe
be subject to the superior; so amongst men, when
one is moved by another's authority (as happens
in obedience), it is necessary that he who depends
upon another be submissive and compliant, to the
end that he may derive his effectiveness from
him who commands. Now this system of submissiveness and compliance cannot last unless the will and judgment of the inferior agree with the
will and judgment of the Superior.
11. Moreover, if we regard the final purpose
of obedience, as our will, so also our judgment,
may be deceived as to what is good for us. Therefore if, lest our will should stray, we conform it
to the will of the Superior, our understanding is
also to be conformed to his, in order that it may
not be deceived: Lean not upon thy own prudence, says the Holy Scripture. And even in
worldly affairs, those who are wise judge it to
be the part of a truly prudent man, not to trust
his own wisdom at all, especially in his own cause,
in which; when the mind is troubled, one can
rarely be a good judge. And if in our own affairs we are to prefer the judgment and advice of
another, even when not our Superior, before our
own; how much more the advice of the Superior,
to whom we have handed over the direction of
ourselves as to one who is God's vicegerent, and interpreter of the
Divine Will, And undoubtedly;
in the case of spiritual persons the greater cautiousness in necessary, as the danger of the
spiritual path is greater, when one runs along it without the bridle of discreet advice. On this subject
Cassian, in the conference of Abbot Moses, says,
much to our purpose: By no other vice does the
Devil drag a mon headlong, and bring him to
death sooner, than by persuading him to neglect
the advice of the elders, and trust to his own judgment and determination.
12. Besides, unless we have this obedience of
the understanding, it is impossible that either
the consent of our will, or the execution will be
Such as they ought to be: for nature itself has
ordained that the appetites of the soul must follow its perceptions, and the will, without using
violence, cannot long obey in spite of the judgment. And if there be any who for a time obey,
under the common idea that they must obey, even
When the order is erroneous; yet certainly this
cannot be firm and constant, and so perseverance
fails, or at least the perfection of obedience, which
consists in obeying promptly and with alacrity;
for there can be no alacrity and diligence, where
there is dissent of heart and mind. There is an
end to earnestness and speed of execution, when
we doubt whether it be useful or not to do what
we are ordered; there is an end to the renowned
simplicity of blind obedience, when we inwardly
call in question the correctness of the command,
and perhaps even condemn the Superior, because
he bids us do what we do not find very pleasant;
there is an end to humility, for, although on the one hand we obey,
yet on the other we prefer ourselves to our Superiors; an end to fortitude in
difficult enterprises, and (to embrace all in one
word), there is an end to the whole force and
dignity of this virtue. And in their place arise
pain, trouble, reluctance, weariness, murmurings,
excuses, and other by no means trifling vices, by
which the value and merit of obedience are wholly
destroyed. And so St. Bernard says of those who
take unpleasant commands in bad part: you
begin to be annoyed at this, to judge your Superior, to murmur in your heart, though outwardly
you fulfill what is commanded, this is not the virtue of patience, but a cloak of your malice. And
if peace and tranquility of mind are sought, he
certainly shall never enjoy them who has within
himself the cause of disquiet and trouble, to wit,
the disagreement of his own judgment with the
law of obedience.
13. And therefore for the maintenance of
union, which is tie bond of every society, the
Apostle earnestly exhorts all to think and say
the same thing, that by the agreement of their wills and judgments,
they may be mutually comforted and sustained. Now if the members and
the head ought to be of one and the same sentiment, you may easily judge whether it is fairer
that the head should agree with the members, or
the members with the head. It is plain, then, by
what has been hitherto said, how necessary this
obedience of the understanding is.
14. But how perfect it is in itself, and how
pleasing to God, is shown by this; first, because
thereby the most excellent and precious part of
man is consecrated unto Him; secondly, because
the obedient man is by this means made a living
holocaust most pleasing to His Divine Majesty,
since he keeps nothing whatever of his own;
lastly, by reason of the great difficulty of the combat; for the obedient man overcomes himself for
God's sake, and resists that natural inclination
which is inbred in all men, to embrace and follow
their own opinion. Hence it is that, though the special function of
obedience seems to be to perfect the will, inasmuch as it makes it prompt and
ready at the Superior's call; yet it must also belong to the understanding, as we have declared,
and bring it to be of the same opinion in all things
as the Superior, that, striving with all the forces
of our will and understanding, we may come to
speed and fullness of execution.
15. I seem, dear Brethren, to hear you say,
that you no longer doubt the necessity of this virtue, but that you earnestly desire to know how
you may attain to its perfection. To this question, I answer with St. Leo: Nothing is difficult
to the humble and nothing hard to the meek: so that, if you are not
wanting in humility or meekness, assuredly God will not be wanting in goodness, to help you to perform what you promised
Him not patiently only, but willingly.
16. And now I put before you three things in
particular which greatly help to the attainment of
this obedience of understanding. The first is,
that, as I said in the beginning, you do not behold
in the person of your Superior a man subject to
errors and miseries, but Christ Himself, Who is
supreme Wisdom, boundless Goodness, and infinite Charity, Who neither can be deceived, nor
wishes to deceive you. And because you are
intimately conscious that you took this yoke of
obedience upon you for the love of God, to the
end that you might, in following the Superior's
will, more certainly follow the Divine Will; do
not doubt that the faithful charity of Our Lord
continually governs and leads you by right ways
by the ministry of those whom He has set over
you. And so hear the voice and orders of the
Superior not otherwise than as the voice of Christ,
for the Apostle, too, writing in the same sense to
the Colossians, and exhorting subjects to obey
their lords, says: Whatsoever you do, do it from
the heart, as to the Lord and not to man, knowing
that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of
inheritance; serve ye the Lord Christ. And St.
Bernard: Whether God, or man the vicegerent
of God, commands anything, we must obey with equal diligence and submit with equal reverence,—
then, however, man commands nothing that is
contrary to God. And thus if you do not look
upon man with the eyes of the body, but upon God
with those of the soul, it will certainly not be hard
to conform your will and judgment to that rule of
your actions which you have yourselves chosen.
17. Another plan is, that you always seriously
endeavor to defend within yourselves your Superior's command or opinion, and by no means to
argue against it. And to this it will help to be
well affected towards whatever he orders; for so
you will come to obey not only without trouble, but even with pleasure and joy. For, as St. Leo
says, It is not hard to serve where we love what is
commanded.
18. The last method of submitting the understanding is at once more easy and secure, and
also adopted by the holy Fathers, namely, to determine within
yourselves that whatever the Superior commands is the commandment and will of
Almighty God Himself; and as, to believe what
the Catholic Faith proposes, you at once bend
all the forces of your mind to assent thereunto;
so, to do whatever your Superior commands, you
must be borne by a kind of blind impulse of your
will, eager to obey, without stopping to argue at
all. So we may believe Abraham did, when bid to
sacrifice his son Isaac; so in the time of the New
Testament, did some of those holy Fathers whom
Cassian speaks of, as John the Abbot, who did not
consider whether what he was commanded was
profitable or not, as when with such great and
continued labor, for a whole year together he
watered a dry stick; nor whether it could be done
or not, as when he endeavored so heartily to move
a huge rock, which many men together could not
have stirred. This kind of obedience we see was
sometimes confirmed by miracle. For, to say
nothing of others, whom you will remember,
Maurus, St. Benedict's disciple, went by command
of his Superior into a lake and did not sink.
Another, being bidden by his Superior to bring a
lioness to him, took hold of her and brought her
to him. This method, then, of submitting our
own judgment, so as, without questioning, to sanction and approve within ourselves whatever the
Superior commands, is not only a common practice among holy men, but also to be imitated by
those who are in pursuit of perfect obedience, in
all things not evidently coupled with sin.
19. Nor are you hindered by this, if anything
occurs to you different from the Superior's opinion, and it seems (after consulting God in prayer)
that it ought to be declared, from laying your
view before him. But lest self-love and your own
judgment should deceive you in this, the precaution is to be taken of keeping your mind, both
before and after making the proposal, quite calm
and ready, not only to take up or lay aside the
matter in question, but also to approve and think
better whatever seems good to the Superior.
20. Now, what I have said of obedience is
equally to be observed by every private person
towards his immediate Superior, and by Rectors
and local Superiors towards the Provincial, by Provincials towards
the General and by the General towards him whom God has set over him,
namely, His Vicar upon earth; so that perfect
distinction of rank, and consequently peace and
charity, may be preserved; without which the
right government neither of our Society nor of
any other Congregation, can be maintained. For
it is in this way that Divine Providence disposes
all things gently, and brings them to their appointed ends, the lowest by the midmost, and the
midmost by the highest. Hence, for example, that
series of angelic hierarchies subordinate one to
another, and that perfect harmony of the celestial
and all other moving bodies, each in its own fixed
place and position; the revolutions and movements
of which proceed in due order from one supreme
mover by degrees unto the lowest. The same we
see upon earth, in every State, which is regulated
by good laws, and especially in the ecclesiastical
hierarchy, whose members and functions are all
derived from one general Vicar of Christ our
Lord. And the more exactly this arrangement
and order is kept, the more orderly and better is
the whole government. And on the other hand,
no one can fail to see what grievous damage has
been inflicted on many societies of men by its
neglect. Therefore in this Society, of which Our
Lord has committed to me some charge and care,
I strongly desire this virtue may be practiced as
diligently, and flourish as perfectly, as if the good
and safety of our whole Society consisted in it.
21. Wherefore, that my Epistle may end where
it began, I most earnestly beseech you for Christ
Our Lord's sake, Who gave Himself to us not
as a Master, but also as an example of obedience,
that you will strain every nerve to attain this
virtue; and that with a greedy appetite for so
glorious a victory, you will endeavor to overcome
yourselves, that is, to conquer and subdue the
highest and most difficult part of your soul, your
will, I mean, and judgment; in order that the
solid and true knowledge and love of God Almighty our Lord may draw your whole souls to
Him, and rule and govern you in the whole
course of this life and pilgrimage, until at length
He brings you, and many others assisted by your
labors and example, to the last happy end of
bliss everlasting.
I commend myself earnestly to your prayers.
Rome, 26 March, 1553.
|
|
