Salesian Literature

Vol. 1, CONFERENCE 11 : Obedience: Second Conference

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The third property of blind obedience is that it does not seek to know the ways and means by which it will obey.  It knows that the road which leads to God is the Rules of the religious life and the commandments of the Scriptures.  It undertakes this journey in all simplicity of heart, without being in any way punctilious.  It does not ask whether this or that way of doing things is good for obedience.  It is enough that it obeys, for it knows that it is enough to become pleasing to God, for whose sake it obeys in purity and for love of him.

 

This obedience of love has a second condition as I have already told you: it is PROMPT.  Now this promptness of obedience has always been commended to the Religious as a necessary element to obey well and to keep perfectly what they have dedicated to God. It is the sign which Eliezer sought to recognise the girl whom God had destined to be the wife of his master’s son (Gen. 24:14,20).  Eliezer said to himself: The girl to whom I ask for a drink were to say: I will give it not only to you, but also I will water your camels, it will be the one whom I will recognize to be the worthy spouse of my master’s son.  As he made his way thinking of it, he saw from afar off, the beautiful Rebecca, who was a shepherdess and afterwards became a princess; in those days, the princes and princesses were accustomed to do some work.  Eliezer found her beautiful and graceful near the well where she was drawing water for her sheep.  He made his request and the girl answered according to his mind: Yes, not only for you but also for your camels.  Notice, I tell you, how prompt she was and graceful; she spared no efforts and she was quite generous – for a little water was not enough to water all the camels Eliezer had brought with him.  Of course, obedience practised without grace is not pleasing.  There are people who obey, but they lose much of the merit attached because they do it with so much weariness and with such a sad face.  Charity and obedience are so closely united to each other that they cannot be separated.  Love makes us obey promptly and gracefully.  For even however difficult the thing commanded may be those who practise the obedience of love do it lovingly.  Since obedience is one of the principal parts of humility which loves obedience supremely, as a consequence the obedient person loves the order extremely.  As soon as he perceives the command from afar, what appearance it could have, whether it is according to his taste or not, he welcomes it tenderly and cherishes it totally.

 

It shall now give you an example from the life of St. Pachomius, concerning this prompt obedience.  Among the Religious in the community of St. Pachomius, there was a certain monk called Jonas, a very virtuous and saintly man.  He was in charge of the garden and in the garden there was fig tree bearing abundant figs.  But then, this fig tree was a cause of temptation to the young Religious.  Every time they passed by the tree, they used to look at it a little.  One day, St. Pachomius was taking a walk in the garden, and raising his eyes, looked at the fig tree.  He saw the devil on the top of the tree and was looking down as the religious were looking up at the figs.  The great saint sent for Jonas immediately and commanded him to cut the tree down on the following day.  He wanted to train his Religious in the external mortification of the sense with as much care as the interior mortification of the passions and natural tendencies.  At this, poor Jonas replied: Look her, Father, you should bear up a little more with these young people; what can you expect, dear Father, they are good children and they need a little diversion.  I don’t want to save the tree for my sake.  What he said was quite true.  During the seventy five years that he worked as a gardener, he had never tasted a single fruit, but he was very generous with the Brothers.  St. Pachomius told Jonas very gently: Fine, my dear Brother.  You did not wish to obey promptly and simply.  But do you want to bet that the tree is more obedient than you? And this is what happened.  The next day, the fig tree had dried up and it never bore fruit since that day.

 

Throughout his life, Our Lord gave consistent examples of this promptness in obedience.  Nobody else in the world was so docile and so prompt in yielding to the will of everybody.  We have, then, to be prompt at obeying.  A heart in love is not satisfied with merely performing what is commanded or is shown as desirable; it wants to perform it promptly.  It pays no heed to time – on barely finishing one task early, it wants to be asked to do another immediately.

 

David once merely expressed a desire to drink from the cistern of Bethlehem.  Immediately three soldiers set off heads bent low, and crossed through the enemies’ ranks in search of it (2 Sam. 23:15-16).  They were, indeed, extremely prompt in obeying the wishes of the king. In the same way, all the great Saints too followed the wishes and desires which they felt the King of Kings, Our Lord had.

 

Tell me now, did Our Lord give to Catherine of Siena any command which compelled her to drink or lick with the tongue the puss that was oozing out of the sore of this poor woman she was bandaging?  And to St. Louis, King of France, to eat with the lepers the left over of their soup, just to give them the courage to eat?  They certainly were not obliged to do that in any way.  But knowing that Our Lord loved and showed his preference for the love of one’s own abjection, wishing to please him by following his preferences, they did these things, however repugnant they were to the senses, with great love.  We are obliged to come to the help of our neighbours when they are in extreme need, but not more than that.  Nevertheless, since almsgiving is a counsel of Our Lord, many willingly give alms as much as their means permit.  T his obedience then to the counsels is grafted on this obedience of love, which urges us to follow, even strictly the desires and intentions of God and of our Superiors.

 

I should warn you of a deception into which those who engage themselves in the practice of this virtue very strictly could fall.  They would always be in tension in order to know the desires and inclinations of their Superiors or of God himself.  Thus they would lose time.  When I go on probing God’s desire, I will not take time to remain in quiet and peace close to him, and that is his desire now, since he has not shown me any other.  Here is someone who wants to follow the preference Our Lord showed in helping to serve the poor.  He wants to go from one city to another in search of them.  Who does not know that while he is serving them in one city, he cannot serve them in another?  We must undertake this task in simplicity of heart.  I must give alms when the occasion presents itself and I must not waste my time going through streets from one house to another to see whether there is anyone whom I have missed.  In the same way, when I know that the Superior wants me to do something, I must take care of it without examining minutely whether perhaps she has any liking whatever that I do this or that.  This would deprive you of the peace and tranquillity of heart, which is the main fruit of loving obedience.

 

The third condition is perseverance.  Now Our Lord has taught us this in a very special manner.  St. Paul declares it in these words: He was OBEDIENT EVEN TO DEATH – death on a cross (Phil. 2:8).  These words EVEN TO DEATH suggest that he was obedient al his life, even from the time he was in the womb of Our Lady as I have already pointed out, when he went, or was carried by his Mother from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  It seems that he was more obedient at his death than at the beginning of his life.  For when he was lying in the lap of his glorious Mother, he could at least move his arms and legs to try to walk, but in his death he could move neither his arms nor his legs.  He died without moving in obedience.  Throughout his life, we see nothing else but traces of obedience given as much to his parents as to many other people, even to very wicked people.  Just as he began his life with this virtue, so did he end it.

 

The good Religious Jonas about whom I have already spoken, gives us two examples on this subject of perseverance.  Even though he failed once to obey St. Pachomius, he was, nevertheless, a Religious of great perfection, and it seems that St. Pachomius should not have refused him permission toe save the fig tree, because of his perseverance.  For from the time he entered the monastery till then and till his death, he did only garden work.  He never changed his duty during his 75 years that he lived in the monastery.  The other example was that, Jonas did no other work except making mats out of cane, interlaced with palm leaves.  He actually died doing this.  He was found dead sitting, his mats spread over his knees.  He was such an expert at this work that he could at the same time meditate without any difficulty. It is, indeed, a great virtue to persevere that long in one and the same work.  It costs next to nothing to do cheerfully something that is commanded for once; but when you are told: You will do that always and all your life, there lies the true value of obedience and there lies the problem. 

 

This, then, is all I wanted to talk to you about.  I shall add a word more: Obedience is of so great a value that it is a companion of charity; these two virtues give worth and value to all other virtues in such a way that without them all others are nothing.  If you possess these two virtues you possess all the others too at the same time.

 

Let us leave aside the general obedience with regard to the Commandments of God, and speak about Religious Obedience.  If the Religious does not obey he will not have any virtue.  It is obedience which primarily makes him a Religious.  It is the characteristic and special virtue of Religious Life.  You may have the desire of martyrdom itself for the love of God, but if you have no obedience, it is nothing.  This is what happened to a Religious of the community of St. Pachomius.

 

I take a delight in speaking about this very great SAINT and Father of the Religious.  He relates – or the one who wrote his life does so – that one day a young man came to be received into the Order.  St. Pachomius admitted him and the young man persevered throughout his year of probation in exemplary humility and submission.  It is true, of course, that everywhere, Novices perform wonders during the year of their Novitiate; everywhere one notices them practising mortifications; they keep their eyes so low! But let us come back to the story.

 

One day, after his period of probation, this young Religious came to see the great St. Pachomius, and burning with an ardent fervour said to him: “Father, I have a great desire, and  humbly beg you to pray God to grant it to me.”  – “Very good, my son,” said the good Father, “you should tell me about this desire.”  “Father,” replied the Religious, “you must, pleas, promise to pray and ask the brethren also to pray for it.”  The Father finally demanded what this desire was.  He said that it was the desire for martyrdom – and he would never be happy until this desire came true.  The good Father tried his best to cool down this ardour; but the more he tried the more the young man became eager in his endeavour.  St. Pachomius told him: “My son, it is far better to live in obedience and die day by day by living continually a life of mortification of yourself and your passions, than to a martyrdom in imagination.  One who practises genuine mortification dies each day like a martyr.  Doubtless, it is a great form of martyrdom to persevere all your life in obedience than to die in an instant at the stroke of the sword.  Be at peace, my son, and calm down your spirit and give up this desire.”  But the other, who insisted that this desire came from the Holy Spirit, did not want to give in, but repeated his demand that the Father should pray that his desire to be realised.  After this the Father went away.

 

Not long after, the young man received some news which brought him comfort.  Some robbers came to a mountain close by the monastery.  Then St. Pachomius called him and said to him: “My son, the hour you have so ardently desired has now come.  Go early in the morning to the mountain to cut wood.”  Delirious with joy, the young Religious went singing hymns and psalms in praise of God and thanking him for granting him the honour to die for love for him.  He felt that he could not do anything else than he was doing.

 

Then the robbers seeing him, came straight towards him and began to seize hold of him.  For a short while, he was very courageous: Kill me, I ask for only one thing to die for my God; and things like that.  The robbers then led him to the place where their idol was kept to force him to worship it.  And when they saw that he resolutely refused to insult God, they prepared to put him to death.  Alas!  This poor Religious, so gallant in imagination, seeing the sword at his throat cried out: “Alas! Please do not kill me!  I will do what you wish. Have pity on me.  I am still young.  It would be such a loos to cut short my life!”  In the end he worshipped their idol.  After he did this, these brigands mocked at him, thrashed him well and finally let him go back to the monastery.

 

He arrived at the monastery more dead than alive, his face pale and drained of all colour.  St. Pachomius who went out to meet him said: “well, my son!  How do you feel?  Why are you looking so distressed?”  The poor young Religious, filled with shame and confusion – for he was actually a proud man – unable to bear that he committed such a great sin fell prostrate on the ground and confessed his fault.  The good Father immediately applied the remedy.  He asked the Brothers to pray for him, made him also to beg for God’s pardon and took care of him.  Then he gave some good advice: “My son, remember that it is far better to have small desires to live well in the community and to wish to live only in fidelity to the observance of the Rules, without undertaking or desiring anything else than which is contained in them.  Do not have grandiose imaginary designs.  These desires are only good for swelling our hearts with pride.  They make us despise others believing that we are better than them.  How good it is, my child, to live under the security of obedience, rather than withdrawing from its arms to look for something which seems more perfect.  If you were well mortified in life when you wanted nothing les than death you would not have fallen as you did.  But courage, my son; remember to live henceforth in obedience and be sure that God has pardoned you.”  He did this with great humility all the days of his life.

 

Obedience has no less merit than charity.  Give a cup of water out of love to a poor man and it is worth heaven; Our Lord himself has said it.  Do the same thing out of obedience and you merit just as much.  The most humble action done out of obedience is extremely pleasing to God.  Eat out of obedience and your act of eating is more meritorious than the fasting of hermits, if it is done without obedience.  Take a rest out of obedience and your rest is more meritorious and more pleasing to God than to work.

 

How many examples there are in the lives of the holy Fathers regarding this strict obedience even in insignificant things.  Take the case of the Religious who was told by St. Francis of Assisi not to plant the cabbage with the roots in the ground but in the air. The Religious did it promptly.  The cabbage grew up as beautifully as the others which were planted as usual.  So much Our Lord cherishes the virtue of obedience.  It would be a serious imperfection to offer resistance in insignificant things when they are ordered.  These are very suitable to keep us humble.  Obedience, as I said, forming an integral part of humility, loves extremely the commands to do the most humiliating things.  Nothing should be considered as trivial, too unimportant by the truly obedient.  He believes that they are means suitable for union with God and Our Lord.  He loved obedience so much, as St. Bernard said, that he preferred to die rather than fail in obedience.

 

You will ask me: What will I receive in return if I practise strictly this loving obedience with its three conditions: Blind obedience, not stopping short at the person who is commanding, not seeking to know the purpose and motive behind the order so long as the person who commands has the authority to do so.  We are not to be overly anxious to know the means we have to take to begin the work.  We must be strengthened by the confidence which God who has caused the order to be given, will give us in order to enable us to carry it out.  Then to obey promptly is the second condition: finally to obey with perseverance not for a time rather for the whole of our life.

 

What will happen, then, to the one who is so happy to do what I have mentioned?  He will enjoy a continual peace and serenity of heart, for he has to render no account of his actions since everything has been done under the obedience of the Rules as well as the Superior.  To say a word about the Rules: The person who is truly obedient loves the Rules, respects them and considers them as the true path by which he makes his way to the union of his spirit with God.  Hence, he never withdraws from this way nor from obedience, of so many things said by way of counsel, as those that asked are ordered.  The person who truly obeys will give an account of his thoughts but never of his actions done under obedience.  He will live gently and peacefully like a child in the arms of its dear mother.  The child is not at all anxious about what will happen to it.  Whether the mother carries it on her left arm or her right, it is not worried at all.  Similarly the truly obedient person is happy concerned about what is commanded, this or that.  He is always happy provided he is ordered and he is in the arms of obedience, I mean to say, in the practice of obedience.  And in God’s name I can assure paradise to those who practise true obedience, not only in the eternal life, but also during the course of this mortal existence.

 

I think I have said enough.  You can now ask something.  If you come across any difficulties on this subject you may ask now.

 

- You want to know if you are bound to do all that your Superiors ask you under sin; also when you have to give an account of yourself, if you have to consider all that your Superiors tell you to do for your progress as a commandment.

 

Oh, no, my dear Daughter: Even the orders of the Pope when they are about very unimportant things do not bind under pain of sin unless one wants to break it out of contempt or due to complete negligence which does not at all wish to submit itself.  For to commit some faults either through forgetfulness or sometimes otherwise, in that which is commanded to us is hardly or not at all a sin, unless the thing that is commanded to is of great importance.  In this case we are obliged to pay a special attention to our memory to remember it; similarly with things concerning the smooth running of the House.  Even though what is commanded is of little significance, say to put out the candles every evening, if a Sister refuses to submit herself to this obedience, she would offend God.  There is no sin at all if you fail in obedience sometimes through forgetfulness.  But to make it a habit either through negligence or for some other reason, is that which causes sin.  I would like to add something more: I am obliged to say the Office everyday under the pain of mortal sin; it can happen that at the particular hour when I am accustomed to say the Compline, I am called out on some work and forget to say it.  On the following day, I remember that I have not done it and I do not confess it, because the thing was not so important, that I should be required to think always that I did not say Compline and I had to say it.

 

The Commandments of God and of the Church are not so strict as we think they are.  They are not meant to trouble our hearts, as much as we imagine.  The Law of God is a Law full of Love and very gentle as David tells us (Ps. 97, 98, 103); involuntary distractions do not render our prayers or our Office less pleasing to God, and it is the same when it comes to falling asleep.  For just as it is not necessary at all to recite our Office all over again if we have been distracted so too, we are not obliged to repeat it, if we fall asleep for a little while.  This is provided, it does not last for a considerable part of the Office and that we make all efforts we can to keep awake.  For, if you are careless in this then it could be that there is matter there for confession.

 

For instance, I start the Office wide awake and I have the intention of doing my duty by saying it well; in the middle of the Office, however, I feel drowsy and I say the verses more or less well and this happens during one or two Psalms, what, then, am I to do?  - There is no need to confess it, for what could you do in any case to remedy the situation any more than avoiding the distractions which come our way.

 

- You tell me now, that because you have some kind of aversion to this particular point in the Rules, that is, to correct the Sisters out of charity, under the pretext that it is not something important – you do not want to observe that Rule well.

 

- My dear Sister, to this I reply that even though you are not very much obliged to do it under the pain of sin, nevertheless, the love you should bear for your Rules should oblige you to do so.  It is, no doubt, extremely important to love the Rules and hence every Sister should embrace them a hundred times a day with a great deal of fondness.  We must be more faithful to the practice of those points of our Rules towards which we feel reluctance and dislike in order to bear witness to our love for Our Lord.  I would say the same as regards aversions we have for one another for it can happen that one Sister has some dislike for another.  In order to overcome this she should treat the other with much more affection than the others.  She must look for opportunities to say often close to her in order to speak to her and to render her some small service.

 

Let us come back to the point and say that we should not trouble our heart by vain scruples, and hence I am going to enlighten you on what you ask.  The Superiors, like the Confessors, do not always have the intention of binding their subjects to obey their commands.  When they want it to do it, they use the word COMMANDMENT UNDER THE PAIN OF DISOBEDIENCE, and then the subjects are bound under the pain of sin, even if the commandment in itself is light, otherwise no.  The Superiors give their judgements in three ways: some through the form of commandments, some by a simple directive and others through counsels.  It is the same as regards the CONSTITUTIONS AND THEIR RULES, for there are articles such as: The Sisters could do such a thing; other rules say: they will do; or again they will take care to do it well … Some are counsels, the others are commandments.  Those who do not want to submit themselves to the counsels, nor the direction will act against the obedience of love.  But if they are faithful only to what is commanded, I do not know what to tell them for they are doing what they are bound to do. But this is very difficult because those who voluntarily commit small faults run a great risk of falling suddenly into bigger ones.

 

Indeed, it is true that we are not bound to point out their defects to other Sisters, if we have no responsibility to do so, since the Rule uses: “THEY CAN”.  But, my dear Daughter, there is the commandment of God which tells us to correct one another and this commandment has a much greater authority than the Rule.  It is true that this commandment refers to sin since it will be very annoying to correct at every instance slight imperfections to which we are liable due to our weakness.

 

But let us come back to what we have been saying: Would it not be showing a great lack of courage and of little love of God, to desire to do just what is commanded and nothing more?  In fact, someone who want to keep God’s commandments and does not want to do anything else is sure not to be damned.  So this attitude clearly proves that he obeys the commandments and keeps them not for God or for the sake of his love, but only for his own sake, so as not to be damned.  It would be like someone who boasted that he was no robber!  Well, if you are not a robber, you will not be hanged.  There is your reward!

 

- You obey God’s commandments which are given to you.  Well, so you will not be thrown out of the Monastery.  But then, you will not be considered as God’s faithful servant, rather as a mercenary, if you do nothing more.  The servant who is not willing to render any other service to his master except the one for which he is hired would be considered rude.  Well, his master will say to him if he is not going to send him away from the house: You just do the service for which I appointed you and nothing more.  So I will also pay you just the wages I have promised and nothing more.

 

- You say that you want to follow faithfully the counsels and the directives given to you; you want to know whether you have to confess it if you fail to keep this now and then like that which is commanded: Not at all.  When someone comes to me for confession and tells me that he gambles and when he does so he usually swears against God, because he gets excited.  I order him, in God’s name, to give up gambling.  And he is bound to obey this commandment which I give him.  But when I ask him: Do you swear every time you gamble and he answers, no, not usually; then I tell him: My son, I advise you not to gamble any more because it is a vain and useless pastime.  He is not abound to follow this under pain of mortal sin.  But if I tell him in the form of a directive: My son, you ought to abstain from gambling since I am not obliged to stop him from gambling if he gets excited and swears rarely.  Then he is in no way bound to stop.

 

It is the same when Superiors ask something which they do not command.  The perfection which we are seeking should make us value and embrace everything which can help us to draw closer to God and be united with the divine Majesty.  This union should be the only intention of our hearts and we must do all we do for this purpose.  Even if we do not go against the obedience to which we have vowed ourselves – which is the obedience of the commandments – still, if we do not submit ourselves willingly to follow the counsels and directives, we will be breaking the obedience of love.  It is this loving obedience that we seek after, we who are in the Visitation.  May God take care of us that we may always have the courage to embrace the practice of loving obedience, as I have explained to you just now.

 

- You ask how a person who has no love at all for obedience, can acquire it.  Alas! My Daughter, there is nothing else you can do, except to try to love it.  I mean to say that when you are commanded to do something welcome and embrace this order and love it fondly.  Then when we are given another command, do likewise as something very precious and pleasant, thinking of the good it will do to us which is union with God; and from this to another order.  It is thus that you will accustom your heart to love it.

 

Could we not think when our Superior is changed that the new one is not as able as the other we had; she has not got so much knowledge of the way through which we are to be led.

 

Indeed we cannot altogether avoid these thoughts arising in us, but we should not linger on them.  This we must never do.  For, if Balaam was so well instructed by an ass (Num. 22:28-30), we ought to believe with greater reason that God who has given us this Superior will see to it that she will teach us according to his will and even though not according to ours.  Our Lord has promised us that he who obeys will never be lost (Mt. 10:42; Mk. 9:40), certainly not those who follow without discernment the directives of the Superiors whom God has given them.  Although the Superior was an ignorant person and she led her subjects according to her ignorance even through rough and dangerous paths, the subjects in obeying all that is not clearly against the commandments of God and the Church, I can assure you, they would never go wrong.

 

The truly obedient, says the Holy Scripture (Prov. 21:28) will win many glorious victories, that is, he will overcome all the difficulties to which he will be led by obedience and will come out honourably from the paths he will tread in the exercise of obedience however dangerous they will be.  It would be a very easy kind of obedience if we were to obey only the Superiors we liked.  Today I have a Superior who is nice looking, and appreciated as much for her talent as for her virtues, and so I obey her.  Tomorrow I shall have one who is unattractive, and less appreciated, and so I will not like to obey her. – You say that you obey her equally as the other but only that you do not value as much what she says and you do not do it with as much satisfaction.  My God!  Who does not see that your obedience to the other proceeds purely from your natural tendencies and is not purely for God.  Otherwise you would have as much joy and given as much value to what she says as you do to what the other one says.

 

I am accustomed to speak to you often about one thing.  It is good to repeat it always since it is always to be practised; I mean to speak about the superior part, that is, the higher self.  We ought to live in this higher self in this community and not according to our feelings and natural tendencies.  Certainly I have greater satisfaction in the inferior part, that is, the lower self, to do what a Superior orders me to whom I have a liking than doing what another commands whom I do not like at all.  But so long as I obey equally from the superior part, that is, the higher self, that is enough, and my obedience is worth more when I experience less pleasure in doing it.  It is then that we show that it is for God and not for our own pleasure that we are obeying.  There is nothing more common in this world than this way of obeying – but the other kind of obedience is extremely rare and is practised only in the Religious Life.  If we could create superiors out of wax or in a mould, just the way we wanted them to be, it seems that we will experience a great pleasure, for we could then bend them according to our whims and in doing so make them command us only what we want to do.

 

- But, you ask, could we not disapprove the fact that this particular Superior does not grant us permissions as easily as the other.  Could we not speak out, or think why this one gives orders which the other did not give?  - Never, my dear Daughters.  We have to approve all that the Superiors do, order or forbid, provided that, as I have said earlier, it does not go directly against God’s commandments; for in that case you should not obey and not approve it.  But apart from that, subjects should always believe and admit by their own judgement that the Superiors always act correctly, and that they have good reasons for doing it.  Otherwise, it would mean that we make a Superior of ourselves and make our Superior inferior to us since we make ourselves critics of her work.  How many times it happens that a Pope forbids a thing and his successor ordains that it be done.  Should we, then, say: Why does he do it?  No, never.  Rather, we should bend our shoulders under the yoke of obedience, believing that both of them were right in commanding what they ordered, in spite of their orders being different and opposed.

 

- You ask me if it is permissible for a Sister, who has already lived a long time as religious, and rendered great services, can now relax her obedience a little at least in some small things?  - What is it?  It would be like a master Captain, who brought his ship safely to the harbour after he worked very hard to save it from the perils of tempest, and finally after reaching the shore would want to break the ship and jump into the sea.  Will we not say that he has gone off his mind?  If he wanted to do that, he should not have laboured so hard to get the ship back to the port.

 

The Religious who has begun well, has not done everything unless she perseveres to the end.  We must not say: It is the Novices who have to be strict.  We see in all Religious Congregations that the Novices are, in fact, strict and mortified.  But they have no greater responsibility than the Professed.  No!  They are not at all obliged to be so, but the Professed Religious certainly are.  The Novices have to be exact and persevering in obedience so as to receive the grace of the profession, but the Professed Religious are bound to be so by virtue of the Vows they have made.  To be Religious it is not enough to profess them, if they do not continue to practise them.

 

This is like some people who appear to be so well mortified on Easter Sunday because they have been to confession; but the next day they become as worldly as before.  The Religious who would think of taking something easy after her Profession, or after living Religious Life for a long time would be deceiving herself much.  Our Lord showed himself more strict in his death than in his infancy.  He allowed himself to be handled and bent, as I said not long ago, because, when he was lying on the lap of his Mother who wanted to swaddle him, he could at least move his little hands and feet.  When he was on the cross, he made no movements, and allowed himself to be nailed to it as they wished.  I have said enough on this subject of obedience – enough for all of us to fall in love with it!

 

Let me now say a word on the question you asked me yesterday evening.  You want to know whether it is permissible to the Sisters to tell one another that they have been scolded by the Superior or the Mistress of Novices on some occasion.  There are three different ways of saying this.  The first is that a Sister can go and say: My Sister, how our Mother has taken me to task.  She is extremely happy that the Superior has helped her to make a little progress by telling her plainly the fault without sparing her.  In doing this she brings joy to the heart of the Sister whom she invites to praise God for it.  The second manner of saying it is to find comfort.  The Sister finds the scolding or correction too hard to bear and she goes to share a little with another Sister to whom she tells it.  She feels sorry for he and lightens somewhat her burden.  This is less acceptable than the first, because it is an imperfection to complain.  The third is entirely bad, indeed – and this is to report the incident in the form of grumbling and resentment and to make known that the Superior was wrong!  I hope that this sort of thing does not even happen in this community by the grace of God…

 

Regarding the first, even though there is nothing wrong to speak about it, still it is very good not to say it.  Rather let her keep it for herself and rejoice with God.  Regarding the second, we are not to do it since due to our complaint we lose the merit of this humiliation.  Do you know what we should do when we are corrected or humiliated?  We should take this experience with our open hands as a sign of love and hide it in our heart welcoming it as affectionately as we can.  But if you say: I have spoken to our Mother, I feel as dry as before; I have only to attach myself to God; I do not get any strength from people – I come away less comforted than before.  The Sister to whom it is said, should answer quite gently: My dear Sister, before going to speak to the Mother if you were so united to God as you say we should be, then you would not feel so unhappy because she did not comfort you.

 

Do you think, my dear Daughters, that in this way we have to be really united to God?  Take care that when you seek God when his creatures have failed you, he does not allow himself to be found.  He wants to be sought after above all things and with the contempt of all things.  – Because creatures don’t satisfy me, I seek the Creator – The Lord deserves that we abandon everything for his sake and he wants us to do it.  When we come away from the Superior without any relief, without receiving even a little of comfort, we should carry this spiritual boredom like a precious balm – as we do with the good movements of the will, we get in prayer.  As a precious balm, I said, so that we take great care not to spill this precious liquid, which has been sent to us from heaven as a most heavenly gift.  Thus we must perfume our heart fully with the loss of that comfort which we hoped to find in the words of the Superior.

 

I have to draw your attention to the fact that when some go to meet the Superior, they have sometimes a heart as dry and hard as a rock.  They are not capable of being moistened and refreshed by the waters of consolation since they are in no way open to what the Superior tells them.  Even though she speaks according to their need, they do not feel it.  Another time, they have a tender heart and are better disposed and she says only three or four words much less useful for their perfection and they leave them comforted than those spoken previously.  Why so?  Because your heart was disposed to it.  You imagine that the Superiors have words of comfort at the tip of their tongues and that they scatter them easily in the hearts of those whom they wish to console, which is not so.  Superiors cannot be always in the same mood anymore than others.  Happy indeed is the Superior who can keep an equable heart amidst all the inequalities of the subjects!  Just now we are comforted and a little later we feel heart dry so much so that we shall find that to address words of comfort cost us very much.

 

You ask me to say a word to you about the practice apt to overcome one’s own personal judgement.  I answer: It is by restraining all kinds of discussion on occasions when it tries to become our master by making it aware that it is a servant.  For, my dear Sister, it is only by repeated acts that we acquire virtues.  There are cases, however, where God has granted them to some persons in an instant.  St. Catherine of Genoa, for instance, was converted instantly while she was with her Confessor so much so that another servant of God, who lived in the same town wondered how quickly Catherine had corrected all her imperfections, whereas St. Catherine herself wondered why this same lady could not do so after so much time.

 

When you are tempted to judge whether such a thing which is commanded is rightly or wrongly ordered, cut off this discussion from your personal judgement.  As soon as you are told to do something in this way, do not waste your time discussing with yourself whether it is better to do in another way than you are told to. If you are asked to perform a certain exercise, do not allow your judgement to discern whether it is suitable for you or not.  But take care that you do the work in the same way you are asked to do; for often your own judgement does not obey for it does not approve of the commandment.  This is usually the cause of the reluctance we have to do the things that are demanded of us.  Since understanding and judgement represent to the will that it is not right and that we have to use some other means to do what we are told to and not those that are indicated to us.  The will cannot submit as it always follows the reasons which one’s own judgement show it and not any other.  Each one believes that one’s own judgement is better.  I have never met a person who has ignored his own way of judging, except two, one of them lives in this town and I do not know where the other is.  Both these persons told me that they never had an opinion of their own.  Once one of them came to see me and told me: Monsignor, tell me, please, something about a certain thing, for I have no opinion of my own to be able to understand it.  This surprised me greatly.

 

In our own days, we have an extremely remarkable example of the mortification of one’s own judgement.  There was a Doctor of great renown – who wrote a book which he entitled On Dispensations and Commandments.  This book feel into the hands of the Pope.  His Holiness found that some of the things written in the book were erroneous.  He wrote to this Doctor, asking him to remove these errors form his book.  Notice, however, that the Pope did not find anything heretical, but only some erroneous reasons.  On receiving the Pope’s command, this Doctor submitted himself so totally to the Pope’s judgement that he did not try to clarify this matter to justify himself.  On the contrary, he believed that he was wrong and allowed himself to be deceived by his own judgement.  He went up to the pulpit and read the Pope’s letter, took his book and tore it to pieces and said in a loud voice that the judgement of the Pope was quite right in this matter. He accepted with all his heart the censure and fatherly correction which the Pope had deigned to make as very correct and gentle whereas he deserved to be punished severely.  He was astonished greatly that he ahs been so blind to allow himself to be led astray by his own judgement in something which is evidently wrong.  Now he was not obliged to do this, for the Pope did not order him to do that, but only asked him to erase some things from the book. In this situation, the Doctor showed a great virtue and a great mortification of his own judgement.

 

It is quite rare to find people who are really mortified. Our judgement is stubborn to admit that all what is commanded is good, to love it and value it as something very good and very useful.  There are several who say: I shall certainly do what you tell me to do, but I myself feel that it is better to do it in a different way.  Alas! What are you doing?  If you foster your own judgement like this it will certainly intoxicate you; for there is no difference whatever between a drunkard and someone who is full of his own judgement.  You will find it as difficult to extricate the one as the other from their fantasy.

 

One day, David was in the countryside with his soldiers.  They were exhausted, and had nothing to eat.  He sent some soldiers to Abigail, to ask her husband to send him something to eat for himself and his soldiers. But upon arrival, David’s soldiers found this poor man drunk and hearing about David’s request, began to abuse him, drunk as he was.  He refused to give him anything saying that David, after having eaten up his booty has sent them to him to ruin him like others and things like that.  The soldiers went back and reported to David all that passed between them and the drunkard.  David said: As God lives, he will pay for this – he is so ungrateful for the good I did in protecting his flocks.  Abigail came to know of David’s intention and went to meet him on the following day with presents and spoke these words to appease him: - My Lord, what can you do to a drunkard?  Yesterday, when my husband was drunk, he spoke badly, but like a drunkard and a fool.  If you come and meet him today he will welcome you willingly and honourably.  Appease your wrath, my Lord, and do not lay your hands on him, for you will regret all your life for laying hands on a fool (1 Sam. 25:4-25).  We should make these same excuses for a man who is drunk with his own judgement, for he is not able to make use of his reason as the other.  You have to take great care then, to avoid making these considerations especially in matters of obedience.

 

You want to know whether you should have a great confidence and great concern in order to correct each other’s faults.  Of course, my dear Daughters, you should have them.  For to what purpose do I see a defect in my Sister and do not try to help her to get rid of it through this correction?  All the same, we have to be discrete in this task.  For it is not the right time to advise and make the correction, when she is in a bad mood, or when she is overcome with sadness, for then she will reject your correction.  You have to wait a little and then tell her about it with confidence and charity.  When a Sister who is good natured seems to be murmuring about something then you can say to her quite confidently: Sister, it is not right, what you are saying.  I should not say it, if I notice that some emotion is aroused in her heat.  Then I must change the subject with as much skill as possible.

 

You may certainly point out the faults committed during the Office, even though it is the responsibility of the Assistant to do so.  Don’t wait till a Sister has persevered a whole week in making the same mistake.  From the second time, you think that she has not been corrected at the first, you should tell the Assistant about it.  I would prefer that you first speak about this to the Assistant and not to the Sister who has made the mistake.  Of course, you may do it yourself out of charity, if you wish.  If the Assistant has already told her, it would cost you nothing to speak about it to her yourself gently, for you should not be niggardly with your words.

 

You say that you are afraid of correcting a Sister too often, who makes a mistake at the Office.  She would be discouraged and she would make more mistakes than before because of fear.  You should not make this judgement about the Sisters of this Community, for only people in the world would get discouraged at being corrected.  Our Sisters love their lowliness very much to get discouraged by it. On the contrary, far from being troubled, they will make use of the occasion to regain new confidence.  They take greater care to correct themselves, not to avoid being corrected again, since I take it for granted that they love extremely all that makes them ignoble and abject in their own eyes.  Thus they seek to do their duties well and be worthy of their calling.

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