The Spirituality of St Philip 9: Obedience

The Spirituality of St Philip

Obedience

Obedience is the only law imposed by God for the universal ordering of all things and for their conservation (Istruzione per Esercizi, p.85). The cosmos obeys the divine order. Man, to give greater glory to God, is called to obey in total freedom.

There is no greater expression of freedom than following God’s plan, since humans are given the freedom to personally chose their own greater good (”The truth will make you free”). And obedience frees us from the slavery of human weakness, which is subject to error.

The Congregation of St Philip can also be considered to be part of the whole Creation, where all the various components work in harmony together; working well when everything is in its place, in ‘obedience’ to the whole.

Blessed Sebastian Valfrè said, “Obedience is the map for navigating towards the shores of perfection and towards the safe port of blessed eternity” (Istruzione per Esercizi Spirituali, p.97).

Fr Consolini said, “One who is not obedient will never be holy” (Pregi della Congregazione dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri, p.249).

Obedience is born from the virtue of humility, which recognises one’s own limits, of poverty and of the need for help. At times obedience is difficult, because it requires the renunciation of one’s own desires and egoism.

St Philip said that obedience is, “the true holocaust which is sacrificed to God on the altar of our hearts; it is a shortened route to arrive quickly at perfection; whoever lives an ordinary life in obedience is more praiseworthy than another who does penance at his own choosing; whoever flees one tribulation will only find another; whoever flees frost will have snow fall on him, and whoever flees from the bear will meet the lion.”

Obedience conforms us to Christ who was obedient even unto death. “He desires in his spiritual sons a willing obedience, and often said that it was not enough just to do what obedience commanded, but also that it was necessary to be obedient without complaint, and to believe with certitude that what obedience required would be the best thing, the most perfect that can be found, even when it seems that the opposite should be true. He often said to his spiritual sons, and in particular to those of the house who were eager to be obedient that they should leave aside every other thing to attend to community matters, even if it were prayer itself or something else that seemed important.”

Every state of life, every social arrangement requires obedience; obedience to laws, to regulations, etc.

Even the proverbial ‘Philippine freedom’  requires obedience. Fr Tarugi (d.1611) said time and again, “In the Congregation, even though the members are not bound with a vow of obedience, they are obligated to live freely in obedience” Breve notizia d’alcuni compagni di San Filippo Neri, p.25ff).

The Constitutions of the Oratoryexhorts members not to bind themselves to external works that would cause them to be absent from communal life; and in accepting external works one is invited to obedience (nn.100-101).

Obedience is the best preparation for the assumption of positions of responsibility. There is a saying that in order to know how to command, one must first have learned how to obey.