Obedience

I laid eyes, by chance, on this Arabic aphorism: “he who obeys your staff, has disobeyed you”. I thought it would be beneficial to transfer it to my lines, to preserve it and to extend the benefit. The picture is clear. The saying is criticizing, with obvious severity, bringing people, by force, to obedience. It says, in this eloquent simile, that this does not result in obedience, but rather in disobedience. What is the secret of obedience? Let us first exclude, from this hasty reading, the monastic life in which the monk obeys his superior in everything. In monasticism, discernment is left to the superior. The monk obeys indiscriminately “in an abundance of discernment”! We cannot pass this on, rashly, to cities and villages, if what is required is for them to obey priests or lay people. The secret continues to be ruled by what our heritage has preserved. Obedience is due to the one who loves until the end. In Christianity, this has no equivalent. The exemplar has a single image, the image of Christ, Whose love for us led Him to die on the Cross. Indeed, obedience is due to Him Who is crucified.