Obedience and Lent.

My deepest apologies for allowing the weeds to grow wild in these last few months. Being the new year, I do resolve once again to blog a bit more regularly, hopefully at at least once a week, if my brain will churn out something more than, 'sleeeeeeeep.' 

My thoughts today turn towards obedience, as the Lord has directed much of the last few weeks. Here is an interesting reflection by the Bl. Dom. Marmion, OSB, for Ash Wednesday.

What the good abbot is getting across here is the necessary virtue of obedience. Obedience first and foremost to God, to His vicar on earth, and to His church. Obedience is the first virtue one must have as a Christian. So highly valued is this virtue by God, that He Himself was 'made subject' to His earthly parents. The creator submitting Himself to the created to demonstrate how valuable this virtue is.

This is also the most difficult virtue to master, for it requires humility. It requires one to become low, and to sacrifice one's personal desires, one's self to the will of another, requires one to be dependent on another. How foreign that must sound to the modern ear! Today's young heroes are proud, independent, rebellious, with little care for morals or laws, and these are whom society role models. How is one supposed to learn the virtue of obedience while talking back to one's parents? 

Yet, this is what Christ desires most, the complete submission of self to His Divine Will. That is why the religious life is the highest form of living, because they live under a vow of strict obedience to their superior. It is a fast-track to holiness, they are, ideally, sacrificed themselves to be subject to their superior and to the rule. Consider how, they, despite their keen desire to be unseen and unheard, wear their habit in public out of obedience and as a symbol of their state in life. But, it is not only them who are called to obedience, Christ calls us all, 'The man who loves me is the man who keeps the commandments he has from me;' (Jn 14:21). 

The question then, is how does one discern the Will of God? The very first, though not very obvious answer, is to ask Holy Mother Church, to whom the safeguarding of the very teachings of God was given. While God certainly has an individual plan for each of us, it would be contrary for His plan to contradict what He has given the Church to guide each of us. Which is why, to follow what the Church has in her traditions and in her law first, before attempting to seek additional means of expiation, is most acceptable to God. 

For some of us, even the 1983 reduced obligatory periods of abstinence in lent (only Fridays) are crippling enough, whereas to others, to submit and obey to that first before seeking other penances (under the guidance of a spiritual director) is the struggle. At the end of the day, it requires that we put ourselves last, and Christ first, that requires much prayer for grace to achieve. That is what Lent teaches us, to depend solely on Christ, to lean completely on His cross, that is how one wades through the sufferings that can come through obedience.

However, such obedience is not merely limited to Lent, but to our entires lives, our entire Faith. How often does one ignore or neglect to find out the Church's teachings before seeking one's own method? How often does one choose to deny the Church until one has been persuaded to view of Holy Mother Church? 

How often in music ministry does one ignore the documents of Vatican II that state, '[Gregorian chant] should be given pride of place in liturgical services.'? Is one's understanding and knowledge greater than that of the council, of the Magisterium? Has one actually tried to use chant in Mass? To understand the chant?

How often does one receive communion on the hand, knowing full well that the Church prefers one to receive communion on the tongue? 

How often does one ignore the Church's teachings on chastity, and purity, in order to justify one's lifestyle choices? 

How often does one ignore the Church's teachings on the necessity of frequent and regular confession? How often has one receive communion in the state of mortal sin, just because one didn't want to stand out?

I ask these not to accuse, but as a most wretched sinner guilty of all of them, to drive home the unhappiness of disobedience and the difficulty of obedience. However, God is not blind, every act of obedience pleases Him greatly, and He will surely affirm and reward us for it.

We have, as the adopted sons and daughters of God, the obligation to know what He desires of us, first and foremost through the Church, and to carry out His will. If we do not obey Him, especially on what has been made explicitly clear, we cannot truly love God. And if we do not love God, we will never find joy and peace.

Try obedience this lent!

UPDATE: Follow up post: http://derelictlife.blogspot.ie/2013/03/on-suffering-and-lent.html