J.M.J.
The Vow of Obedience
and the Exercise of Authority
as Presented in Evangelica
Testificatio
The year 2016 provided a natural backdrop against which to ponder again the March 25, 1996
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita
Consecrata of
Saint John Paul II (1978-2005). That document, inarguably, has been the source of
considerable discussion and much fruit for the Universal Church.
2016 was another
milestone of sorts: the forty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Evangelica Testificatio—the June 29, 1971 Apostolic Exhortation of Saint Paul VI (1963-1978). Although
perhaps not as well known as Vita
Consecrata, Evangelica Testificatio
is a rich treatise that offers abundant material for meditation. The passing of
the decades has not diminished the authenticity and applicability of Pope
Paul’s message for Men and Women Religious.
While the entire text
of Evangelica Testificatio is useful
and should be required reading for all Religious, in this essay this author,
rather than commenting on the complete Apostolic Exhortation, prefers instead
to highlight a section which he has found particularly valuable and which he
believes to be remarkably apropos for
our day—that which refers to the evangelical counsel of obedience as well as the exercise of authority.
To that end, each of
the six articles in Evangelica
Testificatio that directly treat obedience and authority will be presented
and then followed by some remarks. The headings are those given in Evangelica Testificatio, while the
numbers at the beginning of each section and those in parentheses refer to the
article numbers of the Apostolic Exhortation.
Consecrated obedience
23. Is it not the same fidelity which inspires your
profession of obedience, in the light of faith and in accordance with the very
dynamism of the charity of Christ? Through this profession, in fact, you make a
total offering of your will and enter more decisively and more surely into His
plan of salvation. Following the example of Christ, who came to do the will of
the Father, and in communion with Him who “learned to obey through suffering”
and “ministered to the brethren,” you have assumed a firmer commitment to the
ministry of the Church and of your brethren.
It is the “total fidelity” (22) to
one’s vocation as a religious that inspires him to profess the Vow of
Obedience. This profession is made in faith and as a response to the love of
Christ that invites one to live for God and for others in imitation of Jesus.
Living the Vow of Obedience allows
one to submit himself to the Lord and to his legitimate Superiors, thereby
yielding himself completely so that he will make progress along the path to
Heaven. By his obedience, the Religious in a real sense shows his agreement
with God’s “plan of salvation” for his own life.
It is the example of Jesus Himself
that guides the Religious in his quest to be obedient. Strengthened in the
realization that Christ was always obedient to His Father, the Religious lives
in closeness to Christ, thereby serving both the Church and his brothers and
sisters.
Given the considerable pressures of
the current worldview that wallows in the mentality that each man and woman,
consecrated or otherwise, must be his or her “own person,” Religious especially
must fight against the grain of an exaggerated individualism. This extreme
position is contrary to the spirit of dependence on the Lord, the Church and
his brothers and sisters that a Religious must inculcate.
Evangelical fraternity and sacrifice
24. The evangelical aspiration to fraternity was
forcefully expressed by the Council. The Church was defined as the People of
God, in which the hierarchy is at the service of the members of Christ united
by the same charity. The same paschal mystery of Christ is lived in the
religious state as in the whole Church. The profound meaning of obedience is
revealed in the fullness of this mystery of death and resurrection in which the
supernatural destiny of man is brought to realization in a perfect manner. It
is in fact through sacrifice, suffering and death that man attains true life.
Exercising authority in the midst of your brethren
means therefore being their servants, in accordance with the example of Him who
gave “his life as a ransom for many.”
It is a holy ambition to live
together as brothers or sisters. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) took up this theme. The
Church’s hierarchy is meant to serve the Church’s members, who are linked by
the charity of Christ.
In the Religious Life, the Passion,
Death and Resurrection of Jesus is lived as it is in the entire Church. One
sees that the pattern for obedience is the very Paschal Mystery of Christ, who
by His obedience to His Beloved Father in the Holy Spirit emptied Himself for
us.
Everlasting is attained by
sacrifice, suffering and death. This is the case for everyone.
If Men and Women Religious are to
attain their potential as disciples of the Risen Lord Jesus, then His obedience
must become theirs. While the call to obedience is given to all the baptized,
Religious particularly are to live perfectly this summons, given their Vow of
Obedience as well as the public role that they enjoy in the Church. Those who
see Religious carry out their Vow of Obedience with exactitude can only rejoice
at the good example they are for the Mystical Body of Christ on earth.
Those who exercise authority in
Religious Institutes are servants of their brethren or sisters. Once again, the
example of Christ is the sine qua non
for Superiors exercising authority as it is for Religious in their obedience.
His example is what gives life and breath to those who are obliged to exercise
authority in the Name of Christ.
Not kings or queens but rather
servants, Superiors keep their eyes fixed on the Good Shepherd Who is the
pattern for the exercise of authority. In an age when authority is scorned as
obscene in many quarters, Religious Superiors are to remember that the exercise
of authority is a good that is to lead them and those subject to them to
imitate Jesus with greater integrity and, eventually, inherit the reward of
their labors: Everlasting Life.
Authority and obedience
25. Consequently, authority and obedience are
exercised in the service of the common good as two complementary aspects of the
same participation in Christ’s offering. For those in authority, it is a matter
of serving in their brothers the design of the Father’s love; while, in
accepting their directives, the religious follow our Master's example and
cooperate in the work of salvation. Thus, far from being in opposition to one
another, authority and individual liberty go together in the fulfillment of
God’s will, which is sought fraternally through a trustful dialogue between the
superior and his brother, in the case of a personal situation, or through a
general agreement regarding what concerns the whole community. In this pursuit,
the religious will be able to avoid both an excessive agitation and a
preoccupation for making the attraction of current opinion prevail over the
profound meaning of the religious life. It is the duty of everyone, but
especially of superiors and those who exercise responsibility among their
brothers or sisters, to awaken in the community the certainties of faith which
must be their guide. This pursuit has the aim of giving depth to these
certainties and translating them into practice in everyday living in accordance
with the needs of the moment; its aim is not in any way to cast doubt on them.
This labor of seeking together must end, when it is the moment, with the
decision of the superiors whose presence and acceptance are indispensable in
every community.
At first glance, one may consider
authority and obedience to be worlds apart. Often, the first is viewed as the
exclusive domain of the Superiors, the second those responsible to them.
But in actuality, authority and
obedience are closely intertwined. Both are at the service of the Religious
Community; both derive from the offering of Jesus Himself.
Superiors call the attention of
their brothers or sisters to the plan of the Father. Obedience is the vehicle
by which that plan is realized. Religious, in their turn, adhere to the example
left by Christ and make progress on the way to salvation.
For a Religious Institute to fulfill
God’s will, authority and obedience lived in freedom are necessary. A “trustful
dialogue” between Superiors and Religious offers an amenable environment for
the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the process of discernment.
In the needs of daily life
26. Modern conditions of life naturally have their
effect on the way you live your obedience. Many of you carry out part of your
activity outside your religious houses, performing a function in which you have
special competence. Others join together in work teams having their own pattern
of life and action. Is not the risk which is inherent in such situations a call
to reassert and re-examine in depth the sense of obedience? If the risk is to
have good results, certain conditions must be respected. First of all, it is
necessary to see whether the work undertaken conforms with the institute’s
vocation. The two spheres ought also to be clearly marked off. Above all, it
must be possible to pass from external activity to the demands of common life,
taking care to insure full effectiveness to the elements of the strictly
religious life. One of the principal duties of superiors is that of insuring
that their brothers and sisters in religion should have the indispensable
conditions for their spiritual life. But how could they fulfill this duty
without the trusting collaboration of the whole community?
The living out of the Vow of
Obedience is effected by the conditions of our era. In particular, a Religious
may find himself exercising his apostolic work outside of the Religious House.
Another may discover himself living and working in a small group with his
Religious brothers. These particular circumstances often carry a risk to the
living out of obedience.
These circumstances demand that a
Religious reassert and reassess the spirit of Obedience that he has undertaken.
A pressing question arises that calls for an answer. Is my apostolic work in
harmony with my Institute’s charism?
Freedom and obedience
27. Let us add this: the more you exercise your
responsibility, the more you must renew your self-giving in its full
significance. The Lord obliges each one to “lose his life” if he is to follow
Him. You will observe this precept by accepting the directives of your superiors
as a guarantee of your religious profession, through which you offer to God a
total dedication of your own wills as a sacrifice of yourselves. Christian
obedience is unconditional submission to the will of God. But your obedience is
more strict because you have made it the object of a special giving, and the
range of your choices is limited by your commitment. It is a full act of your
freedom that is at the origin of your present position: your duty is to make
that act ever more vital, both by your own initiative and by the cordial assent
you give the directives of your superiors. Thus it is that the Council includes
among the benefits of the religious state “liberty strengthened by obedience,”
and stresses that such obedience “does not diminish the dignity of the human
person but rather leads it to maturity through that enlarged freedom which
belongs to the sons of God.”
Conscience and obedience
28. And yet, is it not possible to have conflicts
between the superior’s authority and the conscience of the religious, the
“sanctuary of a person where he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in the
depths of his being”? Need we repeat that conscience on its own is not the
arbiter of the moral worth of the actions which it inspires? It must take account
of objective norms and, if necessary, reform and rectify itself. Apart from an
order manifestly contrary to the laws of God or the constitutions of the
institute, or one involving a serious and certain evil—in which case there is
no obligation to obey—the superior’s decisions concern a field in which the
calculation of the greater good can vary according to the point of view. To
conclude from the fact that a directive seems objectively less good that it is
unlawful and contrary to conscience would mean an unrealistic disregard of the
obscurity and ambivalence of many human realities. Besides, refusal to obey
involves an often serious loss for the common good. A religious should not
easily conclude that there is a contradiction between the judgment of his conscience
and that of his superior. This exceptional situation will sometimes involve
true interior suffering, after the pattern of Christ Himself “who learned
obedience through suffering.”
The Cross—proof of the greatest love
29. What has been said indicates what degree of
renunciation is demanded by the practice of the religious life. You must feel
something of the force with which Christ was drawn to His Cross—that baptism He
had still to receive, by which that fire would be lighted which sets you too ablaze—something
of that “foolishness” which St. Paul wishes we all had, because it alone makes
us wise. Let the Cross be for you, as it was for Christ, proof of the greatest
love. Is there not a mysterious relationship between renunciation and joy, between
sacrifice and magnanimity, between discipline and spiritual freedom?
There is no mistaking it: the
Religious Life demands renunciation in the spirit of Christ’s Sacrifice on
Calvary. The profession of the Vows of Obedience, Chastity and Poverty is the
framework by which Religious offer themselves to the Eternal Father in
imitation of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. And the Ever-Virgin Mother of God
remains the perfect example of obedience as well as of the exercise of
authority, which Our Lady performed in a very delicate and subtle way,
recognizing the Divinity of her Son and under the headship of Saint Joseph in
the Holy House of Nazareth.
It is in the renunciation of oneself
and personal desires that the Religious experiences the joy of the Risen Lord.
