Recently I have been considering obedience as a virtue and an integral part of religious life. Obedience is of great importance for Dominican novices, as at the completion of our novitiate, depending on whether we are accepted, we will be invited to promise obedience to God, Blessed Virgin Mary, St Dominic and the Master of the Order as well as declare our willingness to live in accordance with the Dominican Constitutions. In fact, obedience is, strictly speaking, the only vow or ‘evangelical counsel’ that we explicitly profess since poverty and chastity are implied in our promise that we will obey the laws of the Order. I should add that all of the baptised are called to exercise obedience by acting in accordance with the just laws of the state, the precepts of the Church, the natural law and above all, the dictates of their conscience.

Before beginning the novitiate, I was not particularly concerned with the notion of obedience assuming that it would come easily. Instead, what occupied my attention was the fact that I would have to be celibate (renouncing matrimony and children) and not possess individual wealth and property. However, since arriving in Hong Kong and commencing the novitiate, I have found myself in situations in which a superior, particularly the novice master, has put my obedience to the test by obliging me (sometimes with other novices) to complete certain tasks. These tasks may take the form of cleaning, editing documents, washing dishes, attending singing practice and so forth. If I remember correctly, a few hours after I had arrived in Hong Kong from Australia, I was asked to proofread a sizeable missallete for an upcoming ordination! Frequently I would think to myself that much of my valuable time was being needlessly wasted on these tasks and that I would lose the opportunity to read or relax. With each new task, I grew increasingly anxious, wondering whether the bulk of my novitiate would spent undertaking menial duties which apparently bore no relevance to my formation as a Dominican. Would this be adequate preparation for my years of studies? Essentially, I wanted to be in complete control of my own time and believed that I was the best judge of how it should be spent.

My perspective matured, however, as I read the biography of a brilliant Irish Dominican named Vincent McNabb. A friar of ambition, strong intellect (and even stronger opinions) with an active public preaching apostolate, McNabb’s natural inclinations would have resisted obedience to those commands he considered unnecessary or ill-advised. And yet one of his superiors recalled that ‘no one gave me less trouble as superior than Father Vincent. He was always busy, but one never had to persuade him to do anything or not to do it.’ McNabb himself recalls that during his novitiate, his novice-master took him out for a walk in the gardens and explained the principles of obedience. He learnt that in the religious life, the surrender to authority is an act of love of God and that he should see his superior as a person whom God uses as an instrument of guidance. Whilst the superior might be incorrect or mistaken in his command, obeying him out of love of God (provided they do not contradict the Divine Law) is always good and supernaturally meritorious. McNabb thought that this was one of the greatest revelations he received.

Whenever one struggles in obeying a just but difficult command from a superior, they would do well to remember the ‘Christ Hymn’ from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians wherein the apostle reminds us that Jesus Christ was ‘obedient unto death, even death on a cross’ (Phil: 2:5) The entire life of Christ reflected His unquestioning obedience with to the will of His Father and this obedience, as St Paul says, extended to His humiliating but atoning death on Calvary. As we are called to make our own mind the mind of Christ Jesus (Phil: 2:3), our lives too must demonstrate an unfailing obedience to our lawful superiors even in times of difficulty.

For the remainder of my novitiate, I will attempt to obey all legitimate and just commands of my superiors willingly and without resentment. As a Dominican novice, I have placed myself at the disposal of my novice master and I trust that what he wills is in my best interests and in accordance with the Divine Will. I will obey not simply because I want to avoid discord (i.e. obeying ‘materially’) but primarily, out of love of God, enabling me to merit supernaturally (obeying ‘formally’). I will try to see my superior as an alter Christus – ‘another Christ’ – who God has appointed over me for my direction. In this way obedience becomes something quite liberating and not burdensome since I will look on the commands of a superior as coming from God. Furthermore, St Thomas Aquinas states that the sacrificial nature of religious life derives from its demand for constant obedience. As a consequence, it is fitting that every act of obedience, which is sacrificial in its nature, is united to the sacrifice of the Mass.

Finally, obedience is exemplified in Our Lady’s presentation of her Divine Son to Temple for consecration. Not only was she obeying the extant Mosaic Law which required the presentation of the firstborn child eight days after its birth, but in her obedient constancy to the will of God even after Simeon had warned her of the suffering that she was to experience (Luke 2:35). Whenever I meditate on the Joyful Mystery of the Presentation whilst praying my Rosary, I will ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for me so that I might become more docile and obedient to the will of God.

Br Ambrose Scott OP