Obedience

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

    On Sunday, 17 March, before celebrating Mass on St. Patrick’s Day here at St. Matthew, while in the sacristy, Bishop Boyea had me make a Profession of Faith and take the Oath of Fidelity, which are required for me based upon my recent appointment as the Dean of the Flint Deanery.  He had not prepared me that this was going to happen, and perhaps that made the moment even weightier. 
    The Profession of Faith has me begin by professing the words of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and then stating that I believe everything contained in God’s Word, written or handed down, in the ordinary and universal Magisterium, firmly accept all that the Church definitively teaches for faith and morals, and will submit my will and intellect to the teachings of the Roman Pontiff or the college of bishops when they exercise the authentic Magisterium. 
    The Oath of Fidelity has me promise that I will preserve communion with the Catholic Church, hold fast to and hand on the deposit of faith, and avoid anything contrary to it.  I also promise to observe all ecclesiastical laws.  Lastly, I said, “In Christian obedience I shall unite myself with what is declared by the bishops as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith or established by them as those responsible for the governance of the Church;” and assist the diocesan bishops in carrying out the apostolic activity in communion with the Church.  The Oath of Fidelity closes with, “So help me God, and God’s holy Gospels, on which I place my hand.”  Those last words, in particular, really weighed upon me, not so much as a burden, as a recognition of just how serious the office is to which I was appointed.

Calvary in Jerusalem

    I thought of that obedience for today when meditating upon what our Savior did for us.  The obedience I promised imitates the obedience that Christ demonstrated usque ad mortem, even unto death.  But that obedience was not just God the Father imposing His will against the will of God the Son.  That obedience was an act of love, willingly endured for the sake of Christ’s beloved–the human race–from the creation of man until the return of Christ in glory at the end of time.  Yes, Christ’s human nature, as seen in the Garden of Gethsemane, desired not to drink from the chalice that the Father presented to our Lord, but He drank from it out of love, and knowing that whatever the Father wills is for good. 
    Our society struggles (to put it lightly) with obedience.  And while recognizing the legitimate times that one should refuse the will of others when asked to do something against Divine Law or Natural Law, we find all sorts of reasons to disobey even without those legitimate times.  And perhaps this is because we do not trust enough and we do not love enough.  Our fallen wills balk when someone asks us to do something that does not delight us, unless we can see a higher good.
    For this year, it would be good to think about how obedient we are: first to God, then to the Church, then to others who exercise legitimate authority.  The model of Christ reminds us that love submits to the will of the Father because of the trust that the Father will not abandon us, no matter how bad things get.
    And things may get bad.  The agony of the cross was no small thing.  Besides the physical pain, there was the spiritual pain of the eclipse of God’s love and favor that are the consequences of all sins from all time.  But Christ could still follow through and not call upon His army of angels to make it all stop because He trusted the Father; He loved the Father.
    How much do we love the Father?  How much do we trust the Father?  The more we love God and trust God, the more we will submit our wills to His and allow His plan to work itself out, no matter how painful and dark it may seem.  But remember, the pain and the darkness, both of today and of our individual acts of obedience, are not the end.  Yes, today we mourn in sorrow,  but obedience bears fruit that not even death can hold back.  But to bear that fruit, we have to plant the seeds of obedience.  “So help me God, and God’s holy Gospels.”