Jhus
May the perfect
grace and everlasting love of Christ our Lord greet and visit you with His
most holy gifts and spiritual graces.
1. Obedience Is To Be the Characteristic Virtue of the
Society
It gives me great
consolation, my dear brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ, when I learn of the
lively and earnest desires for perfection in His divine service and glory
which He gives you, who by His mercy has called you to this Society and
preserves you in it and directs you to the blessed end at which His chosen
ones arrive.
And though I wish
you all perfection in every virtue and spiritual gift, it is true (as you have
heard from me on other occasions), that it is in obedience, more than in any
other virtue, that God our Lord gives me the desire to see you signalize
yourselves. And that, not only because of the singular good there is in it, so
much emphasized by word and example in Holy Scripture in both Old and New
Testaments, but because, as Saint Gregory says: "obedience is the only
virtue which plants all the other virtues in the mind, and preserves them once
they are planted." And insofar as this virtue flourishes, all the other
virtues will flourish and bring forth the fruit which I desire in your souls,
and which He claims who, by His obedience, redeemed the world after it had
been destroyed by the lack of it, becoming obedient unto death, even death
on a cross [Phil. 2:8].
We may allow
ourselves to be surpassed by other religious orders in fasts, watchings, and
other austerities, which each one following its institute holily observes. But
in the purity and perfection of obedience together with the true resignation
of our wills and the abnegation of our understanding, I am very desirous, my
dear brothers, that they who serve God in this Society should be conspicuous,
so that by this virtue its true sons may be recognized as men who regard not
the person whom they obey, but in him Christ our Lord, for whose sake they
obey.
2. The Foundation of Obedience
The superior is to
be obeyed not because he is prudent, or good, or qualified by any other gift
of God, but because he holds the place and the authority of God, as Eternal
Truth has said: He who hears you, hears me; and he who rejects you, rejects
me [Luke 10:16]. Nor on the contrary, should he lack prudence, is he to be
the less obeyed in that in which he is superior, since he represents Him who
is infallible wisdom, and who will supply what is wanting in His minister,
nor, should he lack goodness or other desirable qualities, since Christ our
Lord, having said, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on the chair of Moses,
adds, therefore, whatever they shall tell you, observe and do: but do not
act according to their works [Matt. 23:2-3].
Therefore I should
wish that all of you would train yourselves to recognize Christ our Lord in
any superior, and with all devotion, reverence and obey His Divine Majesty in
him. This will appear less strange to you if you keep in mind that Saint Paul,
writing to the Ephesians, bids us obey even temporal and pagan superiors as
Christ, from whom all well-ordered authority descends: Slaves, obey those
who are your lords according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in
singleness of heart, as to Christ, not serving to the eye as pleasers of men,
but as the slaves of Christ doing the will of God from your heart, giving your
service with good will as to the Lord and not to men [Eph. 6:5-7]. From
this you can judge, when a religious is taken not only as superior and guide
in the divine service, what rank he ought to hold in the mind of the inferior,
and whether he ought to be looked upon as man or rather as the vicar of Christ
our Lord.
3. Degrees of Obedience
Obedience of Execution and of the Will
I also desire that
this be firmly fixed in your minds, that the first degree of obedience is very
low, which consists in the execution of what is commanded, and that it does
not deserve the name of obedience, since it does not attain to the worth of
this virtue unless it rises to the second degree, which is to make the
superior's will one's own in such a way that there is not merely the effectual
execution of the command, but an interior conformity, whether willing or not
willing the same. Hence it is said in Scripture, obedience is better than
sacrifice [1 Sam. 15:22], for, according to Saint Gregory: "In
victims the flesh of another is slain, but in obedience our own will is
sacrificed."
Now because this
disposition of will in man is of so great worth, so also is the offering of
it, when by obedience it is offered to his Creator and Lord. How great a
deception it is, and how dangerous for those who think it lawful to withdraw
from the will of their superior, I do not say only in those things pertaining
to flesh and blood, but even in those which of their nature are spiritual and
holy, such as fasts, prayers, and other pious works! Let them hear Cassian's
comment in the Conference of David the Abbot: "It is one and the selfsame
kind of disobedience, whether in earnestness of labor, or the desire of ease,
one breaks the command of the superior, and as harmful to go against the
statutes of the monastery out of sloth as out of watchfulness; and finally, it
is as bad to transgress the precept of the abbot to read as to contemn it to
sleep." Holy was the activity of Martha, holy the contemplation of
Magdalene, and holy the penitence and tears with which she bathed the feet of
Christ our Lord; but all this was to be done in Bethany, which is interpreted
to mean, the house of obedience. It would seem, therefore, that Christ our
Lord would give us to understand, as Saint Bernard remarks, "that neither
the activity of good works, nor the leisure of contemplation, nor the tears of
the penitent would have pleased Him out of Bethany."
And thus my dear
brothers, try to make the surrender of your wills entire. Offer freely to God
through His ministers the liberty He has bestowed on you. Do not think it a
slight advantage of your free will that you are able to restore it wholly in
obedience to Him who gave it to you. In this you do not lose it, but rather
perfect it in conforming your will wholly with the most certain rule of all
rectitude, which is the divine will, the interpreter of which is the superior
who governs you in place of God.
For this reason you
must never try to draw the will of the superior (which you should consider the
will of God) to your own will. This would not be making the divine will the
rule of your own, but your own the rule of the divine, and so distorting the
order of His wisdom. It is a great delusion in those whose understanding has
been darkened by self-love, to think that there is any obedience in the
subject who tries to draw the superior to what he wishes. Listen to Saint
Bernard, who had much experience in this matter: "Whoever endeavors
either openly or covertly to have his spiritual father enjoin him what he
himself desires, deceives himself if he flatters himself as a true follower of
obedience. For in that he does not obey his superior, but rather the superior
obeys him." And so he concludes that he who wishes to rise to the virtue
of obedience must rise to the second degree, which, over and above the
execution, consists in making the superior's will one's own, or rather putting
off his own will to clothe himself with the divine will interpreted by the
superior.
Obedience of the Understanding
But he who aims at
making an entire and perfect oblation of himself, in addition to his will,
must offer his understanding, which is a further and the highest degree of
obedience. He must not only will, but he must think the same as the superior,
submitting his own judgment to that of the superior, so far as a devout will
can bend the understanding.
For although this
faculty has not the freedom of the will, and naturally gives its assent to
what is presented to it as true, there are, however, many instances where the
evidence of the known truth is not coercive and it can, with the help of the
will, favor one side or the other. When this happens every truly obedient man
should conform his thought to the thought of the superior.
And this is certain,
since obedience is a holocaust in which the whole man without the slightest
reserve is offered in the fire of charity to his Creator and Lord through the
hands of His ministers. And since it is a complete surrender of himself by
which a man dispossesses himself to be possessed and governed by Divine
Providence through his superiors, it cannot be held that obedience consists
merely in the execution, by carrying the command into effect and in the will's
acquiescence, but also in the judgment, which must approve the superior's
command, insofar, as has been said, as it can, through the energy of the will
bring itself to this.
Would to God that
this obedience of the understanding were as much understood and practiced as
it is necessary to anyone living in religion, and acceptable to God our Lord.
I say necessary, for as in the celestial bodies, if the lower is to receive
movement and influence from the higher it must be subject and subordinate, the
one body being ordered and adjusted to the other, so when one rational
creature is moved by another, as takes place in obedience, the one that is
moved must be subject and subordinated to the one by which he is moved, if he
is to receive influence and energy from him. And, this subjection and
subordination cannot be had unless the understanding and the will of the
inferior is in conformity with that of the superior.
Now, if we regard
the end of obedience, as our will so our understanding may be mistaken as to
what is good for us. Therefore, we think it expedient to conform our will with
that of the superior to keep it from going astray, so also the understanding
ought to be conformed with his to keep it from going astray. Rely not on
your own prudence [Prov. 3:5]. says Scripture.
Thus, they who are
wise judge it to be true prudence not to rely on their own judgment even in
other affairs of life, and especially when personal interests are at stake, in
which men, as a rule, because of their lack of self-control, are not good
judges.
This being so, we
ought to follow the judgment of another (even when he is not our superior)
rather than our own in matters concerning ourselves. How much more, then, the
judgment of the superior whom we have taken as a guide to stand in the place
of God and to interpret the divine will for us?
And it is certain
that this guidance is all the more necessary in men and matters spiritual, as
the danger in the spiritual life is great when one advances rapidly in it
without the bridle of discretion. Hence Cassian says in the Conference of the
Abbot Moses: "By no other vice does the devil draw a monk headlong, and
bring him to death sooner, than by persuading him to neglect the counsel of
the elders, and trust to his own judgment and determination."
On the other hand,
without this obedience of the understanding it is impossible that the
obedience of will and execution be what they should be. For the appetitive
powers of the soul naturally follow the apprehensive and, in the long run, the
will cannot obey without violence against one's judgment. When for some time
it does obey, misled by the common apprehension that it must obey, even when
commanded amiss, it cannot do so for any length of time. And so perseverance
fails, or if not this, at least the perfection of obedience which consists in
obeying with love and cheerfulness. But when one acts in opposition to one's
judgment, one cannot obey lovingly and cheerfully as long as such repugnance
remains. Promptitude fails, and readiness, which are impossible without
agreement of judgment, such as when one doubts whether it is good or not to do
what is commanded. That renowned simplicity of blind obedience fails, when we
call into question the justice of the command, or even condemn the superior
because he bids us to do something that is not pleasing. Humility fails, for
although on the one hand we submit, on the other we prefer ourselves to the
superior. Fortitude in difficult tasks fails, and in a word, all the
perfections of this virtue.
On the other hand,
when one obeys without submitting one's judgment, there arise dissatisfaction,
pain, reluctance, slackness, murmurings, excuses, and other imperfections and
obstacles of no small moment which strip obedience of its value and merit.
Wherefore Saint Bernard, speaking of those who take it ill when commanded to
do things that are unpleasant, says, with reason: "If you begin to grieve
at this, to judge your superior, to murmur in your heart, although outwardly
you fulfill what is commanded, this is not the true virtue of patience, but a
cloak of your malice."
Indeed, if we look
to the peace and quiet of mind of him who obeys, it is certain that he will
never achieve it who has within himself the cause of his disquiet and unrest,
that is, a judgment of his own opposed to what obedience lays upon him.
Therefore, to
maintain that union which is the body of every society, Saint Paul earnestly
exhorts all to think and say the same thing [1 Cor. 1:10], because it
is by the union of judgment and will that they shall be preserved. Now, if the
head and members must think the selfsame, it is easy to see whether the head
should agree with the members, or the members with the head. Thus, from what
has been said, we can see how necessary is obedience of the understanding.
But how perfect it
is in itself, and how pleasing to God, can be seen from the value of this most
noble offering which is made of the most worthy part of man; in this way the
obedient man becomes a living holocaust most pleasing to His Divine Majesty,
keeping nothing whatever to himself, and also because of the difficulty
overcome for love of Him in going against the natural inclination which all
men have of following their own judgment. It follows that obedience, though it
is a perfection proper to the will (which it makes ready to fulfill the will
of the superior), yet, it must also, as has been said, extend to the
understanding, inclining it to agree with the thought of the superior, for it
is thus that we proceed with the full strength of the soul—of will and
understanding—to a prompt and perfect execution.
4. General Means for Attaining Obedience
I seem to hear some
of you say, most dear brothers, that you see the importance of this virtue,
but that you would like to see how you can attain to its perfection. To this I
answer with Pope Saint Leo: "Nothing is difficult to the humble, and
nothing hard to the meek." Be humble and meek, therefore, and God our
Lord will bestow His grace which will enable you to maintain sweetly and
lovingly the offering that you have made to Him.
5. Particular Means for Attaining Obedience
In addition to these
means, I will place before you three especially which will give you great
assistance in attaining this perfection of obedience.
Seeing God in the Superior
The first is that,
as I said at the beginning, you do not behold in the person of your superior a
man subject to errors and miseries, but rather Him whom you obey in man,
Christ, the highest wisdom, immeasurable goodness, and infinite charity, who,
you know, cannot be deceived and does not wish to deceive you. And because you
are certain that you have set upon your own shoulders this yoke of obedience
for the love of God, submitting yourself to the will of the superior in order
to be more conformable to the divine will, be assured that His most faithful
charity will ever direct you by the means you yourselves have chosen.
Therefore, do not look upon the voice of the superior, as far as he commands
you, otherwise than as the voice of Christ, in keeping with Saint Paul's
advice to the Colossians, where he exhorts subjects to obey their superiors: Whatever
you do, do it from the heart, as serving the Lord, and not men, knowing that
you will receive from the Lord the inheritance as your reward. Serve the Lord
Christ [3:23-24]. And Saint Bernard: "whether God or man, his
substitute, commands anything, we must obey with equal diligence, and perform
it with like reverence, when however man commands nothing that is contrary to
God." Thus, if you do not look upon man with the eyes of the body, but
upon God with those of the soul, you will find no difficulty in conforming
your will and judgment with the rule of action which you yourselves have
chosen.
Seeking Reasons to Support the Superior's Command
The second means is
that you be quick to look for reasons to defend what the superior commands, or
to what he is inclined, rather than to disapprove of it. A help toward this
will be to love whatever obedience shall enjoin. From this will come a
cheerful obedience without any trouble, for as Saint Leo says: "It is not
hard to serve when we love that which is commanded."
Blind Obedience
The third means to
subject the understanding which is even easier and surer, and in use among the
holy Fathers, is to presuppose and believe, very much as we are accustomed to
do in matters of faith, that what the superior enjoins is the command of God
our Lord and His holy will. Then to proceed blindly, without injury of any
kind, to the carrying out of the command, with the prompt impulse of the will
to obey. So we are to think Abraham did when commanded to sacrifice his son
Isaac [Gen. 22:2-3]. Likewise, under the new covenant, some of the holy
Fathers to whom Cassian refers, as the Abbot John, who did not question
whether what he was commanded was profitable or not, as when with such great
labor he watered a dry stick throughout a year. Or whether it was possible or
not, when he tried so earnestly at the command of his superior to move a rock
which a large number of men would not have been able to move.
We see that God our
Lord sometimes confirmed this kind of obedience with miracles, as when Maurus,
Saint Benedict's disciple, going into a lake at the command of his superior,
did not sink. Or in the instance of another, who being told to bring back a
lioness, took hold of her and brought her to his superior. And you are
acquainted with others. What I mean is that this manner of subjecting one's
own judgment, without further inquiry, supposing that the command is holy and
in conformity with God's will, is in use among the saints and ought to be
imitated by any one who wishes to obey perfectly in all things, where
manifestly there appears no sin.
6. Representation
But this does not
mean that you should not feel free to propose a difficulty, should something
occur to you different from his opinion, provided you pray over it, and it
seems to you in God's presence that you ought to make the representation to
the superior. If you wish to proceed in this matter without suspicion of
attachment to your own judgment, you must maintain indifference both before
and after making this representation, not only as to undertaking or
relinquishing the matter in question, but you must even go so far as to be
better satisfied with, and to consider as better, whatever the superior shall
ordain.
7. Final Observations
Now what I have said
of obedience is not only to be understood of individuals with reference to
their immediate superiors, but also of rectors and local superiors with
reference to provincials, and of provincials with reference to the general,
and of the general toward him whom God our Lord has given as superior, His
vicar on earth. In this way complete subordination will be observed and,
consequently, union and charity, without which the welfare and government of
the Society or of any other congregation would be impossible.
It is by this means
that Divine Providence gently disposes all things, bringing to their appointed
end the lowest by the middlemost, and the middlemost by the highest. Even in
the angels there is the subordination of one hierarchy to another, and in the
heavens, and all the bodies that are moved, the lowest by the highest and the
highest in their turn unto the Supreme Mover of all.
We see the same on
earth in well-governed states, and in the hierarchy of the Church, the members
of which render their obedience to the one universal vicar of Christ our Lord.
And the better this subordination is kept, the better the government. But when
it is lacking everyone can see what outstanding faults ensue. Therefore, in
this congregation, in which our Lord has given me some charge, I desire that
this virtue be as perfect as if the whole welfare of the Society depended on
it.
8. Final Exhortation
Not wishing to go
beyond the limits I set at the beginning of this letter, I will end by begging
you for the love of Christ our Lord, who not only gave us the precept of
obedience, but added His example, to make every effort to attain it by a
glorious victory over yourselves, vanquishing the loftiest and most difficult
part of yourselves, your will and understanding, because in this way the true
knowledge and love of God our Lord will possess you wholly and direct your
souls throughout the course of this pilgrimage, until at length He leads you
and many others through you to the last and most happy end of bliss
everlasting.
From Rome, March 26,
1553.
The servant of all
in our Lord,
Ignatius
