Obedientia

Basil Hume, OSB - monk, abbot, priest, archbishop, cardinal - must have been an amazing man. I have just completed a book by the former Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey & Archbishop of Westminster called The Intentional Life: The Making of a Monastic Vocation (found, incidentally, on the 50% off cart at the Paraclete). I would characterize his reflections in the book as Profound & Elegant Simplicity. And certainly worthy of reading & reflection by every committed Christian.

He returns again & again to the vows common to all religious: poverty, chastity, obedience, & two that are unique to Benedictines (though we all need a measure of them, too): stability & conversio morum, which he translates as "conversion of manner," but explains is more akin to an on-going conversion of heart, of purpose, of seeking God.

Regarding a recent letter in the East Tennessee Catholic in which the commentor seemed to define a new obedience of women's religious - namely, going where one wants to go to do what they want to do - empowered, naturally - rather than going where the Church sends you to do the work she asks you to do - I offer the following excerpts from Card. Hume's book:

"My obedience is a sign of my availability, not necessarily in terms only of action, of doing - which the words "sharing" & "giving" connotate - but also in terms of accepting, of being prepared to accept God's will even if it means being passed over, being asked to relinquish some responsibility, or just being forgotten. Obedience viewed form this angle is also the constant corrective to my non-availability. What is it that makes me hesistate to share, hesitate to give, hesistate to open? What is it that makes me hesistate to allow myself to be loved? Often it is our inhibitions, which can hide selfishness, self-centeredness, self-seeking. Obedience can be my liberation: it can free me from self & make me available to others.

"Obedience (in the sense in which I am thinking of it now) is not confined to the precepts of Superiors or the prescriptions of Constitutions or the like. I am thinking in terms of day-to-day circumstances - the class to be taken, the presiding I am called upon to do, the sick-call, the committee meeting - all demands requiring me to be ready, to be available. The doorbell of a presbytery & the bell ringing in the cloister: these are the voice of God summoning us to be available to another..." (p.87)

And later...

"Obedience is central to the monstic life... [It] is the outward sign of my determination to dedicate my whole life to God my Father; it is an expression of my love for Christ, my desire to follow him. It is a freeing, so that I can be a true instrument of the Spirit." (p.125)