True Obedience

True Obedience

The fourth virtue is true obedience, when a man in his life does not do anything neither in thinking, nor speaking, nor acting according to his own will and inclination but according to the divine will and ordination, such a one is a sheep of Christ.  Reason: For already you see how sheep are obedient to the shepherd.  For a boy or girl with a small staff can easily guide thirty or forty sheep; it is otherwise with goats or kids, because a shepherd is needed for each one. If therefore on the day of judgment you wish to be a sheep of Christ, you will be obedient to the shepherd, namely to him who said: "I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me," (Jn 10:14).  

   Let us see now, what this shepherd commanded. First that we live humbly. Matthew 11: "learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart," (Mt 11:29).  "Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God," (1 Pt 5:6), namely of your shepherd etc.  Whoever therefore wishes to go by the path of pride, is not a sheep of Christ but a goat of the devil.

 

   Second, that in giving we take the way of mercy and generosity. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful," (Lk 6:36).  Also by lending, in the same citation,: "Lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil," (Lk 6:35).  Therefore whoever disobediently goes by the way of avarice by committing usury, robbery, theft etc, is not a sheep of Christ, but a goat of the devil.

    Third, that we walk by the way of cleanness, of chastity etc. Matt. 19: " [There are those ] who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it." (Mt 19:12).  And 1 Thess 4: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification;…That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification," (vv. 3-4). Whoever therefore goes by the way of uncleanness and the filthiness of lust and carnality, such is not a sheep of Christ but a goat of the devil, to whom Christ said, "But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice:" obediently, "…and they follow me. And I give them life everlasting," (Jn 10:26-28).

By St. Vincent Ferrer O.P.

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