Obedience Quotes

Quotes on Obedience by the Catholic Saints

Obedience is a virtue of so excellent a nature, that Our Lord was pleased to mark its observance upon the whole course of His life; thus He often says, He did not come to do His Own will, but that of His Heavenly Father.”  --Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church

A single instant passed under simple obedience is immeasurably more valuable in the sight of God than an entire day spent in the most sublime contemplation.  --Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

The Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience. – St. Francis de Sales

We say that knowledge is not mere talk, but a certain divine knowledge, that light which is kindled in the soul as a result of obedience to the commandments, and which reveals all that is in a state of becoming, enables man to know himself and teaches him to become possessed of God. - St. Clement of Alexandria

Obedience is a penance of reason, and, on that account, a sacrifice more acceptable than all corporal penances and mortifications. --Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church

He bore and sustained all this in order to be fully obedient to his eternal Father. And he showed that his obedience was perfect when not only was he subject to his Father, but also, through obedience to this Father, he submitted to the lordship of the vilest sinners at whose hands he received so cruel a death; and then he completed his obedience. - St. Catherine of Bologna

Naturally we all have an inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet it is certain that it is more for our good to obey than to command; hence perfect souls have always had a great affection for obedience, and have found all their joy and comfort in it.  --Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church

He who always acts under obedience may be assured that he will not have to give an account of his actions to God.  --Saint Philip Neri

Without a doubt, obedience is more meritorious than any other penance. And what greater penance can there be than keeping one's will continually submissive and obedient?  --St. Catherine of Bologna

Obedience unites us so closely to God that in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God.  – St. Thomas Aquinas

We must put aside all judgment of our own, and keep the mind ever ready and prompt to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, our holy Mother, the hierarchical Church.  --Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God.  Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray. --St. Francis De Sales

Obedience, is rightly placed before all other sacrifices, for in offering a victim as sacrifice, one offers a life that is not one’s own; but when one obeys one is immolating one’s own will. -St. Gregory the Great

My daughter, know that you give Me greater glory by a single act of obedience than by long prayers and mortifications. (894)  --St Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul

Obedience is a short cut to perfection. They who are living under obedience, if they really wish to advance in the ways of God, must give themselves up always and in all things into the hands of their superiors; and they who are not living under obedience must subject themselves to some learned and discreet confessor, whom they may obey in the place of God, disclosing to him, with perfect candor and simplicity, the affairs of their soul; and they should never come to any resolution without his advice. Nothing gives greater security to our actions, or more effectually cuts the snares the devil lays for us, than to follow another person's will, rather than our own, in doing good.  --Saint Philip Neri

Obedience is the true holocaust which we sacrifice to God on the altar of our hearts.- St. Philip Neri

Saint Paul commands us to obey all superiors, even those who are bad. Our Blessed Saviour, His Virgin Mother, and Saint Joseph have taught us this kind of obedience in the journey they took from Nazareth to Bethlehem, when Caesar published an edict that his subjects should repair to the place of their nativity to be enrolled. They complied with this order with the most affectionate obedience, though the Emperor was a pagan and an idolator, so desirous was Our Lord of showing us that we should never regard the persons of those who command, provided they be invested with sufficient authority. --Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church

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