Living the Vows, Obedience

Last summer I began a 3-part reflection on the vows.  The first part of the reflection was on the Vow of Poverty.  This second reflection will be on the Vow of Obedience.  As I mentioned in the first of this series I believe the vows are misnamed.  The term obedience is a term associated with children.  Yes, Jesus is acknowledged to be obedient to his heavenly Father (Lk 2:5, Philippians 2:8, 1 Peter 1:2) and thus we should follow his example.  Yes, I agree we should be obedient to God’s Will, but do our Church leaders always speak God’s Will?

Each year, when I was a scholastic, I renewed my vows in front of the Provincial or his representative.  One line in the vows resonated with me. “… before you, Father N.N., (delegate of the) Superior General, and holding in my regard the place of God (italics mine)”.  The line places a lot of responsibility on the Provincial, probably more that either one of us realized at the time.  Years later, I would question whether only a person in authority could represent God, or could the community also represent God?

Unfortunately, the vow of obedience can be used as a basis of spiritual bullying by religious superiors who believe they and they alone speak for God.  How many vowed religious men and women were required to abandon their dreams and follow the will of a superior who had little regard for their personal calling?  How many left the community, not because they did not have a Calling to Religious Life, but because they realized their personal calling would not be heard or respected in their present community?

The vow of obedience can remove any sense of responsibility for one’s life.  One doesn’t have to discern their calling, their “superior will do it for them.  That doesn’t sound like a healthy place for someone to grow and mature in their spiritualty and faith life.

In my work as a psychologist, I often search for evidence that my approach to helping someone is working.  This is known as evidence based therapy.  To quote from the movie, Maguire, the line “Show me the money!” is a classic.  When I am teaching my students, I substitute the word money for evidence and challenge them to find evidence for what they believe in.  So, I would ask those in vowed religious life to show me the evidence that the vow of obedience serves a purpose in their faith journey. As we currently understand it, the vow is supposed to lead one to a deeper relationship with God, or at least, build a more faithful religious community.  This goal is important and is probably pondered by potential new members as they discern whether they are called to join a religious community.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating removing the vow but re-examining the vow in a new openness to possibilities.  As I mentioned, the vows seemed misnamed.   Rather than defining the vow as one of obedience, one could see it as a vow of accountability and responsibility.  Superiors with a deep awareness of community can be helpful to members who are discerning God’s Will in their lives. The experience of the superior can help one resist being distracted from his/her Calling as well as facilitate involvement of the community.

This week is the third week in ordinary time and the Second Reading from Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 12:12-30) is the well known passage where we are compared to the parts of the Body of Christ.  Unity and diversity is the theme of this passage.  Each member of the body is valued and respected for their different gifts and experiences.  I wonder if our religious communities mirror this teaching in our day-to-day interaction?

We may then have the opportunity to build a Spirit filled, deeply meaningful community of men, who desire as a community, to follow the Will of God in being the missionaries we were called to be.

By Peter Doherty, OMI