Status Ecclesiae-The Obedience Test

When given an instruction or lawful command by the Holy Father or the bishop, knowing that our response is really a response to our Lord, which one of us would bend the knee, make the sign of the Cross and say, ‘Your will, not mine be done, Lord,’ or would we instead shout ‘Non serviam!’ and proceed on that path toward schism?

John Mallon has an article in "Inside the Vatican" which I read last night. In it he makes some observations which in the past 2 years have also been made here. For instance:

St. Ignatius of Loyola...said, “We ought always to hold that the white which I see is black, if the hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the Ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed."”

But then, in summation, the point is clearly made for those who can understand:

For almost exactly 40 years now dissenters have been putting forth the idea that dissent was somehow an expression of “adult faith” or “thinking for oneself.” The exact opposite is true. In fact, dissent is an adolescent act.

Religious obedience, on the other hand, is a matter of great spiritual maturity. Obedience to God is the pinnacle of wisdom. There is no greater expression of maturity than obedience to God. When it comes to faith and morals, the Magisterium is our divine guarantee of freedom from error. There is no other.

The spiritual maturity of which he speaks, also extends to disciplinary matters as well - obedience can not be limited to merely those aspects of one's life which deal with faith and morals. One who proposes that obedience can be denied in the case of a lawful command of a matter of discipline or administration is deceiving himself and others.

In this respect, recall the words of St. Gregory the Great:

"Obedience is the only virtue which implants the other virtues in the mind, and preserves them when they are implanted. Obedience is better than sacrifice: because by sacrifice the flesh of another is immolated, by obedience our own will is sacrificed to Almighty God."

[from The Seventh Century From The Saints - 14 - St. Gregory the Great (Pope, Doctor, 540-604) - "A Parochial Course Of Doctrinal Instructions" ((Frs. Callan and McHugh, Wagner, 1941, Moral Course, v.2, Part 3, p. 174)]

The full article is here.