Meditation for August 13, On Asking for Advice

There are certain religious who believe only in their own judg­ment; they feel that they would lower themselves by asking advice, by submitting to the opinion of others.

To them St. Bernard offers a hard but just thought:

"Whoever has no other master than himself is the disciple of a fool."

He is right. However intelligent I may be, or however wide my experience, I need control. If it is true that a person often needs one smaller than himself, how strong a reason I have for needing someone greater than I, or at least my equal.

Over and above their office to command me, the superiors have also the duty to enlighten me. In questions of minor matters, or when it is impossible to disturb the superiors in an immediate case, it is useful to ask the advice of an authorized and wise person who may not be a superior.

This certainly does not mean that one must renounce one's in­dividuality in the true sense of the word. That would be to avoid one rock and hurl myself against another.

There are those who must seek advice and permission from others for the power to move their little finger. This is the absolute loss of the spirit of initiative, of normal, healthy liberty. It is a sort of passivity which condemns both the true notion of obedience and wholesome mistrust of self.

As with many other things, virtue here lies in the golden mean: to develop myself as fully as possible, but always within the limits of what my Institute requires; to allow free scope to my will and autonomy of decision, at the same time submitting to control or, at least, to advice in my actions, viewpoints and decisions.

In other words I must not be a lifeless instrument, but one teeming with an activity which promises the greatest results, that after hav­ing first developed myself to maximum power, I may still love to depend upon others.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)