(13) Obedience

"In what does this narrow road consist? This will be the road of
obedience where the room for freedom of action becomes more
restricted, where man lives no longer according to his personal
judgments, desires, and caprices, but at the good pleasure and
according to the will of another: ' another will bind your belt and
lead you where you would not' (Jn 21:18)."
[Sighard Kleiner, O.C.S.O., IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
Cistercian Publication, 1989, p.84.]

Comment: The above book was first published in French, in 1980.
And browsing through my English translation, I found Dom Sighard's
extensive discussion of the different elements of the Benedictine
Rule really quite elegant and truly helpful--especially for anyone
interested in how these elements are to be ideally employed by
a monk living in a monastery.

As for "obedience," it really boils down being obedient to the
Abbot--who serves not only as a spiritual father, but also as the
representative of Christ in the monastic community.

The time of writing of this book was at least some 30 years ago.
Within the monastery, Dom Sighard's approach to the Rule, to
the Benedictine Tradition, was definitely focused on the traditional
monk. Still the Cistercians chose to publish this book, making it
available to those monastically-oriented people who live out in the
world--beyond the monastery's walls.

So how does a lay monastic respond to this idea of "obedience"?
If you are affiliated with a monastic community, though not professed,
are you always obedient to the abbot or abbess or prioress? That's
a tough call, and even tougher if you are a non-traditional monk who
lives completely on the outside. Where than does one place his or
her obedience?

I can only talk of my own experience about this question. For several
years I had the good fortune having a wise Benedictine Abbot as my
spiritual director. Though I was not bound to any strict obedience to
this abbot, he gave me good counsel that I was free to accept or not
accept. But that is not obedience in the true sense of the word. Yet
it is about a "decision" to accept his counsel. Unfortunately my good
abbot died, and that was the end of my spiritual direction. I found no
other to step into his shoes.

However, to Whom do I give obedience? I was mindful that somehow
I had to turn over my life to Someone greater than myself, because
otherwise my life lost its meaning. Just me, just my own opinion, but
that's how I honestly felt. Happily I had enough "smarts" to figure the
One and Only to Whom I would give over my life in obedience. It was
to the Holy Spirit, who I ultimately discovered both within my mind and
outside in telling events.

Of course learning to listen to the Spirit, much less being obedient
to Such, takes discernment. Not easy, a situation where one must
learn to be careful and hopefully wise. I finally figured a thing or two.
If I stumbled lots, if I kept hitting brick walls, I knew that I was on the
wrong side of discernment. If I encountered "open doors," I likely was
on the right side of discernment. These were mostly exterior
understandings when it came to the working of the Spirit.

The other side of the coin is our interiority, where the Spirit can come
into a more full play if one is mindful. It's about pondering, about
contemplating upon the messages one believes that s/he is receiving.
It's really baseline *faith,* too! You have to arrive at a firm faith that
the Holy Spirit really does work within you, helps you, leads you,
asking a level of discerning obedience in order to follow through.

That's my experience, and it is not even embellished by religious
trimmings! And, happily, being obedient is not always a negative,
taking you to places where you would rather not--though it can,
but it also can take you to places that are wonderful, that are
bountiful in ways unexpected. Obedience can lead to adventure.