Priestly obedience in an individualistic world might be hard to understand, but if lived rightly, it can bring conversion and "new life," according to the secretary of the Vatican's clergy congregation.Archbishop Mauro Piacenza last week directed a letter to priests to reflect on their promise of filial respect and obedience to their bishops and the bishops' successors.
"In a time such as ours," the archbishop wrote, "marked as it is by relativism and democraticism, by various forms of autonomous individualism and libertinism, such a promise of obedience appears ever more incomprehensible to the prevailing mindset."
The prelate acknowledged that priestly obedience is often seen as a "diminution of dignity and human freedom, as perseverance in obsolete forms, typical of a society incapable of authentic emancipation."
But, he affirmed, those who live authentic obedience, "know well that this is not the case."
"Obedience in the Church is never contrary to the dignity and respect of the person, nor must it ever be understood as an abandonment of responsibility or as a surrender," the official said.
Proper understanding
Archbishop Piacenza noted that the adjective used in the rite to describe priestly obedience -- "it defines obedience only after mentioning 'respect,' and this with the adjective 'filial' -- is fundamental for a correct understanding of the promise.
The archbishop reflected: "Now the term 'son,' in every language, is a relative name, which implies, specifically, the relationship of a father and a son. It is in this context that the obedience we have promised must be understood. It is a context in which the father is called to truly be a father, and the son to recognize his own sonship and the beauty of the fatherhood that has been given to him.
"As happens in the law of nature, no one chooses his own father, nor does one choose one's own sons. Therefore, we are all called, fathers and sons, to have a supernatural regard for one another, one of great reciprocal clemency and respect, that is to say the capacity to look at the other keeping always in mind the good Teacher who has brought him into being, and who always, ultimately, moulds him."
Archbishop Piacenza affirmed that only in the context of filial respect is "authentic obedience" possible -- an obedience that is "ardent, complete, attentive, [and] which can really bring forth the fruits of conversion and of 'new life' in him who lives it."
The archbishop concluded by encouraging priests to beseech the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
"Let us ask of the Handmaid of the Lord, the obedient one par excellence, of her who, even in weariness, sang her 'Behold, do with me according to your Word,' the grace of a filial obedience, entire, joyful, and ready," the archbishop encouraged, "an obedience which frees us from being the protagonists of our own selves and which can show the world that it is truly possible to give all to Christ and to be men fully real and authentic."
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SIC: Zenit