The Jesuit Guide To (Almost) Everything - James Martin [122]
Most people find that impossible to fathom. To quote the writer Kathleen Norris again, most people see obedience as “desirable in dogs but suspect in people.” Many even find the term superior, the term for the head of a religious community, freakish. Rick Curry, a Jesuit friend, once ran into a psychiatrist who lived in the same building where Rick kept an office. At the time, Rick was in an elevator with another Jesuit. Rick introduced him. “This is my superior,” said Rick.
After his superior left the elevator, Rick’s friend said, “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that!”
Rick said, “What things?”
She said, “He’s not your superior! You’re every bit as good as he is!”
Rick laughed and explained to her what the term meant.
Let me do some explaining, too, about the vow of obedience, before we move on to how the Jesuit experience with obedience might help you in your everyday life.
OBEDIENCE AS LISTENING
Obedience was a normal part of religious life in the days of Ignatius. Once his tight-knit band of friends decided to become a religious order, it would have been unthinkable to arrange things in any other way. It has always been, and remains, part of almost every Catholic religious order.
The word comes from the Latin oboedire, which includes the root for “to hear.” Obedience means hearing or listening. As with the vows of poverty and chastity, obedience is designed to help us follow the example of Jesus, who listened to, and was obedient to, God the Father.
Men and women in religious orders believe that God is at work not only through their own daily lives and prayer, but also through the decisions of their superiors, who are also trying to decide the right course of action. We believe that God’s Spirit is at work through the decisions of the superior who is, like the Jesuit under his care, trying to “listen” to God.
That doesn’t mean that the superior arrives at his decisions alone. Superior and Jesuit together try to discern God’s desires. When a Jesuit is about to be “missioned” to a particular work, the superior is attentive to the Jesuit’s own desires, since he knows—and the reader knows by now—that this is one way that God’s desires are made known. This is what the founder of the Jesuits intended.
The Jesuits William Barry and Robert Doherty note in Contemplatives in Action: The Jesuit Way that Ignatius’s insistence on individual discernment is surprising when you consider how hierarchical and authoritarian were the circles in which Ignatius moved—courts of kings and nobles, the military, the academy, the church. Nonetheless, they write, “Ignatius also expected that God’s will could be made manifest through the experience of the men themselves.”
How does a superior know a man’s desires? Through a practice called the “account of conscience.” Once a year the provincial meets with each Jesuit under his care to discuss his work, his community life, his vows, his friendships, and his prayer. Afterward the superior has a clearer idea of the Jesuit’s interior life and so is better able to mission him.
After a decision is made, if a Jesuit feels that he has not been adequately listened to, he can return to the superior and appeal. This is known as “representing.” If that fails to satisfy, the Jesuit can appeal to a higher authority—all the way up to the superior general. But in the end—unless it is a matter of conscience—the Jesuit is bound by his vows to obey. After prayer, conversation, and discernment, even if you think it’s a poor decision, you must accept it.
Crafty Jesuits
Jesuits are supposed to be clever—if not crafty—when it comes to obedience. One joke has a Jesuit feeling guilty about one of his bad habits. He asks his superior, “Father, may I smoke while I pray?” The horrified superior says, “Certainly not!” He relates the story to another Jesuit who has the same habit. After pondering the matter, the second Jesuit asks, “Father, may I pray while I smoke?” “Of course!” says the superior.
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