PASSION SUNDAY

Gospel: John 8: 45-59

 In what spirit we should hear
and receive the words of our superiors

21.1       First Point

It is with good reason that Jesus Christ complains in today's Gospel that the Jews did not believe his words[i] in spite of the fact that he told them nothing but the truth and spoke to them as his Father enjoined him to do,[ii] for this was a sign that they did not recognize him as the Son of God.

            The same complaint can often be made about many religious persons who lack confidence in their superiors because they do not consider them as holding God's place. As a result they do not profit by the advice given them and do not carry out faithfully what they have been commanded.

             To remedy this defect, which can have very serious consequences, all those who live under the direction must believe that the words of the superior are the words of God himself. Jesus Christ requires this in the holy Gospel when he says in the person of the apostles to all those who guide others, whoever hears you hears me.[iii] Since we should be firmly convinced that superiors are the ministers of Jesus Christ, that God is in them and causes them to speak, and that the words of our superiors are the truth itself which they have learned from God, is it not true that if you had always had such dispositions, you would have believed with simplicity all that your superiors said to you, and would never have hesitated a single moment over following their advice and obeying their commands? Admit that if you committed any faults in their regard, it was only because you did not consider God in them and did not hear their words as those of God.

 21.2       Second Point

Not only should religious persons believe the words of their superiors, they should likewise listen to them with respect and humility in the same dispositions that wellborn children listen to their parents' voice. Then Jesus Christ would not have to make to them the same reproach that he addresses to the Jews in today's Gospel, namely, that they do not listen to his words because they are not born of God. He who is born of God, says Our Lord, hears the words of God.[iv]

             If religious possess the Spirit of God within them, they will gladly listen to the words of their superiors because they will recognize the language as that of God. They will be convinced that God's truth is in their superiors and that they do not speak by their own initiative but by the impulse of the Spirit of God[v] to whom in him they should listen, as Jesus Christ Our Lord says.

     Is this how you listen to your superiors? Do you not at times examine critically what they tell you? Do you not entertain thoughts contrary to what they advise or command you? If so, you are insulting God in their persons.

 21.3       Third Point

You are also obliged to practice with docility the advice and the orders of your superiors. For, as Saint John says, we show that we truly know God if we keep his commandments.[vi] At the same time, the chief witness you can give that you recognize as your superior the one who commands you is that you carry out promptly and exactly not only everything you are ordered, but everything you are told, even simple counsels.

            Just as the one who pretends to know God but does not observe his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him,[vii] as Saint John adds, so, too, the one who does not do everything his superior tells him, shows by his conduct that, although he may says that the one who speaks to him is, in fact, his superior, he does not recognize him as such, because what makes known that he is truly united with him in that role and dependent on him is whether he does what his superior tells him. So, too, according to this holy apostle, what proves that we are in God is whether we keep his words.[viii]

            Judge from that you should act with regard to what your superior tells you to do.