Authority and Obedience

11 | April | 2018

Authority and obedience can never be divided, with some people having all the authority while others only have to obey.

This separation causes authoritarian behaviour on the one side and doormat behaviour on the other. It perverts authority as well as obedience. A person with great authority who has nobody to be obedient to is in great spiritual danger. A very obedient person who has no authority over anyone is equally in danger.

Jesus spoke with great authority, but his whole life was complete obedience to his Father, and Jesus, who said to his Father,

“Let it be as you, not I, would have it” (Matthew 26:39), has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (see Matthew 28:18).

Let us ask ourselves: Do we live our authority in obedience and do we live our obedience with authority?

Being Humble and Confident

6 | April | 2018

As we look at the stars and let our minds wander into the many galaxies, we come to feel so small and insignificant that anything we do, say, or think seems completely useless. But if we look into our souls and let our minds wander into the endless galaxies of our interior lives, we become so tall and significant that everything we do, say, or think appears of great importance.

We have to keep looking both ways to remain humble and confident, humorous and serious, playful and responsible. Yes, the human person is very small and very tall.

It is the tension between the two that keeps us spiritually awake.

Loving Our Spiritual Leaders

10 | April | 2018

Religious leaders, priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams can be admired and revered but also hated and despised.

We expect that our religious leaders will bring us closer to God through their prayers, teaching, and guidance. Therefore, we watch their behavior carefully and listen critically to their words. But precisely because we expect them, often without fully realising it, to be superhuman, we are easily disappointed or even feel betrayed when they prove to be just as human as we are. Thus, our unmitigated admiration quickly turns into unrestrained anger.

Let’s try to love our religious leaders, forgive them their faults, and see them as brothers and sisters.

Then we will enable them, in their brokenness, to lead us closer to the heart of God.

Deeply Rooted in God

5 | April | 2018

Trees that grow tall have deep roots. Great height without great depth is dangerous.

The great leaders of this world – like St. Francis, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., – were all people who could live with public notoriety, influence, and power in a humble way because of their deep spiritual rootedness.

Without deep roots we easily let others determine who we are. But as we cling to our popularity, we may lose our true sense of self. Our clinging to the opinion of others reveals how superficial we are. We have little to stand on. We have to be kept alive by adulation and praise.

Those who are deeply rooted in the love of God can enjoy human praise without being attached to it.