OBEDIENCE
according to Aballah Qarali, the founder of the Maronite Order
Retrieved from the book: “The Monastic Lamp” (Al-Mosbah Ar-rohbany)
with comments & some examples from Fr. Antonio Elfeghali
Jesus said, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.”
These words are the general guidelines towards perfection. The Maronite monk Abdallah Qarali (the founder of the Maronite Order in Lebanon) interpreted the words of Jesus “follow me” as “be obedient”.
Obedience was seen as an act of virtue done by the directee to his director, disciple to his teacher, monk to his superior, believer to his Master Jesus Christ, children to parents...
He found obedience a perfect worship and a greater offering than chastity & poverty.
For Jesus obeyed the Father until the death on a cross. Jesus said, I came not to do my will.
Through His obedience, He glorified the Father. Through our obedience, we can glorify the Father. The prophet Samuel said, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22).
When Jesus called us to follow Him, our hearts stirred within us. We asked ourselves, “where am I supposed to be?” “Where can I nurture my faith?” “Where can I grow spiritually.”
God directed (and still directs) us to communities within the parish, to religious life or lay communities. These communities have leaders, directors. God placed them there to help us grow.
There, in these communities, we can glorify His name if we stick to Obedience. Everyday, millions of people say, “Hallowed be Thy name”. We can glorify the name of the Father through our obedience to God, following Christ, trusting in our spiritual director, superior, teacher, leader...
Obedience was defined by Abdallah Qarali (know as Abdel Ahad = Dominic) as an external and an inner mortification to accept the superior’s will.
Through the vow of Obedience, the Maronite monk offers himself completely (his body, his will, and his mind).
Obedience is composed of three types. All of them together make the true obedience:
1- The obedience of the body: The way we behave is conformed to the will of the superior.
ex: Linda talks very quickly with everyone. Her message sometimes is not understood. The leader of the community tells her gently to talk slowly. This is difficult to Linda. But she obeyed her leader because she knew that God placed this leader in her path to help grow and be perfect. Linda’s body obeyed the leader.
2- The obedience of the will: Our will is conformed to the will of the superior/Jesus/Director/parents.
ex: Linda lives in a contemplative community. She agreed to her order’s constitution & rules. She felt one day that she could evangelize and bring many people to Christ. She decided to make evangelical evenings in her village’s houses. Her superior did not allow her to do that. Linda got upset. She felt that the superior is against the Holy Spirit who ‘was working through her’. Linda followed her will and visited one house. Here Linda failed to obey.
3- The obedience of opinion: We convince our mind that the opinion of the superior is right.
ex: John is a monk. He lives in a community of brothers. He has a vision of how to take care of the garden. The superior has a different vision. Both are not wrong. Both are useful, but John thinks that his own opinion is better and his superior’s opinion is not right. John has to learn how to convince his mind that the opinion of the superior is right.
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