My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.
John 10: 27-28
Have you ever noticed there are people who say they are believers, yet seem to stay in the exact same place spiritually, year after year, or decade after decade? A place where they just don’t seem to show any discernable positive movement spiritually, where there are elements of growth? Generally walking around miserable? There are many indications of someone’s lack of growth. It may be constant gossiping, negativity about peoples situations, a lack of love, a lack of caring, laziness, a general lack of being engaged, criticalness, a superior attitude thinking they know more than everyone, and dozens of other possibilities. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. They are in essence stuck in the same pew all the time looking miserable. When you are around these negative people, you get the impression they are thinking everyone is singing off key but them or the world is not rotating on its axis the way they think it should.
The reasons for a person’s behavior is not a casual conversation or always giving a simplistic answer. The human heart is a complex organ, and the mind just as mysterious. The potential reasons for a person’s actions are often complex. To begin to work with a despondent spiritual soul, you have to search for their wound. If you want to find the reason for a person’s actions, probe and discern until you find the wound. Here there can be a hundred reasons, but generally one—and that would be a lack of love in their life, either from youth or beyond. Why? Because if there is genuine love, it conquers sin. God is love.
All aberrant behavior is the result of a wound or trauma of some sort, visible or invisible. The word aberrant used here is a very general term to cover a wide spectrum of reasons why someone behaves the way they do. What is the origin of the behavior? Find the Why?
Why is there abnormal behavior? An extreme example to make the point is why does one become a serial killer like a Ted Bundy? Or on the other end of the spectrum, why does a person continually express anger or cynicism in conversation? Both examples show aberrant or negative behavior, albeit one much more extreme than the other. Or the person who walks in a room and sucks the oxygen out of it with their mere presence. What causes this behavior?
If you were to ask a person who is pro-abortion or who exhibits and endorses other sinful behavior, they will usually tell you they are showing compassion and doing the will of God. Oftentimes by sacrificing people think it is holy or even obedience, yet, the Lord says, “To obey is better than sacrifice” (I Sam. 15:22). Here is the disconnect in communication. Obedience to whose precepts and commands? Obedience is following the teachings of the Ten Commandments, teachings of the Magisterium, Scripture, the statutes, the tenets, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you look at the life of King David, he was a premeditated adulterer with Bathsheba, and premeditated murder of her husband Uriah. David was told he would have to pay the price of that sinful disobedience with his children’s welfare. It all came true with the death of his son Absalom, the rape of his daughter Tamar by her half-brother Amnon, and the child born from the adulterous affair with Bathsheba died soon after child birth. Disobedience has consequences in this generation and the next. There is forgiveness, but sin has repercussions. God is calling His people primarily to obedience. The fruit of obedience is the light and virtue that only the Holy Spirit can give. With that light, comes a clear mind to make good decisions. When a person is living the Scriptures (or at least making a sincere attempt to do so) there will be the light of the Holy Spirit providing grace. With that light and grace comes a pure heart. It is the Holy Spirit that guides our hearts, minds, and souls. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice and obey.” When a person is living in obedience, it is like they are holding an umbrella in the rain. The umbrella prevents the darts of the devil from hitting them. There is safety under its covering. There is spiritual protection in obedience.
Saints in the past have spoken about the single most important attribute to have as a believer is JOY. And with the JOY will come being grateful. When a person is living the gospel, there is often a fearlessness. JOY is the fruit of obedience. The obedient person will go where angels fear to tread because they instinctively know God is with them because they are under the umbrella of His protection doing as He asks. Think of JOY as Jesus, Others, You.
If you want to know what Hell is, it is sin. A person living in sin is bound in chains with no spiritual freedom. It is interesting when Jesus said, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). A wage is something you are compensated for because of your labor/actions. You are literally paying for your sins by your actions. Sin places a person in bondage where they become a slave to their own vices. Being obedient to God is absolute freedom, because your spirit is in conformity to the will of God.
Below are some quotes from people who knew the importance and power of obedience.
What Some People of God Have Said About Obedience:
“I know the power obedience has of making things easy which seem impossible.”
–Saint Teresa
“I often thought my constitution would never endure the work I had to do, (but) the Lord said to me: ‘Daughter, obedience gives strength.’”
–St. Teresa of Avila
On each occasion I say: ‘Lord, thy will be done! It’s not what this or that one wants, but what You want me to do.’ This is my fortress, this is my firm rock, this is my sure support.”
–St. John Chrysostom
“Obedience, is rightly placed before all other sacrifices, for in offering a victim as sacrifice, one offers a life that is not one’s own; but when one obeys one is immolating one’s own will.”
–St. Gregory the Great
“The Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience.”
–St. Francis de Sales
“Obedience unites us so closely to God that in a way it transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God.”
–St. Thomas Aquinas
“My daughter, know that you give Me greater glory by a single act of obedience than by long prayers and mortifications.” (894)
–St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in my Soul
”Obedience is a virtue of so excellent a nature, that Our Lord was pleased to mark its observance upon the whole course of His life; thus He often says, He did not come to do His Own will, but that of His Heavenly Father.”
–Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church
”Naturally we all have an inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet it is certain that it is more for our good to obey than to command; hence perfect souls have always had a great affection for obedience, and have found all their joy and comfort in it.”
–Saint Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church
“Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.”
–St. Francis De Sales
“One of the greatest graces for which I feel myself indebted to Our Lord is, that His Divine Majesty has given me the desire to be obedient; for in this virtue I find most consolation and contentment, it being that which Our Lord recommended by His own example more than any other, and on this account I desire to possess it more than anything else in the world.”
–Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church
“The more we see that any action springs not from the motive of obedience, the more evident is it that it is a temptation of the enemy; for when God sends an inspiration, the very first effect of it is to infuse a spirit of docility.”
–Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church
”By the other virtues, we offer God what we possess; but by obedience, we offer ourselves to Him. They who obey are conquerors, because by submitting themselves to obedience they triumph over the Angels, who fell through disobedience.”
–Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church
”Obedience is a penance of reason, and, on that account, a sacrifice more acceptable than all corporal penances and mortifications.”
–Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church
”God is more pleased to behold the lowest degree of obedience, for His sake, than all other good works which you can possibly offer to Him.”
–Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church
”A single instant passed under simple obedience is immeasurably more valuable in the sight of God than an entire day spent in the most sublime contemplation.”
–Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
”Oh! how sweet and glorious is the virtue of obedience, by which all other virtues exist, because it is the offspring of charity! On it is founded the rock of faith; it is a queen, whom he that espouses is rich in every kind of good and whom no evil can assail.”
–Saint Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church
“No virtue can have a life in itself except through charity and humility, which is the foster mother and nurse of charity.”
–St. Catherine of Siena
“Patience is the sign of one who is obedient and it is the key that opens the Heavens.”
–St. Catherine of Siena
“For there is no obedience without humility, nor humility without charity.”
–St. Catherine of Siena
‘Obedience is mission: “I have come into this world to do the will of my Father, who has sent me.” Where there is no obedience, there is no virtue; where there is no virtue there is no good; where good is wanting, there is no love, there is no God; where God is not, there is no Heaven.’
–St. Padre Pio
“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7).
Jesus I Trust in You