Ave Maria!— April’s Theme: Obedience
“If the superiors order something that is not according to the conviction and will of the friars, there may be some friars who show dissatisfaction or bring up reasons to the contrary, but in such a way that the superior clearly understands that he will displease them if he does not take into consideration their point of view. These friars do not present their arguments in order to fulfill the duty of presenting to the superior useful or necessary information of which he is unaware and then to hear in his decision the will of God, but they do it in order to induce the superior the take into consideration their opinions and to fulfill their will and not his own, because they are convinced that, thus it will be better. With what displeasure, or even with what desperation, those friars, at the moment of death, will regard that bending of the will of God to their own will, rather than ‘bending’ themselves, humbling themselves and conforming themselves to the will of God.” (cf. SK #329)
