Obedience (vow)

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The obedience in the Christian sense of the Evangelical Council or one in a religious community or of the bishop over promised vow assumes that only the will of God obedient person is truly free for other people, is open to new perspectives and available for tasks in the community.

Accordingly, obedience is the free response to the word of God (“listening”) and God's act of creation (“belonging”), but which also includes responsible thinking and acting with all openness and honesty. This obedience is reflected in the natural or established authorities , for example of diocesan priests vis-à-vis their bishop, and of religious Christians vis-à-vis their superiors.

The same applies to marriage and the family .

According to the Christian understanding, this is not a question of blind obedience or being taken out of responsibility. It also demands prudence and respect for human dignity from the authority that receives obedience .

Understood in this way, obedience has four basic dimensions:

  1. Apostolic aspect: An obedient Christian who follows the free and obedient Christ takes distance from himself and his own needs in order to actively, creatively and conscientiously take responsibility in the church and the world.
  2. Eschatological aspect: An obedient Christian who is involved in the coming of the kingdom of God entrusts his life entirely to God, even if his own plans are thwarted in the process. This is done in the belief that it is God who exalts and liberates.
  3. Political solidarity aspect: An obedient Christian who shows solidarity with his fellow human beings stands up for the oppressed who stand on the margins of society and thus stands for an option for the poor . According to Johann Baptist Metz, it is a practical proximity to those for whom obedience is not a virtue, but a sign of oppression, paternalism and incapacitation.
  4. Family-community aspect: An obedient Christian who puts himself at the disposal of the Christian family or the religious community with their God-willed goals and structures can therefore be integrated into this community and integrate their own will and convictions into the larger whole but without being completely absorbed in it.

See also

Obedience (disambiguation page)