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In professing obedience, religious offer the full surrender of
their own will as a sacrifice of themselves to God and so are united
permanently and securely to God's salvific will.
After the example of Jesus Christ who came to do the will of the
Father (cf. John 4:34; 5:30; Heb. 10:7; Ps.
39:9) and "assuming the nature of a slave" (Phil. 2:7)
learned obedience in the school of suffering (cf. Heb. 5:8),
religious under the motion of the Holy Spirit, subject themselves in
faith to their superiors who hold the place of God. Under their
guidance they are led to serve all their brothers in Christ, just as
Christ himself in obedience to the Father served His brethren and
laid down His life as a ransom for many (cf. Matt. 20:28;
John 10:14-18). So they are closely bound to the service of
the Church and strive to attain the measure of the full manhood of
Christ (Eph. 4:13).
Religious, therefore, in the spirit of faith and love for the divine
will should humbly obey their superiors according to their rules and
constitutions. Realizing that they are contributing to building up the
body of Christ according to God's plan, they should use both the
forces of their intellect and will and the gifts of nature and grace to
execute the commands and fulfill the duties entrusted to them. In this
way religious obedience, far from lessening the dignity of the human
person, by extending the freedom of the sons of God, leads it to
maturity.
Superiors, as those who are to give an account of the souls entrusted
to them (Heb. 13:17), should fulfill their office in a way
responsive to God's will. They should exercise their authority out
of a spirit of service to the brethren, expressing in this way the love
with which God loves their subjects. They should govern these as sons
of God, respecting their human dignity. In this way they make it
easier for them to subordinate their wills. They should be
particularly careful to respect their subjects' liberty in the matters
of sacramental confession and the direction of conscience. Subjects
should be brought to the point where they will cooperate with an active
and responsible obedience in undertaking new tasks and in carrying those
already undertaken. And so superiors should gladly listen to their
subjects and foster harmony among them for the good of the community and
the Church, provided that thereby their own authority to decide and
command what has to be done is not harmed.
Chapters and deliberative bodies should faithfully discharge the part
in ruling entrusted to them and each should in its own way express that
concern for the good of the entire community which all its members
share.
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