As a recap, the spirituality of canon law “concerns how the law serves Christians in their journey towards holiness so that they may save their souls holistically and make heaven on the last day.”Last week’s post examined the first dimension of the spirituality of canon law, namely, the making and interpretation of the law.
Today’s post focuses on the second dimension: ‘obedience to the law’. Obedience, an evangelical counsel, comes from the Latin ob-audire, meaning “to hear”. Hence, it connotes the willingness to hear others and to do their will. The foundation of obedience is authority, and all authority comes from God. The will of the authority is expressed in law and, therefore, the binding rule of human action. Here, the law includes not only that which is written or externally manifest but also that which the authoritative will of God implants in created and supernatural beings.
Therefore, obedience is the “adaptation of an individual’s will to the authoritative will expressed in law.” The subject who obeys submits to the action intended by the legislator. In doing so, he accepts the commanded action and renounces conflicting possibilities. The virtue of obedience is the “freely chosen and stable disposition to submit our wills to others.” The love of God motivates this submission.
The spirituality of canon law asks: Why do we obey Church laws? To avoid punishment from the superior, to be praised, or to do the will of God as we journey towards holiness?
Today’s post examines the first two reasons.
A. To avoid punishment from the superior
For priests, religious, and seminarians, avoiding punishment from the superior is arguably the commonest reason for obeying Church law. The purpose of obedience is to avoid tensions with the superior and subsequent punishment for disobedience.
The spirituality of canon law asks: If we obey laws to avoid punishment from the superior, what happens when the superior is not around to observe us? What happens to those laws that their observance cannot be externally noticed or ascertained? What happens when we become superiors ourselves with little checks on us?
Regarding the last question, one emphasises that the superior is also bound to obey the law as much as the subordinates are. The reason is that since Christ is the Head of his Body, the Church, no one, absolutely no one, takes up an ecclesiastical authority upon himself. The priest receives his authority from the bishop and the bishop from the pope, who “appoints bishops or confirms those lawfully elected” (Canon 377 §1). Although the pope has full and supreme power in the Church, he only acquires this power when cardinals lawfully elect him and he accepts their decision (Canon 332 §1). Therefore, the pope gets his canonical mission from cardinals “whose prerogative it is to elect the Roman Pontiff in accordance with the norms of a special law” (Canon 349).
Regarding the religious, canon 618 states: “The authority which Superiors receive from God through the ministry of the Church is to be exercised by them in a spirit of service”. Indeed, “no one takes this honour on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was” (Heb 5:4). Hence, in his 1977 letter to Roman Rota, Pope Paul VI insists that, in canon law, the principle of juridical protection is applied equally to superiors and subjects so that any suspicion of arbitrariness in ecclesiastical administration completely disappears.
B. To be praised
Another reason priests, religious and seminarians obey Church law is to be praised. Here, we keep laws so that we can be commended or rewarded with a higher office, extra favours, or to retain our current privileges. There are instances of statements such as: “After all I did for the bishop or superior, he or she still posted me to this place.” “After everything I did, I still did not get appointed to that ecclesiastical office.” “After everything I did for the superior, he/she still did this to me.”
The spirituality of canon law asks: What did the priest or religious do for the bishop or superior to expect a reward of being posted in choice places, appointed to a higher ecclesiastical office, or some other form of benefits, so much so that they are disappointed, sad, and even angry that their efforts were in vain?
One primary reason for these emotions is the offering of temporal gifts to bishops or superiors to lobby them to a particular action or inaction, but which did not yield the desired results (Read more on Post 176: “Bribery of one who exercises an office, ministry, or function”). Nevertheless, obedience also contributes. If we obey the laws for commendation from superiors, what happens when superiors are not around to observe us? What happens when the superiors observe us but refuse to commend or reward us for obedience? What happens when we become superiors with few options for commendation from our superiors for obedience to the laws?
Undoubtedly, subordinates commend superiors for observing the law and fulfilling the obligation attached to their ecclesiastical office. However, the hype in commending those fulfilling their canonical obligation sometimes suggests an undertone of sycophancy on the part of subordinates.
For instance, canon 210 states: “All Christ’s faithful, each according to his or her own condition, must make a wholehearted effort to lead a holy life, and to promote the growth of the Church and its continual sanctification.” Canon 213 states: “Christ’s faithful have the right to be assisted by their Pastors from the spiritual riches of the Church, especially by the word of God and the sacraments.” These two canons mean that while the faithful, in their vocation to holiness, have the right to be assisted by their pastors with the word of God and sacraments, the pastors have an obligation to provide these spiritual riches to them.
Therefore, since only priests are privileged to celebrate the Eucharist among the faithful, they are to consider it a grave obligation to help the faithful partake in the Eucharist. In light of this, the parish priest is obliged to make the Eucharist “the centre of the parish assembly of the faithful” (Canon 528 §2). Hence, a parish priest who celebrates a mass for his community does not need any special commendation. In fact, he is to be queried for negligence or abuse of ecclesiastical office if he does not celebrate the mass for the parish community. However, he can be commended for braving the rain, distance, bad road, or poor health to say mass for an outstation.
Jesus’ words to his disciples are instructive: “When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done’” (Luke 17:10 NRSV).
St. Paul also reiterates this when he says: “If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16-18 NRSV).
Next week’s post will explore obedience to the law to do the will of God.
As this is a new journey, criticisms and recommendations will be helpful. Kindly reach me on WhatsApp or through email: chidiebere.obiodu@existentialtheology.com
May God continue to help us🙏🏾
K’ọdị🙋🏾♂️
