Disobedience, obedience, servility

Obedience is a virtue which St Thomas Aquinas categorizes under the cardinal virtue of justice, so let’s talk about that first:

“JUSTICE is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor.” -CCC 1807

“The duty of OBEDIENCE requires all to give due honor to authority and to treat those who are charged to exercise it with respect, and, insofar as it is deserved, with gratitude and good-will.” -CCC 1900

Obedience appears then to requires two things: 1) a person who holds legitimate authority and who deserves to be obeyed 2) giving a command that he/she has the proper authority to give.

Remember: proper obedience leads to justice (giving due honor to God first and then neighbor). Obedience should never lead to injustice.

Virtue, according to Aristotle is the Golden Mean, the middle ground between two vices. The two vices, or habitual sins, related to obedience are DISOBEDIENCE and SERVILITY.

(These sins are perpetrated against God, or those who hold legitimate authority. Sins are not good, friends. Don’t commit them.)

DISOBEDIENCE is a lack of obedience, and occurs in situations where a person ignores, subverts, or flouts a legitimate command received from proper authority.

SERVILITY is an excess of obedience and occurs in a couple of ways:
1) obeying an illegitimate (sinful) command
2) indiscriminate obedience to someone who does not have proper authority

There is a troubling pattern in the Church today: a pattern in which we only speak of obedience and disobedience, and no one ever mentions servility. (Can we please bring back the language of virtues and vices? Seriously, it is such a poverty to communicate without it.)

Later this week I’m going to go over authority, specifically, what authority the pope and bishops have over the laity, and how we can best avoid disobedience and servility, as well as encourage in our shepherds a true sense of authority.