SPIRIT WOW: THIS IS OBEDIENCE (Part 1!)

The Hokey Pokey, a Holy Spirit Named Deborah and Manifesting that #!%!

I’m going to do the first of a two-part series today on the behind the scenes stories of living out the Jesuit vow of obedience, following on my pieces on poverty and chastity.

But first, a plea!

I have a great friend, Whitney Chitwood—who is crowdfunding her first movie, a queer romcom called Sam Wants Her Sweater Back! Her pitch is really, really smart, and they actually need very little money. If you’re interested, here’s the short video (above).

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So, obedience! When people ask about the vows, it’s almost chastity that they focus on. And when guys leave, it’s usually assumed that it was on account of something to do with chastity. And sometimes it is, whether that means a guy has met somebody or just wants to.

But for me, the hardest vow as I’ve gotten older has definitely been obedience. And when I went on leave a year ago, a lot of it had to do with concerns about my capacity to be open in the way that obedience requires going forward.

In a way obedience is also the hardest vow to talk about, because it’s so ever-present in our lives. From the day you enter you’re dealing with superiors who can ask you to do something at a moment’s notice. Any time you get a phone call and the caller ID reads “Provincial” you had better buckle up, because you’re in for a ride. And I don’t know any Jesuit that doesn’t have at the very least a few slightly rough stories from that experience.

But at the same time, how many times have I really had to deal with the pinch of that vow? Maybe half a dozen in 30 years? A couple of those situations ended fine; a couple did not. And there have also been some situations I initiated with superiors that worked out really well. Obedience in the Society is kind of a two-way street.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

(And let me just say, I have no idea if this is interesting to anyone other than me. If you’re like Ugh, this, what???!, sorry! Our regularly scheduled programming will return the first full week of September.)

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SO WHEN YOU SAY ‘OBEY ME’…

Let’s start with what obedience in the Jesuits is and is not.

It is not, today, the superior says Jump, and you say How high. Or at least not in this country. It’s not some mindless military exercise in part meant to strip men of their individuality.

The key thing to understand about Jesuit obedience is that it’s for mission. The order began with Ignatius and his buddies going to the Pope and saying, We want to create an organization that is of service to the papacy. Send us anywhere you want. That’s the kernel at the heart of the order: We’re a missionary group.

Obedience is a key part of that. If you’re going to be at service to the church, you have to make yourself available. That’s a key question in Jesuit-speak: Are you available for mission? And if you’re not, why not? Because as they say in the Hokey Pokey, that’s what it’s all about.