Obedience

Let obedience be the mystical ship that conveys us to a safe port; but let it be a blind, generous, suffering obedience. 1 say nothing about the zeal and industrious charity that should accompany the doing of any good work, nothing about the real thirst for the salvation of souls or about the repugnance that should be felt about things that are opposed to virtue. From a consideration of these things, we develop a serious attitude and at the same time a certain gentleness, an impartiality in our actions along with a feeling of contentment for all that God accomplishes through us, setting aside sentiments of complaint, ostentation and things of that nature.

St. Gaspar's Ninth Circular Letter, 1835

What is obedience in the 21st century? How would we describe it?

What is accountability, how are we accountable, what does it look like?

What are ways a pastor can make himself accountable? What does obedience look like in the life of someone with authority?

What would obedience effect in us today?

Are we obedient to our pastors and directors only when we like them?

What is the role of the person in authority when when those responsible to him listen only when it is convenient or acceptable?

posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. on 10:06 AM link

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Blog singing

Well, it seems Mary and Paul over at Ever New got the idea of audblog from me and decided to do some singing on their blog as well. Their phone connection seems a bit better than mine. Check out Paul's song for Christ the King.

posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. on 9:59 AM link

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Letters 601-650, 1551-1700

These letters of St. Gaspar are now online. Click on the documents tab.

Ok, so now it seems I am doing some letters out of order. Well, there is a method to this madness. Being formation director for those studying for the priesthood I was led to wonder what St. Gaspar might write to someone preparing for the priesthood. Well, there is Student Orazio Bracaglia who chose Gaspar as his spiritual director. (You can see Gaspar's answer in letter 1594) There are some 89 letters that St. Gaspar wrote to this individual over a period of 10 years. So for the next few weeks I plan to search for this letters and put them in one place and study them for some insights into Gaspar's method of Spiritual direction. As I retrieve these files, I will save them to the website so you may see some letters going up on the site that do not seem to be in any reasonable order.

posted by Fr. Jeffrey Keyes, C.PP.S. on 9:54 AM link

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