Obedience 7: Obedience and apostolate

Obedience and apostolate


“To work together is often difficult”.

“Superiors, sometimes, do not understand the reality of the apostolate”.

“If I am alone I know what to do, so surely I will do well”.

Those above are just some sentences which we hear among religious, when they want to justify themselves for not asking permissions, and not involving the community in whatever they do. The reality is that those religious like to be independent.

In order to understand the relationship between apostolate and obedience we have to understand well the need of apostolate. The word apostolate comes from “Apostle” which means to be sent. So apostolate does not mean to do good, but to do the will of the one who sent. Of course the first one who sends is God, but there is also the congregation and our community. So whenever I do apostolate I do it in the name of God and in the name of the Congregation. For this reason obedience and apostolate are strictly connected. If I do good but against the will of the superiors, then I cannot be sure that I am doing the will of God. It cannot be called apostolate but philanthropy. The reasons for doing that are at the first and second, not at the third level of psychological life.

It is true the fact that sometimes working with others or having to follow the directives of others we can be less effective in our work. We have to remember that effectiveness of our apostolate is not based only on the quality of the work but also and especially on the love we put in it, on the witness of communion, on the capacity of sharing, because apostolate must be the work of God not ours and God is love and communion, not technical skills.

Humility and capacity to listen and obey are more important than the human qualifications.