Theological Foundations new file

75 Life in Christ “O, Jesus, I ammore amazed at how submissive and obedient You are to Joseph than at howYou convince the Jewish teachers by the power of wonderful words and knowledge. For what is so strange about the fact that You conduct a debate in the wisest manner if You Yourself are the eternal Wisdom? Yet, who would not be surprised that You, the Lord of Heaven, willingly surrender to Your parents; that, being God, You are obedient to humans? O, my Jesus! As I gaze upon Your example, I see how valuable and necessary the virtue of obedience is. For it was nec- essary that the One who was later submissive to His tormentors and to whom the entire world was submitted, should be also submissive and obedient to His parents.” 66 The Founder of the Marians sees the example of obedience not only in the person of Jesus but also in certain episodes connected with His life. The donkey on which Jesus enters Jerusalem (cf. Mt 21, 2) sym- bolizes the simple, sincere and obedient people whom the Lord wants to bring to Himself. He wants to be with such people. The obedient people, who fulfill His will, just as He fulfilled the will of His Father who is in heaven, are His brothers. For just as the donkey is full of simplicity because she runs, pulls and carries whatever is put on her back, so should the soul given to Christ be His simple handmaid. The human soul should persevere in carrying the yoke of obedience. We must be obedi- ent and ready to respond to the call of the Lord as well as to walk the path shown to us by God and His representatives on earth. Therefore, even the saints gladly called themselves donkeys, for they were obedi- ent and always ready to serve. This is the kind of people that God seeks, calls and chooses in order to put His yoke on them, to reveal His will to them and employ them to perform His works. But the human will often resists God and is not willing to be in His service. However, just as mas- ters do not like disobedient servants, God does not like disobedient reli- gious. Christ, the Lord, needs obedient people because He Himself was obedient and it was His desire to fulfill His Father’s will. This is also the way His Apostles were, through whom He converted the whole world. Since He is the giver of all goods and virtues, we must ask Him for this