We give everything

"Religious life can easily be a heaven on earth, but only for the man who lives it perfectly. And although much has been written on the fine art of acquiring perfection, all spiritual writers seem to agree on one big point. If a religious can obey, he can find perfect happiness. If he cannot obey, then he only nails himself to his own cross (by his own hand) and hangs over forever on the left side of Christ. Religious life demands greatness; and a man is never greater than he he bows his head in submission to another.

Obedience is the big vow. Obedience is the problem. In our monasteries we are not free to do what we want, or have what we like. We are pledged to obedience and there is a solemn vow to remind us of it. It is a vow that makes us say 'yes' when we would like to say 'no.' But when we take this vow, we offer to God one of our most priceless possessions: our free will. It is a perfect gift, one that God would never force from us. It is the last word, the limit. When we give this, we give everything. But it is only too bad that its worth is lost to many young men who, possessing all the other needed talents and dispositions, find themselves balking at that they call, 'this business of taking orders.'

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Actually, there is a probably not a single man on the face of this earth who is free from the obligations of taking orders. Every subject has a boss who in turn has a boss, who in turn has another boss. It is the same in both lay and clerical circles. So we men in a monastery figure that since we must take order from someone, we might just as well make a good thing of it. We might just as well gain merit for our troubles."

-- Men in Sandals by Fr Richard C Madden, ocd

Obedience will make you a saint

"It is one thing to trust God and Jesus as the Son of God as faithful guides on the way to eternal life, but it is something else entirely to trust the people who exercise authority in God's name. There is no way around the dilemma, because Gods plan of redemption is incarnation, that is, salvation mediated through human beings, beginning with Jesus Christ. Authentic Christianity requires obeying the human authorities duly appointed. How do we know that we can trust these weak human beings to lead us faithfully to God?
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Obedience to the legitimate religious authority is obedience to God no matter who holds the office, saint or sinner. But in the other hand, the bad example of the superior is no excuse for the disciple.
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[T]he sinfulness and errors of those in authority do not invalidate the authority. Jesus does not say we have to trust the one in authority whom we obey. Hopefully the leader will earn our trust by faithfulness and good example, and that improves the experience of obedience dramatically. But it is not necessary to trust the religious authority in order to obey and to receive the blessings of obedience.

Problems arise when people fail to make the distinction between trust in and obedience to religious authorities. Since 2002, the media has carried many stories of Catholics who have left the church because of the failure of some bishops to respond honestly and appropriately to the clergy abuse scandal. We know that through history monks have left monasteries and sometimes solely because of the poor leadership or sinful conduct of abbots. Laity have left the church because of pastors.

But we are not required to trust our religious leaders unless they earn our trust by their conduct. The requirement for salvation is faith, which means trust in God. Applied to the church and religious life, this means we are called to trust in God to carry out the divine plan and purpose for the church and its members through whatever human leaders God happens to have placed in charge.

Saint Benedict foresaw that some abbots might be saints and others might be scoundrels, and that bad abbots could create anxiety among their subjects. But he is reassuring: if you obey those God has placed in authority you will be obeying God, and God will sanctify you. In other words, he presents God as saying: You don't have to trust anyone but me - not the abbot, not the bishops, not even the pope. You need to obey them in the legitimate exercise of their office, and to trust them when you can. The obedience will make you a saint, no matter what they do. I can work out my plans, whoever is in charge on earth. It may not be pretty, but it will be effective. Trust me."

-- Don't Trust the Abbot: Musings from the Monastery by Abbot Jerome Kodell

Our embrace of God will be in accordance with our embrace of his will...

"Here then (...) is the fruit of Christ's prayer. Because he contemplates as any other human being and because His prayer is a constant heart-to-heart communication with God - or more precisely, a dwelling in God - it is a total and immensely heroic obedience. He has one care only: to obey God. He is rooted in obedience as faithfully as he is rooted in prayer.

We follow the opposite path. Christ started out from contemplation to come to the perfection of obedience. We must start out from the perfection of obedience to arrive at contemplation. This is the reverse route we must follow. In the depths of our being, our prayer is worth what our obedience is worth. Our embrace of God will be in accordance with our embrace of his will...

Let us consider, then, what constituted this profound prayer in the soul of Christ. Let us contemplate the great mysteries of the Beatific Vision and the Hypostatic Union. Let us go to work courageously to welcome God within us, so that we can know the immense nourishment to be derived from constant, deep prayer. We will reach out for this prayer with humility and obedience. To understand happiness for the presence of God and to have a foretaste of heaven here below, let us take the necessary steps, while repeating the words found in our Office: 'Taste and see the goodness of the Lord' [Ps 34:9]. May we experience the truth of his words and may we likewise know the road that leads to him."

-- Fr Jaques of Jesus, ocd
Cited in Père Jacques: Resplendent in Victory by Francis Murphy, SJ

Though Fr Jacques was addressing discalced nuns, his counsel of obedience applies to all. Obedience to whom, you may ask. Obedience to parents, obedience to superiors (ie, spiritual directors), obedience to the Magisterium of the Church. We may disagree with something, perhaps due to a lack of understanding or ignorance, but humble submission in a spirit of faith will bring us closer to Christ, help us grow in virtue. Moral theologians teach that unless we're asked to do something that is obviously a sin (ie, against Church teaching), we should be obedient to the best of our abilities. Look at Christ, already a grown man and God in the flesh, and He obeyed His Mother when she asked Him for help when the newly wed couple at Cana ran out of wine. And Denis the Carthusian said: "If you are doubtful whether a command is contrary to the law of God you should follow the command of your director because even if it is against the law of God, the one who obeys does not sin." It's not easy to be obedient, but we must try to be so, and ask for the virtue of obedience.