Being Witnesses of Mercy – OBEY

The column “Witnesses of Mercy” featuring Nino Savarino’s flipbook. This Monday, the verb “to obey” and the work “to bear patiently with bothersome people”.

One chapter at a time from the book by Nino Savarino, Governor of the Misericordia of Rosolini, friend of spazio + spadoni, and collaborator on several projects and the blog.

From Psalm 86 (85):

Teach me your way, Lord, that I may walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart to revere your name.

I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.

Obedience and freedom: in God it is possible

Pope Francis said: “Obeying God? Does that mean we have to be like slaves, all tied up? No, because whoever obeys God is truly free, not a slave! And how does this happen? I obey, I do not do my own will, and yet I am free?

It seems like a contradiction. And it is not a contradiction.

Obeying comes from the Latin, and it means to listen, to hear the other. Obeying God is listening to God, having an open heart to follow the path that God shows us.

Obedience to God is listening to God. And this sets us free.”

“Where do we get help to take the path of hearing Jesus? In the Holy Spirit. We are witnesses to these things: it is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Obey God or men? Obey God or ourselves?

We humans are masters of compromise. With God, compromise makes no sense.

Obedience to God is not obedience to a superior. It is not a blind “yes, sir.” A “yes, sir” makes you a slave and irresponsible. A Christian, on the other hand, is a free person and co-responsible for the life of their brother and sister.

Obeying God is the practice of listening to His Word, to Jesus, our model.

I would love to be like Don Camillo.

I often watch the film Don Camillo: Monsignor… but Not Too Much. His dialogue with Jesus is marvelous.

Don Camillo: Lord, how many times have I called upon you in these three years and you never answered me, yet now, here is your voice once again. God is closer here than in Rome.

Jesus: Don Camillo, God is always at the same altitude; here He seems closer to you because here you are closer to yourself. Listening to Jesus requires genuine purity of heart. The Holy Spirit shows you the way.

Our journey will be beautiful and free from bonds if we undertake it in obedience to God and in listening to His Word.

What can we do in practice?

Bearing patiently with bothersome people

“What should we do with bothersome people?

Yet we too are often bothersome to others.

Why was this also included among the works of mercy? Patiently bearing with bothersome people?

In the Bible we see that God Himself must exercise mercy to endure the complaints of His people.

For instance, in the Book of Exodus, the people prove truly unbearable: first they weep because they are slaves in Egypt, and God delivers them; then, in the desert, they complain because there is no food (cf. 16:3), and God sends quails and manna (cf. 16:13-16), yet despite this, the complaints do not cease.

However, God had patience, and in doing so He taught Moses and the people this essential dimension of faith.

Thus, a first question arises naturally: do we ever examine our conscience to see whether we, at times, might also be bothersome to others?

It is easy to point fingers at the faults and shortcomings of others, but we must learn to put ourselves in other people’s shoes.”

(Pope Francis, General Audience, 16 November 2016)

Points for reflection

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4–7).

Source and image: N. Savarino, “Witnesses of Mercy”, 56-60

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