A Letter From Madonna House – Resting in Christ’s obedience

daily liturgical fare throughout all of Passiontide.

Does the obedience of Christ resonate with you? Of course, on some level I accept it readily enough – the disobedience of our first parents didn’t go so well (understatement), and who among us would consciously argue that his or her own will was objectively better than God’s?

We also know countless instances of betrayal of trust by those in authority. So, is it any wonder that, when we hear Christ’s call to follow him, imitating his obedience to the Father even unto death, something inside of our gut pulls back, in spite of whatever act of surrender we try to muster up as “good” Christians?

While my efforts to coax myself to trust God prove to be exhausting, I can still choose, at any moment, to turn to Christ and rest in his obedience to his Father.

No matter what my struggle with trust may be, I can take refuge in Christ’s trust of the Father.

“Christ humbled himself for us, and, in obedience, accepted death, even death on a cross.”

These words, based on Philippians 2:8, are proclaimed several times in the Liturgy of the Hours from Holy Thursday to Holy Saturday. Such words practically become

But, when I am honest with myself, a radical trust in the plans and desires of our heavenly Father is a disposition that is rather foreign to my innate impulses. Something inside of me not only hesitates but stops dead in its tracks when confronted with the call to trust the Father so fully as to joyfully surrender everything, without exception.

Perhaps such a struggle is common to all of humanity, but it seems to me that in our western society, we are particularly nurtured with a heavy dose of self-reliance and selfdetermination.

Fundamentally, this is a struggle to trust the Father. Christ trusted the Father so fully that no self-offering was too much to ask, trusting him unto death, death on a cross. Our minds may know and believe that the Father is trustworthy, but that doesn’t mean that our gut will follow suit.

Our (or at least my) self-reliant side feels far more comfortable trusting in the “self.” Thanks be to God, though, that time and again, the “self” proves to be utterly incapable of bringing self-fulfilment.

The “self” alone is, in fact, not trustworthy at all. I can’t even trust in my own strength to conjure up greater trust in God!

Journeying through Passiontide with a gaze of admiration and wonderment on Christ’s free obedience is so much more restful than begrudgingly trying to force such an obedience from myself.

And, from that place of rest in him, the freedom of Christ’s obedience beckons me. It fans the flames of my own desire to trust the Father more. And, by resting in Christ’s obedient heart, I actually begin to participate in his own obedience and trust. This Passiontide, and into Easter, let us take refuge in Christ’s obedience unto death (and Resurrection).

Father Michael Weitl