To have obedience to God can be a very difficult virtue for us to always accept. This is so because we first want to know that something is in fact true before we respond to it with our life. Because of this it can become most difficult to accept obedience with great trust. Simon displays the constant banter of thoughts that we have in our head which may push us towards losing this trust. Some of these thoughts that we have are of trust, but others are of course are of doubt. His first thought was of doubt because after all they have labored all night and in return have caught nothing. Instead of trusting in his own thoughts Simon allowed himself to trust in the words that came forth from the mouth of Christ and with that he caught an abundant catch. Our Gospel never tells us that he first came to reason that these words were true, but instead he exclaimed: "at your word I will let down the net." It was the word of Christ alone that caused him to surrender his thoughts in favor of the virtue of obedience.
In reality it is easier for us to give commands to others then for us to carry out what we have been instructed to do. When we are able to be the one who utters commands to others we, as ourself, are convinced that what we believe is to be the truth. Do we ever allow ourself to fathom the possibility that we are incorrect with our expectations of others. You see this most often with the person who has a broken item and in their anger cannot accept that they are the cause for it being broken and therefore go on to demand a replacement from the maker. It would of been so easy for Simon to be the one to give the commands in this situation because if that were the case he never would of been challenged to grow in the virtue of obedience. From Saint Francis de Sales: "We all have a natural inclination to command, and a great aversion to obey; and yet, it is certain that it is more to our advantage to obey than to command. It is for this reason that perfect souls have so great an affection for obedience, and find in it all their delight."
I believe that our modern society has a problem with accepting the virtue of obedience. We have grown up being taught that we are to be our own person and therefore have developed a do as we wish mentality in everything that we do. In the American system we are use to voting and allowing everyone to get a say on the direction that our nation will take concerning who our leaders will be and what laws that we will adopt. We see this same problem with obedience when we hear of Catholics that want to import this American way of thinking into how the Church is ran. Instead of being obedient to Christ's teachings they see it as an option to vote concerning what should be held as morality or that they should be the one to decide what will be held as morality for them and their family. If religion begins to test us and challenge us away from what we may find to be comfortable; it indeed can be very difficult to trust and respond through obedience. Nevertheless we must realize that it is not the Church that is out of touch with society, but instead it is society which has grown out of touch with God.
Obedience exists in order that we may grow back in touch with God. We should never be obedient blindly, but we should be obedient always to what God demands of us. At times what is demanded of us will be most simple to respond to, and that is great. But at other times what will be demanded of us will be most difficult for us to respond to, and with that we cannot run, but instead we must embrace the virtue of obedience which will help us to grow closer to Christ. If we cannot trust in what Christ has to offer us through His words we will never be able to grow in the virtue of obedience. Therefore we must take time to study the Catholic faith in order that we can come to understand what she actually teaches. We are told that we should follow our well formed conscience, but this statement does not give us the credence to do as we wish, but instead shows our need for obedience to what we will find revealed to us within the Catechism.
My brothers and sisters in Christ today may Saint Simon intercede on our behalf. May he lead all of us forward in submitting ourself to true obedience for Christ and His Church on this earth. To grow in this virtue we need to pray and remain open to God's will and in return to respond to this will as Simon did in our Gospel. We also need to continuously educate ourself concerning the authentic faith that is has been handed down to us by Christ which we cannot receive proper education from a opinion column found on the internet or through an article that is found in a newspaper. In responding to those who are over us may we also practice the virtue of obedience and when we in return must ask something from someone may we do so keeping in mind their humanity and the truth of the Gospel that must always be upheld. May we therefore allow ourself to join Saint Simon and exclaim with great faith: "at your word I will let down the net.
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