Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/146

 God. God is  appeased  with  victims  and  sacrifice,  as  the chief acts  of  religious  worship;  but  He  assures  us  Himself that  obedience  is  still  more  acceptable  to  Him. " Obedience  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken rather  than  to  offer  the  fat  of  rams." (1 Kings  xv.  22.) And with  good  reason,  observes  St.  Gregory;  for  "in  sacrifice the  flesh  of  another  is  offered,  but  in  obedience  our own  will  is  killed  and  the  whole  man  offered  in  sacrifice."

II. There is  no  safer  way  to  heaven  than  the  road  of obedience. Saints and  holy  Fathers  teach  us  that  there is nothing  more  dangerous  in  a  spiritual  life  than  to  be our  own  guide  and  to  follow  our  own  judgment. Hence St. Bernard  observes:  "He  that  is  his  own  master  has  a fool  for  his  scholar;"  for,  as  Solomon  writes,  "  The  way of  a  fool  is  right  in  his  own  eyes;  but  he  who  is  wise hearkeneth  unto  counsels." (Prov. xii.  15.)

III. In the  virtue  of  obedience  all  other  virtues  are included, and  therefore  by  holy  Fathers  it  is  called  the mother and  guardian  of  them  all. He who  is  obedient cannot fail  to  be  humble,  patient,  meek,  charitable,  and master of  himself;  for,  as  the  Wise  Man  says,  "  An  obedient man  shall  speak  of  victory." (Prov. xxi.  28.)  Form a growing  esteem,  then,  for  this  virtue,  and  exercise  it in  imitation  of  Christ  whenever  occasions  offer.

"Behold, I  sow  my  love  in  you,  and  it  shall  bring  forth  fruit  in you."

I. "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened  to  a  man  who sowed  good  seed  in  his  field." (Matt. xiii.  24.)  This