I find it interesting that the concept of submission to authority is found under the fourth commandment: “Honor your father and mother”. Think about that for just one moment. All authority is bound up in the family. If you reflect upon this, it makes perfect sense. God uses familial language to describe His relationship to us. When we pray using the words Jesus taught us, God is addressed as “Our Father” (Matt. 6:9, Lk 11:2). We call our priests “Father”. (Note: this is not a violation of Jesus’s command to “call no man father”, but that is a topic for a different post.) Does this mean that we are bound to what is commanded to us in all cases? No. In his book Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Peter Kreeft describes the relationship between those in authority and those under authority (p. 215):
[I]f parents, husbands, rulers, and masters are in authority “over” children, wives, citizens, and servants, they are no less “under” responsibilities to those others. Husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the Church (See Eph. 5:25), not be their “boss”. God designed these human relationships to be a dance between equals playing different roles, not a power struggle between unequals for the same “top” role.
So if this is true, that authority and obedience is about relationships between equals, and not about power struggles, then it follows that obedience is not an admission of inferiority. You are not saying “I obey because you are superior to me.” You are saying “I obey because that is my role in this relationship.” Of course, we do have recourse if those in authority are not living up to their responsibilities. A pastor has a responsibility to see to the spiritual needs of his parish. Political leaders must govern for the common good. Military leaders must ensure that civilian casualties are minimized and that all operations meet the criteria for just war. Employers must pay their employees a fair wage and not perpetuate a cycle of poverty. Husbands and fathers provide for their families and give them selves to their wives in a self-sacrificial manner.
But what does the Catechism say? I will not be providing specific references here, but I will summarize some basic concepts. First, proper relationships are based upon the dignity of the human person. This dignity is inherent to the person, and was created by God, and therefore no man can take it away. Obedience is its own reward. Also, just as all are given dignity by God, those in positions of authority were placed there by God, so when we “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” we are not simply paying taxes, but giving the government what it is owed, namely, obeying civil laws which do not contradict precepts of the Church. This post is short, and will possibly be revisited in the future, but what we need to understand is that to be truly faithful, we must recognize out roles in our various relationships, submit when required, and if in a position of authority, we must be faithful to those responsibilities.
Catholic Ramblings 