It is not enough for obedience to do what is commanded. It must be done without debate, and must be looked upon as the best and most perfect thing possible, though it may seem and may even be the contrary. - Saint Philip Neri
Father Alvarez was accustomed to subject himself willingly to obedience in all things. For he said that he had noticed that even when it seemed desirable for him to do something contrary to what obedience required, yet by obedience he always succeeded best.
What did Our Lord do to cure the blind man? He anointed his eyes with clay, and told him to go and bathe in the pool of Siloe. This blind man might have said that this was a remedy better adapted to take away sight than to restore it, and he might have objected to the journey. But as he obeyed without cavil, he was cured.
Saint Columbano the Abbot, having most of his monks sick, ordered them all to go to the barn and thrash the grain. It seemed a very hard and indiscreet thing to oblige men who were almost too weak to stand, to perform such laborious work, and to expose them to the rays of a scorching sun; but they all went out to execute the order, except a few prudent and cautious ones, who thought it safer to remain in bed. But what was the result? Those who blindly obeyed were cured instantly, while the others who reasoned about the matter remained sick of the fever for a whole year.
The Blessed Virgin, appearing to a nun, told her that by means of obedience the ends of Divine Wisdom are accomplished; which, often by ways sublime and not penetrated by human prudence, moves on to the aims it seeks without any hindrance.
- text taken from A Year with the Saints, composed by an unknown Italian, translated by a member of the Order of Mercy; it has the Imprimatur of Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, Archdiocese of New York, New York, 21 January 1891