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I want to share with you the teaching of one of the greatest thinkers and preachers of our Holy
Mother Catholic Church, St. Alphonsus Ligouri. I hope this will enlighten you and show you how
blessed you are if you have a spiritual director or how blessed you will be if you get one. Grace and
joy to you in Christ.
"To gain Heaven we must walk in the path that leads to Paradise...you must put yourself in the hands of a good confessor, who will point out to you the way to Heaven, and you must obey him
punctually. 'My sheep', said Jesus, 'hear My Voice'. We have not Jesus Christ on Earth, to make us
sensibly hear His Voice; but, in his stead, he has left us His priests, and has told us, that he who hears them, hears him, and he who despises them, despises him. - Luke 10, 16. Happy they who are
obedient to their spiritual father: unhappy they who do not obey him; for, by their disobedience, they
give a proof that they are not among the sheep of Jesus Christ.... In leaving us spiritual fathers to
guide us in the way of salvation, Jesus Christ has bestowed upon us a great benefit. To obtain
salvation, we must follow the will of God in all things.... In what, then, does sanctity consist? It
consists in the perfect fulfillment of the will of God. All the sins which bring souls to Hell proceed
from self-will.... But some of you will ask: How shall we know what God will us to do?... Many
deceive themselves; for, passion often makes them believe that they do the will of God, when, in
reality, they do their own will. Let us thank without ceasing the goodness of Jesus Christ, who has
taught us the secure means of ascertaining the will of God in our regard, by telling us, that, if we obey our confessor, we obey himself. 'He that heareth you, heareth me.' In the book of the foundations,
chapter 10., St. Teresa says: Let a soul take a confessor with a determination to think no more of
directing herself, but to trust in the words of our Lord, He that heareth you, heareth me. She adds,
that this is the secure way of finding the will of God. Hence the saint acknowledged that it was by
obedience to the voice of her director that she attained to the knowledge and love of God.
Hence, speaking of obedience to one's confessor, St. Francis de Sales adopts the words of Fr. M. Avila: How much soever you seek, you shall never find the will of God so
securly, as by this way of humble obedience so much recommended and practised by the ancient saints. He that acts according to the
advice of his confessor, always pleases God when, through obedience, he either practices or omits
prayer, mortifications, or communions.... Obedience is more pleasing to God than all the sacrifices of
penitential works, or of alms-deeds, which we can offer to him....he that sacrifices to God his will, by obedience, gives to him all that he has, and can say: Lord, having given you my will, I have nothing
more to give you. Thus, obedience to a confessor is the most acceptable offering which we can make to God, and the most secure way of doing the divine will. Blessed Henry Suson says, that God does
not demand an account of what we do through obedience. ( Read also Hebr., 13, 17) ... St. Dominic
once felt a scruple in obeying his confessor, and our Lord said to him: 'Why do you hesitate to obey
you director? All that he directs will be useful to you.' Hence St. Bernard says, that 'whatever a man,
holding the place of God, commands, provided it be not certainly sinful, should be received as if the
command came from God himself.' "
(Sermons of St. Alphonsus
Ligouri, Sermon XXV)
May this serve to guide you and fill you with great joy in God's presence,
because those who obey their confessor are secure of salvation.
Peace and Light be with you. -
Alvin Peña
P.S. "An obedient man shall speak of victory." - Proverbs
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