Unconditional obedience to the will of God alone will open the gates of Heaven for us.

Unconditional obedience to the will of God alone will open the gates of Heaven for us.
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Due to our first parents' disobedience  sin entered the world.

Due to our fallen nature we have inherited from our first parents we too are often tempted to disobey God's commandments.

Jesus counteracted man's disobedience  by His obedience in order to bring us salvation.

Jesus Christ, the King of all creation,  seeks to save men through His perfect obedience to His Father. 

Our Lady obeyed the will of God by accepting to be the Mother of Jesus.

St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, is known for his silent obedience to the will of God.

When the Angel of God appeared to him in his dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him’', St. Joseph obeyed him without a word.

He knew that the Child was the Son of God.

But he didn't ask the angel any clarifying question, why God should flee fearing a man.

Egypt was 430 miles away from Nazareth.

A journey of almost 30 days!

They had only one donkey they had to travel on!

Journey would not be a comfortable one.

Without giving thought to any of these, he obeyed and went to Egypt with Jesus and His Mother.

"He rose up, therefore, while it was still night, and took the child and his mother with him, and withdrew into Egypt, where he remained until the death of Herod."( Matthew. 2:14)

This was a total and complete act of faith and obedience to the will of the Father.

Then while in Egypt, the Angel appeared to him and said,  ''Rise up, take with thee the child and his mother, and return to the land of Israel; for those who sought the child’s life are dead. "

Again without a word  he arose, and took the child and his mother with him, and came into the land of Israel.

What an obedience!

Joseph is a byword for obedience!

Now we know the role played by obedience in the process of our salvation.

Disobedience - fall.

Obedience - rise.

No obedience - no salvation.

Jesus obeyed His Father.

Our Lady obeyed the will of God.

St. Joseph obeyed the directions given by the Angel of God.

What about us?

If we accept Jesus as our Saviour,

If we accept Our Lady as our Mother,

If we accept St. Joseph as our guardian,

We must accept their virtue of obedience also.

We must obey our Holy Mother, the Catholic Church.

We must obey our Spiritual Fathers.

Our spiritual Fathers are Our Lord's immediate Representatives for us.

We must see Jesus in them.

We must approach them for Spiritual direction.

We must obey their directions.

Unconditional obedience to the will of God alone will open the gates of Heaven for us.

Lourdu Selvam.