Click here to order your own copy Vol. As the flower precedes the fruit, so exile, either of body or will precedes obedience. For with the help of these two virtues, the holy soul steadily ascends to heaven as upon golden wings. Or conversely, obedience is the mortification of the limbs while the mind remains alive. . . Obedience is the tomb of the will and the resurrection of humility. . .
Obedience is an abandonment of discernment in a wealth of discernment.
There is only one erring path and it is called self-rule. Bur once we have entered the arena of piety and obedience, we must no longer judge our good trainer in any way at all, even though we may perhaps see some slight failings, since he is only human. . . It is absolutely indispensable for those of us who wish to retain undoubting faith in our superiors to write their good deeds indelibly in our hearts and constantly remember them. . . For the more faith flourishes in the heart, the more alacrity the body has in service. But he who has stumbled on distrust has already fallen. . .