• Gen. 19:17-32: Suppose, five of the fifty righteous are lacking?

• Ex. 33:12-23: If I have found favour in your sight, show me your way.

• Dt.6:4-9: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

• Ps. 103:17-18: Those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts

• Mt. 17:24-27: Simon, what is your opinion?

• Jn. 14:21-23: Those who love me will keep my word.

• Acts. 15:: The whole Church decided.

• Eph.6:6: Doing the will of God from the heart.

• Rev.3:1-3;14-20: 1 wish you were either cold or hot!

In general, dialogue here means any form of getting together and communication between persons, groups or communities, in a spirit of sincerity, reverence for persons and a certain trust, in order to achieve either a greater grasp of truth or more human relationships (Post Vatican II Document, On Dialogue with Unbelievers, Austin Flannery Ed., p. 1005).

On the other hand, superiors will bear in mind that they must exercise in a spirit of service the power conferred on them through the ministry of the Church, and they will show willingness to listen to their brothers or sisters in order to discern more clearly what the Lord asks of each one. At the same time they retain the authority proper to them to decide and order what they consider appropriate. Hand in hand with submission- obedience thus conceived goes the attitude of service which informs your whole life after the example of the Son of Man, who "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk. 10:45). And his mother, at the decisive moment of the Annunciation-Incarnation, entering from the very beginning into the whole salvific economy of the Redemption, said: "Behold, lam the handmaid of the Lord; let it be tome according to your word" Lk. 1:38. (Redemptionis Donum, 13).

Consequently, authority and obedience are exercised in the service of the common good as two complementary aspects of the same participation in Christ's offering. For those in authority, it is a matter of serving in their brothers the design of the Father's love; while, in accepting their directives, the religious follow our Master's example and cooperate in the work of salvation. Thus, far from being in opposition to one another, authority and individual liberty go together in the fulfilment of God's will, which is sought fraternally through a trustful dialogue between the superior and his brother, in the case of a personal situation, or through a general agreement regarding what concerns the whole community (Pope Paul VI, On the Renewal of the Religious Life According to the Teaching of the Second Vatican Council, Apostolic Exhortation, 25).

Another kind of obedience is a certain flexibility of our will to follow the will of another. It is extremely loveable virtue which makes our mind readily adaptable to all circumstances and prepares us to do God's will always (St. Francis de Sales, Spiritual Conferences, Vol. l, p. 117)

Let us come to the first condition of this obedience of love, which is grafted on to religious obedience... It is blind obedience because it begins to do with love all that it has been commanded to do, in all simplicity. It does not seek to know whether the order is rightly or wrongly given, so long as the one who commands has the authority to do so and that the command leads to the union of our hearts with God. Beyond this, the truly obedient never does anything. Quite a number of people were greatly mistaken in the understanding of this condition of obedience. They believed that it consisted in doing anything that could be commanded at random, even if it were to go against the Commandments of God and of the Church. They have erred very seriously on this subject, in fancying that some foolishness is included in this blindness which is not there. For, just as Superiors can never command anything that goes against God's Commandments, so too the subjects has no obligation whatsoever to obey them. Even if the Superiors give such orders or even think of doing so, they would sin seriously (St. Francis de Sales, Spiritual Conferences, Vol. 1, p. 124).

In order to learn to obey your superiors easily, comply readily with the will of your equals giving in to their opinions in what is not evil without being quarrelsome or obstinate. Accommodate yourself willingly to the wishes of your inferiors, in so far as reason permits it, and so long as they are good without exercising any domineering authority (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Ch. 11).

He wrote to Mme de Chantal in October 1604: "Here is the general rule of our obedience written in capital letters: LOVE AND NOT FORCE SHOULD INSPIRE ALL YOU DO; LOVE OBEDIENCE MORE THAN YOU FEAR DISOBEDIENCE. I want you to have a spirit of liberty, not the kind that excludes obedience, for that is the liberty of the flesh, but the kind that excludes constraint and scruples." (Letters, AE XII, p. 352).

He tried to adapt himself to his neighbour's mood. When he was admonished , especially if he were criticised for his charitable works (neither Deage nor Roland, nor his brother John Francis , missed an opportunity) he would generally give no answer. The saintly man was so gracious and humble that he never refused anything, if it were in his power. He was not obstinate in his opinions and decisions, doing and letting others do with him, whatever they wanted, as long as there was no offence to God. He said it was easier for him to give way to others, rather than bring others round to his opinion. This explains his axiom: Refuse nothing, request nothing. He had in fact, a real dread of inconveniencing people and he would do things himself, even light the fire in his chimney, and if his valet protested, he would say quite gently "don't get angry", if I cannot sleep, you cannot help it. He obeyed his valet, Camus tells us, for rising and retiring, as if he were the valet and the other the master (E.J. Lajeunie, Saint Francis De Sales: The Man, the Thinker, His influence, Vol. II, SFS Publications, Bangalore, 1987, pp. 22-23).