Yes, It Is God’s Will to Obey the Quarantine.
Take this as an opportunity to practice self-denial
One of the great differences between Catholics and other Christians is the understanding of the source(s) of divine revelation. Christians following the teaching of Martin Luther believe in sola scripture which is that the Bible is the sole source of divine revelation. Catholics believe in The Bible (scripture) and tradition. This simple difference is actually playing out in our country during this quarantine.
Should the Christian faithful ignore the demand to quarantine and worship God nevertheless. Is it not offensive to God not to attend Church on His day which is the Christian Sabbath? Is it not praiseworthy to show the secular forces of society that you hold the command to serve God greater than the command to serve them? Is it not a sign of lack of faith to obey the secular authorities? The answer to each of those questions according to Catholic teaching is NO!
We have what other Christian faiths do not, the writings of the saints and they indicated that obedience is essential. Now obviously we must not obey unjust laws, but we must obey just ones.
When we obey our superiors, even if we disagree with them, then that is a grace because obedience is a form of self-denial. It is a virtue that leads us to accept those things that run against our own will and be open to the will of God. Obviously, that is provided that the superior gave a just command. We never have a duty to obey an unjust order.
If the superior is wrong, then that is on him or her, but we who have a calling to obey a just command have still lived a virtuous act by sublimating our will in obedience, even if we disagree with it.
Doctor of the Church, St. Alphonsus Liguori taught that the surest way to know the will of God and of regulating our lives to it is obedience to our lawful superiors. (P. 104 The Twelve Steps of Holiness, Tan Books)
This helps us to conform our own will to God’s will. It makes it more powerful when we feel we are right and but choose to obey, nevertheless.
St. Maximilian Kolbe described the way to holiness through what appears to be Boolean Algebra: W+w=S. W means God’s will; w means our will. So when we conform our will to God’s will we find sanctity (S). (Gaitley, Michael Fr. 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration 2013; Marian Press)
This becomes even more important when we believe that our superiors are leading us away from our own will but we cannot come up with a just cause to disobey them.
The greatest danger to the spiritual life is pride. Pride is to holiness as kryptonite is to Superman.
What makes pride even worse is that is blinds us to its presence. So we may think we are serving God, but we are just enforcing our own will.
C.S. Lewis illustrates this well in The Screwtape Letters. One devil is writing to another in how to lead the good faithful person astray. He says several times that to make someone believe they are doing God’s will when they are not is the best and most powerful way.
Do I agree with the current social distancing going on? I really do not know. You see I am a veteran and in the Navy at the time I served (The End of the Carter Administration and the majority of the first Reagan Administration) you might get the flu. You went to sickbay and they would check you out and tell you that in fact you do, then you went back to work. So, the whole concept of closing my church, social distancing and dealing with face masks is so foreign to my upbringing that it is unnerving. I am a baby boomer and we learned from the older generations that going to work sick was the sign of a dedicated employee.
That changed more with the generations after us and when the attitude was that a sick employee is not a hero but the cause of what becomes a work crew out sick.
So for me to close my Church is against everything I stand for not only in the faith but also in my work ethic. My superiors tell me that I must do this in response to the governor’s orders. Therefore, as much as I disagree with it, to flaunt their command would not be something for which I would be praised because I am putting my will first above the will my superior both in the church and in the commonwealth. I see no just reason to disobey him, and therefore if I am serious about my faith and my serving God, then I must obey my superiors in this case.
Recently, I heard reports of churches that refuse to shut down. That may appear honorable at first. However, the concept terrifies people not connected to those organizations. They are afraid that the virus could grow because of that Christian community holding church services. Others may say that those protesting just don’t have faith. Our Catholic tradition teaches us that in order to know God’s will in our lives, we must obey our superiors. Otherwise we may be just building up our own pride to the detriment of our witness to Christ.