The most exquisite example of obedience to me is the life of Joan of Arc, the Maiden of Orleans. She illustrated obedience in its truest form. She was thirteen and a half, in the summer of 1425 when she was visited by Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret and others.
"Although Joan never made any statement as to the date at which the voices revealed her mission, it seems certain that the call of God was only made known to her gradually. But by May, 1428, she no longer doubted that she was bidden to go to the help of the king, and the voices became insistent, urging her to present herself to Robert Baudricourt, who commanded for Charles VII in the neighbouring town of Vaucouleurs. This journey she eventually accomplished a month later, but Baudricourt, a rude and dissolute soldier, treated her and her mission with scant respect, saying to the cousin who accompanied her: "Take her home to her father and give her a good whipping."
I cannot imagine such obedience; however this shining example demonstrated by Joan gives one pause to consider what we may do to give obeisance to God in our own lives.
"But perhaps the most interesting fact connected with this early stage of her mission is a letter of one Sire de Rotslaer written from Lyons on 22 April, 1429, which was delivered at Brussels and duly registered, as the manuscript to this day attests, before any of the events referred to received their fulfilment. The Maid, he reports, said "that she would save Orléans and would compel the English to raise the siege, that she herself in a battle before Orléans would be wounded by a shaft but would not die of it, and that the King, in the course of the coming summer, would be crowned at Reims, together with other things which the King keeps secret."
To decipher the virtues that comprise "Obedience", I revel in the life of Joan of Arc. You see immediately that Belief in God is imperative, total Faith and Trust in His Word and Fearlessness. Unwavering Committement, Passion, Grace, Submission to the Will of God, Love,Honor,Purpose and Determination.
The words of Joan of Arc before the Ecclesiastical Judges gives the breath, height and depth of Obedience.
"I came from God. There is nothing more for me to do here! Send me back to God, from Whom I came"