And he was obedient to them
As obedience perfects all my works it is necessary that there should always be one amongst you who assumes the place of superior. Sometimes one, sometimes the other. This is what we do in the missions also, doesn’t it seem necessary to you? May God hold as pleasing the submission you show her in honor of the submission of his Son to Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin! Take care, my daughters, always to look on her who hold the place of superior towards you as on the Holy Virgin, indeed, even see God in her, and you will benefit more in a month than you would in a year without it. By obeying you will learn holy humility, and by commanding through obedience you will profitably teach others. I should like to tell you, to motivate you to the practice of holy obedience, that when God sets me before Madame the general, I determine to myself to obey her as to the Blessed Virgin. And God knows how much good that does me!
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori