Taken from The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart, 486
True and perfect obedience is a virtue to crown all virtues, and no work, however great, can be performed and done without this virtue: and however trifling or paltry a work is, it is more usefully done in true obedience, whether it be reading, or hearing Mass, praying, contemplation, or whatever you can think of. But take however trifling a task you like, whatever it may be, and it will be made the nobler and better for you by true obedience. Obedience always produces the very best in all things. Yet obedience never hinders or misses anything a man does in any way that proceeds from true obedience, for it misses nothing good. Obedience need never be concerned, for it lacks no good.
Wherever a man in obedience goes out of his own and gives up what is his, in the same moment God must go in there, for when a man wants nothing for himself, God must want it equally as if for Himself. So in all things that I do not want for myself, God wants for me. Now see - what does he want for me that I do not want for myself? If I abandon self, He must want everything for me that He wants for Himself, neither more nor less, and in the same way as He wants for Himself. And if God did not want this, then by the truth that God is, God would not be just and would not be God, which is His natural being.
In true obedience there should be no trace of 'I want so-and-so,' or 'this and that,' but a pure going out of your own. And therefore, in the best prayer a man can pray it should not be 'give me this virtue or that habit,' or even 'Lord, give me Yourself,' or 'eternal life,' but 'Lord, give only what You will, and do, O Lord, whatever and however You will in every way.' This surpasses the former as heaven does the earth. And when such a prayer is uttered one has prayed well, having gone right out of self into God in true obedience. And as true obedience should have no 'I want this,' so too one should never hear from it 'I don't want,' for 'I don't want' is an absolute bane of all obedience. As St. Augustine says, 'The true servant of God does not desire to be told or given what he would like to hear or see, for his first and highest care is to hear what pleases God best.'
True and perfect obedience is a virtue to crown all virtues, and no work, however great, can be performed and done without this virtue: and however trifling or paltry a work is, it is more usefully done in true obedience, whether it be reading, or hearing Mass, praying, contemplation, or whatever you can think of. But take however trifling a task you like, whatever it may be, and it will be made the nobler and better for you by true obedience. Obedience always produces the very best in all things. Yet obedience never hinders or misses anything a man does in any way that proceeds from true obedience, for it misses nothing good. Obedience need never be concerned, for it lacks no good.
Wherever a man in obedience goes out of his own and gives up what is his, in the same moment God must go in there, for when a man wants nothing for himself, God must want it equally as if for Himself. So in all things that I do not want for myself, God wants for me. Now see - what does he want for me that I do not want for myself? If I abandon self, He must want everything for me that He wants for Himself, neither more nor less, and in the same way as He wants for Himself. And if God did not want this, then by the truth that God is, God would not be just and would not be God, which is His natural being.
In true obedience there should be no trace of 'I want so-and-so,' or 'this and that,' but a pure going out of your own. And therefore, in the best prayer a man can pray it should not be 'give me this virtue or that habit,' or even 'Lord, give me Yourself,' or 'eternal life,' but 'Lord, give only what You will, and do, O Lord, whatever and however You will in every way.' This surpasses the former as heaven does the earth. And when such a prayer is uttered one has prayed well, having gone right out of self into God in true obedience. And as true obedience should have no 'I want this,' so too one should never hear from it 'I don't want,' for 'I don't want' is an absolute bane of all obedience. As St. Augustine says, 'The true servant of God does not desire to be told or given what he would like to hear or see, for his first and highest care is to hear what pleases God best.'
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