The freedom of obedience

"Obedience is not the enemy of freedom but the exercise of freedom. Contrary to much popular thinking, we are not most free when we are least responsive to the commands, invitations, and directions which beckon us. Liberation is not the absence of duty but deciding which duty is ours. We are liberated by that which we accept as obligation. Again, we are freed when we discover the pleasure of duty rather than the duty of pleasure. There is no more onerous bondage than to be liberated from any obligation that is truly ours. The discovery of our true selves is the emergence of ourselves in free decision and fidelity to the obligations that are ours. The pursuit of holiness is not the pursuit of an abstract perfection--whether that be the perfection of our "authentic selves" or the perfection of moral behavior. The pursuit of holiness is rather a lifetime of responsive listening, of obedience, to our vocation."
Richard John Neuhaus, Freedom for Ministry. p.237