Guest Post: Self Knowledge, Discipline, and Discipleship by Fr. Tom Collins

There is an old Hindu story about three men, who made a long hazardous pilgrimage to the legendary Cave of Truth. When they arrived there, they saw an elderly gaunt monk sitting in front of the cave. He raised his deep-set eyes to look intently at the men and asked them, “What do you want?”.

One replied, “We want to go into the Cave of Truth.”

The monk responded, “How deeply into the cave do you want to go?”.

One man answered, “Just far enough to say that we have been there.”

This story brings to light an important spiritual truth. There are all kinds of self-knowledge and self-improvement programs offered today, many of which, sadly, are tainted with Gnosticism and/or Manicheism. But large numbers of people are trapped by premises and perspectives that close their minds to dimensions of the truth, which do not correspond to their current agendas or lifestyles. They are more intent on receiving affirmation than authentic enlightenment.

In the Catholic Church, this is manifested in the manner that many approach the need for repentance in a rather perfunctory manner during the Penitential Rite at Mass. Likewise, many approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation in a manner that seems to lack a sincere and docile accountability to the whole truth of God. This is reflected by such statements as “I feel bad about . . .”, rather than, “I am sorry for having offended God and desecrating myself and others by . . .”. The sacrament is thus viewed as prioritizing feeling better over actually bringing the soul into a more profound experience of God’s mercy through a greater docility to the moral truths proclaimed by His Holy Word.

This tendency has been reinforced over the past half-century by the systemic relaxation of Church disciplines in order to cater to secular customs or personal convenience. This is reflected in such concessions as the elimination of ember days, the relaxation of the Eucharistic fast into oblivion, elimination of obligation to participate at holy day Masses
(except the lucrative Christmas Masses) that fall on a Saturday or Monday, the transfer of Ascension Thursday to the following Sunday, the degradation of the obligation to observe seriously seasons or days of fasting and/or abstinence, and the de facto promotion of the idea that the supremacy of conscience dispenses a soul from serious accountability to the moral law (to the degree that those pro-actively promoting abortion are allowed to view themselves as Catholics in good standing).

While it is true that discipline without discipleship tends to promote tyranny. It is also true that discipleship without discipline promotes anarchy. True discipleship requires both love and obedience guided by humble docility to the whole truth of God. Thus it is that, while such relaxation of Church discipline continues to be extolled as pastoral compassion, it effectively conveys the message that one’s observance of moral truths may be legitimately tweaked in circumstances where they are too unrealistic or demanding. 

Sadly, following the example of our first parents, too many have come to believe that salvation can be realized through excuses and resentments, rather than through sincere repentance and reparational penance guided by an ever-deepening docility to the Holy Spirit and the Church’s Magisterium.

Fr. Thomas Collins

Hot Springs VA