Colleen Orchanian

My friend Linda recently had cataract surgery. When the doctor told her it was needed, she was skeptical. She had great vision, could easily see road signs from a distance, and could distinguish between colors with no problem. How could she have cataracts and not realize it? But she trusted the doctor and had the surgery. What a difference! She didn't know what she was missing. Her eyesight was distorted, but because it happened gradually, she didn't notice.

One of Satan's tactics is distortion, not with our eyes, but with our minds and hearts. It's like when someone totally misunderstands you. They have formed a false version of reality and it's hard to correct it.

Let's look at some common distortions in our world today.

Sin. We can believe all kinds of things about how sin isn't sin, or isn't that much of a sin, or there is a good reason for the sin, or my sin isn't hurting anyone, or that it's okay because God wants us to be happy. Each of these is a distortion. The truth is that sin harms us and others. Sin is real. Sin is anything that violates God's commands to love Him and love our neighbor. Sin kills. It is the reason Jesus died. To believe otherwise is a distortion.

Beauty. God is the source of all beauty. But what is beauty? Where is beauty? The world and the devil tell us that beauty is on the outside—physical beauty. But God sees the heart. He desires that we have inner beauty. The devil distorts our thinking so that we focus more on outer beauty than inner. How much time and money do we spend making ourselves beautiful on the outside? How does that compare to the time we take to become beautiful inside? Which is more important to us? If it is external beauty, we have fallen for the distortion of Satan.

Success. What is success? The world and the devil tell us it's what we have. How much we make. The one with the most toys wins. That's a distortion. High school students are told to explore a career and find out how much money they can make. Is that the right way to choose a career? Isn't it more important to ask what God is calling you to do? St. Francis of Assisi gave away all of his riches to serve God and became a beggar. Many thought he was mad and foolish because they believed the distortion of the devil.

Interior Life. This can be distorted in various ways. We may doubt our experiences of God, especially in a time of desolation. But if we were to look back in our prayer journal (if we keep one), we would find the truth. We would be reminded of the times of consolation and realize that the devil is distorting our current state. It's not reality. Or we struggle with scrupulosity, and the devil is distorting my desire for holiness. He tells me that I'm not praying with enough fervor. I'm not resisting temptation enough. I'm not consciously thinking of God every moment. I got distracted in prayer, so I am a failure. All of these can be distortions of reality. It is true that we can never do enough, but are we doing what God is asking of us today? That is what matters, not the distortion of the enemy.

God's Word. When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he used Scripture. He was distorting the meaning of God's word to tempt Jesus, who corrected him with Scripture. Jesus could see through the distortion. It's not so easy for us at times. Peter cautioned that Paul's writings were sometimes difficult to understand and could be twisted to a false meaning (Galatians 4:1-7).

Life Events. We can see a life event differently from reality. I once had some information about adoption on my kitchen counter to give to an infertile friend. A pregnant teen saw it and got angry thinking it was for her, that I was trying to convince her to choose adoption. Sometimes we interpret things wrong. I'll hear my sisters or brother describe something from our childhood, and I wonder how they interpreted it that way. Or maybe it was me who got it wrong. We can distort an event that caused us pain and bring that into our adulthood as a distortion of our self-image.

Social Justice. We might define our faith by the cause we support. We are marching for life, or promoting care for creation, or fighting against the death penalty, and the cause becomes the focus of our faith instead of Jesus Christ. The cause becomes my passion, not Jesus. This is a distortion. And the distortion, along with our ego, can make us self-righteous.

Those are some examples of distortion. We've all fallen for these at times in our lives. And certainly we know people who fall for these today. Why does this work so well? Here are a few reasons:

• There may be a bit of truth. Consider abortion. If I support that, my concern is for the woman. I have compassion for her. That is good. The distortion comes when I cut the baby out of the picture.

• The values of the world are ever present. Movies, TV, music, advertising, sports, video games—these promote the values of the world. And often they ridicule the values of God. There is a lot of pressure to be like everyone else. It's hard to hear God's voice through all the noise. Noise distorts and we get very used to it.

• My sinful nature—concupiscence — makes me want to believe the lies. It's easier to give in to temptation than fight it. So when I'm presented with a lie, I don't question it, even if there is a small part of me that wonders. My desire for what I want wins out. So I accept the distortion as reality.

• Pride is the root sin. I am certain of my right-ness. My mind is closed to the possibility of being wrong. I don't even want to listen to you try to change my mind. I see things clearly. The other person has the distortion.

Given these challenges in recognizing distortions, what is a good Christian to do? How can our eyes ever be opened to the truth? How can we better recognize when there is a distortion in our thinking given all the obstacles we face?

The answer is with two virtues: humility and docility.

Humility is when we don't think too much of ourselves. We are open to the possibility that we may be wrong. Part of humility is letting go of the need to win an argument. If I need to be right, if I need to have the last word, I can more easily fall for this spiritual attack. St. Teresa of Avila wrote much about her need to discern whether she was hearing God or the devil. In her humility, she recognized the possibility that she could be fooled. How about us?

Docility is the ability to be taught. Can I learn from someone who I think is less smart, less experienced, less savvy, less faithful? You never know who God might speak through. He spoke through a donkey in Numbers 22. How willing are you to hear what you don't want to hear, from someone you don't want to hear it from, to change your mind about an issue?

When we are always seeking truth, not arrogantly asserting that we have it already, God can open our eyes. He can remove the distortions. But we must listen well to others. I may be right, but what if I'm wrong? What is the harm in listening? Can I listen to discover more truth? Can I listen out of respect for the other? Can I listen to better understand how they came to accept the perceived distortion as reality?

God is Truth, and the devil is the father of lies. The closer we get to God, the more quickly we recognize the lies and distortions that are affecting our self-image, our image of God, and how we see others.

It's easy to find the spiritual cataracts in others, and it's tempting to see this spiritual attack as something others struggle with, but not me. The challenge is to identify where WE have accepted distortion, and that's where humility and docility come in. Even more, it's where prayer comes in. Ask for the scales to fall from your eyes. Allow God to remove your spiritual cataracts.

Questions for Prayer:

1. What distortions have I accepted in the past? How did I find clarity?

2. Where might I still have distortions that are keeping me from becoming a saint? Who can help me discern the distortions in my thinking?