The Tightrope of Discipleship

[JackVk]

In case nobody here has noticed, I post rants on these forums that vent my built-up, often contradictory grievances against one thing or another, be it about the Church or the world. In my faith life, I have often considered orthodoxy and discipleship as a tightrope; it’s how I interpret the “narrow way”.

The tightrope spans a chasm of error. On the right is the chasm of Pharisaism and fundamentalism, where Sedevacantists rage about how Vatican II revoked their favorite dish (heretic flambee), and the Westboro Baptist church pickets EA Games and military funerals, because reasons. On the left is liberalism and relativism, where clown Masses and “tolerance” abound. Avoiding these twin errors is a precarious balancing act. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, orthodoxy is like a pair of underwear. It needs to give “a little bit of firmness, and a little bit of freedom”.

Agree or disagree.

 

[ialsop]

In case nobody here has noticed, I post rants on these forums that vent my built-up, often contradictory grievances against one thing or another, be it about the Church or the world. In my faith life, I have often considered orthodoxy and discipleship as a tightrope; it’s how I interpret the “narrow way”.

The tightrope spans a chasm of error. On the right is the chasm of Pharisaism and fundamentalism, where Sedevacantists rage about how Vatican II revoked their favorite dish (heretic flambee), and the Westboro Baptist church pickets EA Games and military funerals, because reasons. On the left is liberalism and relativism, where clown Masses and “tolerance” abound. Avoiding these twin errors is a precarious balancing act. To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, orthodoxy is like a pair of underwear. It needs to give “a little bit of firmness, and a little bit of freedom”.

Agree or disagree.

Totally agree. I see in my community, far closer to the liberal side. And in my personal life, far closer to the sedevacantist raging errors.
I know both sides well.

The more you WATCH a side, as in real tightrope, you want to lean way, and fall into the other. So the answer, imho, is to not concern ourselves with either side, but keep our vision on what is straight ahead.
-Isaac

 

[Colorad007]

Orthodoxy simply and literally means “right belief.” The doctrines of the Church are what they are and there frankly isn’t a lot of wiggle room when it comes to accepting them. How those teachings are applied in our own lives, though, probably looks very different depending on the circumstances of our lives, as well as upon the weaknesses and strengths, the graces and talents we each have individually. So there is a kind of macro-Catholicism that is fairly well-defined—you can point to this encyclical or that paragraph in the Catechism. But micro-Catholicism, where our faith is lived, is really, really complex, and that is why a regular confessor and a spiritual director are so important to the spiritual life. That doesn’t mean that at the micro level the teachings of the Church are made irrelevant or inapplicable, but it does mean that my confessor usually can’t just cite the Catechism as a means of guiding my soul and then be done with it. I know the Catechism, at least to some extent. What I often struggle with is taking that knowledge and understanding what it looks like for it to penetrate my heart and radiate in my life. That is where the tightrope between laxity and rigor becomes a necessary challenge.