By Fr. Glenn Jones:

These days it seems that politics obscures everything. This policy is great/evil; that politician is lionized/vilified depending on what “team” you’re on. And with social and corporate media also taking sides, it becomes much harder to know what is true and what is not—especially with AI able to fabricate any narrative. It’s perplexing that people contort (or ignore) reality when only adhering to reality can bring about best results.

One of the most subtle and dangerous spiritual and temporal temptations is not open rebellion against God or against reality, but self-deception. It is the quiet habit of telling ourselves what we want to be true rather than humbly accepting what is actually true. Scripture repeatedly warns us that wishful thinking is no substitute for obedience, conversion, or reality. All people, and especially Christians, are called not merely to feel sincere, but to live in truth, because only truth can set us free (cf. John 8:32).

The Bible speaks plainly about self-deception. St. James writes quite clearly: “Do not deceive yourselves by hearing the word only, but be doers of it.” (James 1:22) This warning is not directed at unbelievers, but at believers. Christians can hear God’s Word, assent to it intellectually, admire it—and still deceive themselves by failing to live accordingly. Spiritual self-deception often wears the disguise of mere religious identity.

St. Paul echoes this concern: “Make no mistake: God is not mocked. A person will reap only what he sows” (Galatians 6:7), linking self-deception to moral causality. We may convince ourselves that choices have no consequences (very common in today’s world), or that intentions matter more than actions, or, if a believer, that God will overlook persistent sin. But Scripture insists that reality does not bend to our preferences. Similarly, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently said about Europe concerning recent occurrences, it is not so much that reality closes itself off from ideology, but ideology closing itself off from reality.

For believers, it is important to distinguish wishful thinking from Christian hope. Hope is rooted in God’s promises and fidelity; wishful thinking is rooted in desires detached from conversion. True hope says, “God can heal me if I repent and cooperate with His grace.” Wishful thinking says, “God will understand, even if I do not change.”

Jesus never encouraged denial of reality; rather, He consistently confronted it. When the rich young man approached Him with apparent ardor, Jesus did not flatter him or soften the truth; He looked at him with love—and then named the one thing he lacked (cf. Mark 10:17–22). The young man walked away sad, not because Jesus was unkind, but because reality is often costly. In another place Jesus warns: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) Words are cheap; authentic hope begins where honesty is acknowledged.

The Psalms offer a prayer that directly opposes self-deception: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths.” (Psalm 139:23–24) It asks God to reveal what we might prefer to ignore: habits, attitudes, rationalizations, or sins we have normalized. Catholic and other Christian spiritualities have always emphasized examination of conscience precisely because the human heart is capable of remarkable self-justification. As the prophet Jeremiah puts it: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Without grace, we are poor judges of ourselves.

Now, self-deception often appears in moral theorizing. We tell ourselves, “Well … everyone does this.” Or: “I’m basically a good person.” Or: “God knows my heart.” But we know that frequent capitulation to immorality darkens the intellect and weakens the will; likewise, the more we compromise morals and from seeing the world as it is, the harder it becomes to see it clearly. What once troubled conscience can eventually feel “normal”.

This is a reason for the Catholic practice (believed instituted by Jesus Himself (John 20:22)) of the sacrament of confession—privileged encounters with truth and grace helping to avert self-deception. Confession, and the reconciliation it brings, is not about humiliation, but rather about illumination. Naming sin honestly before God breaks the spell of our easy-to-fall-into rationalization and that subsequent self-justification previously noted.

The saints are models of realism. St. Augustine famously prayed, “Grant me chastity and continence … but not yet,” later recognizing how self-deception delayed his conversion. Once Augustine stopped bargaining with God, grace flooded in. St. Teresa of Ávila taught that humility is simply walking in truth, not exaggerating our goodness, but not denying God’s work either. Even St. Peter had to confront self-deception. He confidently declared his loyalty—then denied Jesus three times. Only when he wept bitterly did he become capable of shepherding others.

In the secular realm, philosophers and authors have long warned about self-deception. Friedrich Nietzsche argued that people construct illusions to protect themselves from uncomfortable truths, and that lying to oneself is more damaging than lying to others. Dostoevsky warned that those who lie to themselves eventually lose the ability to discern truth, and lose respect for themselves and others. George Orwell famously stated that telling the truth is a revolutionary act in a time of universal deceit.

But to face reality is an act of courage—and faith. For Christians, it means trusting that God’s mercy is greater than our failures, not pretending we have none. It means rejecting the lie that we are fine as we are, while embracing the truth that God loves us too much to leave us unchanged.

Self-deception thrives in darkness, ambiguity, and excuses; grace and wisdom thrive in light, clarity, and humility. Wishful thinking may feel comforting, but goodness comes only from truth. Let us therefore not succumb to illusions, but always seek reality and truth.

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But who can discern his errors?
Clear thou me from hidden faults.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
(Psalm 19:12-13)

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.