The whole labor of the interpretation of Scripture, therefore, is intimately related to the ascetical life, to the effort, that is, to overcome the blindness that sin inflicts upon our soul. The quest to understand the mysteries of revelation is meaningless without an accompanying desire to change one’s life so that our organs of interior perception may be restored to their pristine health. A densely charged passage in Mark gives us the whole structure of authentic discipleship in a nutshell: “Jesus