 7 Deadly Sins & 7 Life Giving Virtures "Like a moth in clothing...sorrow gnaws at the human heart." Sloth is closely akin to
apathy, but especially apathy of the spirit. Thomas Aquinas defines the
sin of sloth as "sorrow for spiritual good" or, as "an oppressive
sorrow which so weighs on a person's mind that he or she wants to do
nothing about spiritual goods. " Bernard Haring describes sloth
as "a lack of zeal for things spiritual" or "a lack of spirit in
opposing the heavy pull and pressure of earthly things and rising to
the level of the divine." Sloth can be further
described as a state of dejection that gives rise to torpor of mind and
feeling and spirit; to a sluggishness or, as it has been put, a
poisoning of the will; to despair, faintheartedness, and even
desirelessness, a lack of real desire for anything, even for what is
good. Whatever particular
definition we settle on, we see that the deadly sin of sloth has
elements of apathy about spiritual things, indifference toward
spiritual responsibilities, listlessness in doing good. Sloth
almost always brings with it a large dose of self-pity. At the
same time it drives joy out of the human heart. Early Christians used to
say that "true devotion" was the opposite of sloth and the cure for
it. True devotion is the inner will to give ourselves
wholeheartedly to things concerning the worship and service of God,
even when these things are difficult, even when we are tired or busy of
rushed. Obviously, this is the opposite of sloth, because sloth
says: I will give myself to the worship and service of God when it is
convenient, when I am not tired, when I am not busy, when there is
nothing else to do. As sloth pushes us to
neglect the "city of God," it also pushes us to neglect "the city of
man." The deadly sin of sloth consists of not only in apathy
toward spiritual realities but also indifference, and even coldness, to
the needs of society. Sloth is preeminently a sin of
omission. It is a sin of neglect. We neglect what we ought
to do, and especially we neglect our neighbor. Some of the "children"
of sloth are rancor, melancholy, malaise, despair, and self-pity.
Self-pity is a habit of concentrating on the daily troubles and sorrows
we all experience. It is a grim determination to look only at the
gloomy side of life. It is a pattern of refusing to think about
the beautiful and joyful realities of our lives, such as the loveliness
of nature, the faithfulness of friends, the comfort of good
health. It often includes a habitual resentment of others who are
held responsible for our troubles and afflictions. Self-pity tends to eat
away at our relationships with other people. It has a way of
casting a black shadow over our judgment of others. As we start
out blue about one small problem, all of a sudden self-pity colors our
entire perspective of life. (Tomorrow a look at joy, the solution to sloth.) -thoughts taken from Choosing Virtue in a Changing World: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins Please Email Us With Any Comments or Feedback At ©2005 CopperCountry.com,Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
