Sloth
One
What is Acedia or Sloth?
Sloth is not laziness or complacency, it’s much worse. St. Thomas Aquinas defines sloth as sorrow for spiritual good. That’s a little hard to grasp. So let me ask you, do you know people who just don’t hunger for God or religion or prayer or conversion or growing in virtue?
When we hunger for something, like a championship or some life achievement or a significant relationship, then we do everything we can to get that thing, and we let nothing stand in our way. What word would you use to describe the opposite of this type of hunger? I’d call it aversion, a deep-seated desire to avoid that thing at all costs. Well, that is sloth.
Sloth describes people with the opposite of a real hunger for God and Holiness. Sloth is to have an aversion to God and the things of God. It’s a deep-seated desire to avoid Mass, prayer, or talking about spiritual things at all costs. Aquinas says sloth is really dangerous because sloth can cause despair and despair can separate us from God.
Two
The Cause of sloth and despair
How in the world could someone have no hunger for God or Holiness, an actual aversion? Well, God designed us to desire doing something worthwhile with our lives and to delight in the good things like God, good health and work and relationships and truth and beauty. We’re supposed to desire these and delight in them. But the world gives us a different message.
When we are young and as we grow up, the only measure or metric the world gives us for happiness seems to be is achievement (which is measured by money) and pleasure that comes from entertainment, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, and or whatever gives us an adrenaline or dopamine rush.
This is what we call materialism. Materialism doesn’t mean owning a bunch of stuff, rather, materialism is thinking that happiness is found in achievement and pleasure and not in God. But, what happens if we get hooked on these?
Three
Symptoms of Despair
When we get hooked on, addicted to achievement and pleasure, then we spend our lives in two ways: busyness and entertainment. And once you’re hooked on those, then you just stuff yourself with the junk of this world. Then it’s no wonder you have no hunger for God, and that is sloth or acedia.
Remeber, when you don’t hunger for God you make the choice not to seek him and that is despair. Despair kills hope. The two symptoms of the deadly sin of sloth are busyness and entertainment.
We have these moments when we think, “Oh my gosh, I need to do something with my life.” Which makes us get busy. Then we say, “Oh my gosh, this is pointless, I hate this. What can I do to enjoy my few remaining moments, hours, years?” Then we turn to entertainment, be it news, sports, shows…whatever.
Again, we have the good, God given desire for doing something worthwhile with our lives, seeking God and holiness and doing good for others. But those get turned into busyness, to do lists, bank accounts, kids activities and entertainment. And we know we suffer from sloth when we try to find relief from the busyness in entertainment and then relief from entertainment in busyness, back and forth we go.
Have you had enough of this ride? Are you ready to get off?
Four
Cut out the Junk
Well, if you are stuffed with things that don’t make you happy, busyness and entertainment, and you wonder, “Why do I have so little appetite for God and spiritual things?” or no time for them which means no hunger. It’s because we are stuffed with junk!
The only way to try to cultivate a hunger, a real desire for God is to cut out the junk food of the soul. Then you will see, “Hey, that was a lot of junk I was putting in my soul. All those activities, those tasks, I didn’t need to be doing those things, my kids didn’t need to be doing all those things. And that entertainment, that was worse than a waste of time!
“You know what I would really like, I would like something that matters. So why am I doing all this stuff that doesn’t need to be done and why am I wasting time on entertainment that doesn’t satisfy?” The whole point is that both busyness and entertainment are junk food for the soul that destroys our hunger for God.
Five
Fill your soul with what it needs
If you fill yourself with the junk of busyness and entertainment, then you wont hunger for God and that’s bad, really bad. The only solution is to cut out the junk, the unnecessary activity and the junk of entertainment. Then replace it with what your body and soul really need.
What do we need? A relationship with God through the Eucharist and prayer. Meaningful work, whether paid or volunteer, inside the home or without, where we do some good for others. We need physical health from sleep, nourishment, exercise. We need good relationships with family and friends. We need truth (you can’t get truth or reality from the news). We need beauty (beauty is very different from entertainment).
So, start by cutting out of your life anything that does not fit on that list. Then fill your day, your soul, your life with the things on that list and you will move from sloth and despair to real hope and happiness!
Cut out the junk food and feed on the good food God has provided!
Suggested Resolutions:
Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.
Establish a consistent time for prayer, even if that time is brief.
Be mindful of your aversion throughout the week and reconsider your intentions when you find yourself making excuses to avoid the sacraments or prayer.
As your schedule gets more busy, try to find even more time to slow down and fight the urge to fill every second.
Take note of your screentime, set limits, and decrease the amount of time you spend avoiding God in entertainment.
Replace the habit of entertainment with more fulfilling experiences of beauty, such as a well written book, a hobby, or time in friendship.