Sloth

We are Christians because we want to know and love Jesus. We come to know him by listening to him in his Word: ‘Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ’, as St Jerome said. Yet there are certain things that hold us back in our love for him. One of these is laziness.

In everyday life, we know or have known people who are very lazy: perhaps pupils who, although intelligent and having everything they needed for their studies, were lazy, and their academic performance suffered as a result. I knew a young man from a good family. His parents had given him everything they could for his education. But he was very lazy. Today he is a vagrant. There are even adults, strong and vigorous, who simply do not want to work. So the man becomes a perpetual beggar, and the girl a prostitute. Often we do not want to see them loitering amongst our families because they are perpetual idlers who do not want to make any effort in life.

The lazy person’s worldly life is one of wandering. He prospers mainly through theft, because he does not want to work. Sirach 22:2: ‘The lazy person is like a ball of dung. Whoever picks it up shakes his hand’. We must all be hard-working people who fight against laziness.

The laziness of everyday life is even more evident in the spiritual life. God has given us many gifts: natural gifts, the Church and its sacraments, Holy Scripture, and a community to help us in our friendship with him. He gives us the opportunity to commune with him. Yet how many people are lazy in their spiritual lives. Often, many are perpetual spiritual beggars. As soon as they need spiritual help, they go begging somewhere for a short while. But they make very little effort in their relationship with Jesus. Proverbs 6:9–10 says: ‘How long, you sluggard, will you lie there? When will you stop dozing? A little more lying about with your arms folded, and poverty will come upon you’.

If we experience so much spiritual poverty and misery, it is mainly because people are asleep, dozing, sitting with their arms folded. Am I making enough effort to go to Mass and receive the other sacraments regularly? Am I making enough effort to pray faithfully, read the Word of God and please Jesus? Am I making enough effort to avoid sin? Am I making enough effort to nourish my spiritual life by taking part in retreats and remaining faithful to the group?

One of the major problems today, even amongst committed Christians and active members, is spiritual laziness – a failure to make the effort that Jesus expects. This can only harm our relationship with him. ‘The sluggard’s desire will be his death, for his hands refuse to work’ (Prov 21:25); ‘the sluggard dips his hand into the dish, but does not bring it back to his mouth’ (Prov 19:24). So the spiritually lazy person knows what they ought to do but does not do it. Yet Jesus tells us that whoever knows what they ought to do and fails to do it will receive a harsher judgement than someone who did not know what was required and acted wrongly. This will lead to profound spiritual weakness or spiritual death.

Who among us can claim to have no further efforts to make in our spiritual life? Perhaps we are already trying to follow Christ, but we cannot deny that we still commit many sins. The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to spiritual sloth as ‘acedia’ and states that it is a sin against the love of God.  Men and women of God, men and women of faith, have shown us the necessity of spiritual struggle, the need to make an effort to seek God, and the need for faithfulness. We cannot grow properly in our love for Jesus if we are spiritually lazy.

Yet we often come up with many excuses to justify our laziness. We say, for example: ‘So-and-so is available; they’ll help me. It is God who has given them these gifts. They must give to me as well.’ Spiritually, we often say: ‘I’m tired; it can wait; it’s not going anywhere; who’ll notice my absence?; the others will fill the gap; people will understand; God understands me; I’m not the only one in this situation; there’s still time’. The lazy person always has reasons to justify their laziness. Laziness and neglect go hand in hand.

Now is a good time to examine our spiritual growth during 2011, to correct our mistakes and to redouble our efforts in our life with Jesus (2 Peter 1:10). Let us make resolutions that will help us to combat laziness. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us overcome laziness. The following passages may help us: Prov 26:13–16, Prov 6:6–11, Prov 24:30–34, Prov 24:36–51.

Henri Bayemi