Feeling lazy? Think of Jesus, the apostles, and hard-working saints

Sloth or laziness is one of the capital sins. The root of sloth is often acedia which means “lack of care,” or, as the Catechism defines it: “a form of depression stemming from lax ascetical practice that leads to discouragement.”

Pope Francis said, “it is as though those who fall victim to it are crushed by a desire for death: they feel disgust at everything. Their relationship with God becomes boring to them, and even the holiest acts, those that used to warm their hearts in the past, now appear entirely useless to them. A person begins to regret the passing of time, and the youth that is irretrievably behind them.”

Pope Francis proposed “the patience of faith” as the most important remedy against acedia. He said, “although in the clutches of acedia, man’s desire is to be ‘elsewhere’, to escape from reality, one must instead have the courage to remain and to welcome God’s presence in the ‘here and now’, in my situation as it is.”

He called the fight against acedia a decisive battle that must be won.

“How many people, in the grip of acedia, stirred by a faceless restlessness, have stupidly abandoned the good life they had embarked upon!... [The saints] recommended, under the oppression of acedia, to maintain a smaller measure of commitment, to set goals more within reach, but at the same time to endure and persevere by leaning on Jesus, who never abandons us in temptation.”

St. Ignatius of Loyola said, “idleness begets a life of discontent. It develops self-love, which is the cause of all our miseries and renders us unworthy to receive the favours of divine love.”

St. Jane Frances de Chantal advised: “Perform faithfully what God requires of you each moment, and leave the thought of everything else to him. I assure you that to live in this way will bring you great peace.”

Father Adolphe Tanqueray defined sloth as “an inclination to idleness or at least to aimlessness, to apathy in action.”

He suggested three degrees of sloth. The first is a man taking up his task “reluctantly and indifferently” and completing it poorly. The second is a “sluggard” that does not refuse to work, but delays and postpones the task indefinitely. The third is a “truly lazy man” who “wants to do nothing that proves irksome and shows a distinct aversion to all real work, whether physical or mental.”

He also warned against spiritual sloth. “This consists in a species of dislike for things spiritual, which tends to make us negligent in the performance of our exercises of piety, causes us to shorten them, or to omit them altogether for vain excuses. This is the foster parent of lukewarmness.”

Regarding remedies against sloth, Father Tanqueray offered this suggestion: “to reclaim the slothful it is necessary first of all to form in them strong convictions concerning the necessity of work; to make them understand that both the rich and the poor come under this law, and that its infringement may involve eternal damnation... What one must constantly bear in mind is the end of life: we are here below in order to attain, through work and virtue, a place in heaven.”

Venerable Louis of Granada also had some ideas. “If this shameful vice [of sloth] attack you, banish it by the thoughts we are about to suggest. First call to mind the extraordinary labours which Our Lord endured for you... Remember, too, the weary labours of the apostles, who preached the Gospel to the whole world. Think of the sufferings endured by the martyrs, confessors, virgins, anchorites, and by all who are now reigning with Christ. It was by their teaching and their toil that the faith of Christ spread through the known world and that the Church has been perpetuated to the present day. Turn your eyes towards nature, and you will find nothing idle.”

If you don’t work hard to do so now, he warned, “a day will come when you will vainly seek these present opportunities.”

以「信德的忍耐」克服懶惰

懶惰或怠惰是七宗罪之一。懶惰的根源是懈怠，意思是「莫不關心」。天主教教理將懈怠定義為「後者是由於靈修功夫的鬆懈而導致的一種消沉 情況，結果使人沮喪失望。（#2755）。教宗方濟各說：「似乎那些陷入懈怠的人被一種死亡的渴望壓垮：他們對一切感到厭惡。他們與天主的關係變得沉悶，甚至那些曾經溫暖他們心靈的最神聖的行為，現在對他們來說似乎完全無用。這樣的人開始對時間的流逝感到遺憾，對已經無法追回的青春感到悔恨。」

教宗方濟各提出「信德的忍耐」是對抗懈怠的最重要良方。教宗說：「雖然在冷漠的掌控下，人渴望『在別處』逃避現實，但相反，我們必須有勇氣留下來，並在『此時此地』、在我目前的情況中歡迎天主的臨在 … 有多少人在懈怠的控制下，被無名的不安所驅使，愚蠢地放棄了他們已經開始的美好生活！懈怠的戰鬥是一場決定性的戰鬥，必須不惜一切代價取得勝利 …  [聖人]建議，在懈怠的壓迫下，保持較小的承諾，設定更易達到的目標，但同時依靠耶穌堅持和忍耐，因為祂從不在試探中拋棄我們。」

聖依納爵．羅耀拉說：「閒散滋生不滿的生活。閒散滋長自我，而自我是我們一切痛苦的根源，並使我們不配接受天主之愛的恩寵。」聖婦方濟加．尚達爾勸告說：「忠實地履行天主每一刻對你的要求，並將其他一切的思慮交給祂。我向你保證，以這種方式生活會帶給你極大的平安。」

Adolphe Tanqueray神父將懶惰定義為「對無所事事或至少對漫無目標的傾向，對工作的冷漠。」 他寫道：「懶惰有不同的程度，a) 懶散的人不情願地、莫不關心地接受任務；他所做的事情，做得很差。b) 懶惰的人並不完全拒絕工作，但他拖延並無限期地推遲已接受的任務。c) 真正懶惰的人不想做任何領人厭煩的事情，並對所有真正的工作，都表現出明顯的厭惡，無論是體力還是腦力的工作。」 Tanqueray神父補充說：「當懶惰影響到神業時，就稱為靈性的怠惰。這是一種對神修事物的厭惡，使我們在履行敬虔的神操時變得疏忽，導致我們縮短神操時間或完全以無聊的藉口放棄。這正是冷淡的養父母。」

關於對抗懶惰的方法，Tanqueray神父寫道：「要挽回懶惰的人，首先必須在他們心中形成關於工作必要性的堅定信念；使他們明白，不論富人還是窮人都必須遵守這一規律，違反可能會招致永恆的詛咒 … 我們必須時刻記住生命的終極目標：我們在世間是為了通過工作和美德來獲得天堂的位置。」

真福格拉納達的類斯寫道：「如果這種可恥的惡習（懶惰）攻擊你，請用我們即將提出的想法將其驅逐。首先，回想我們的主為你忍受的非凡勞苦 … 也要記住，宗徒們向普世人宣講福音所付出的辛勞。想想殉道者、精修者、貞女、隱修士所受的苦難，現在與基督在天堂上一起為王。正是通過他們的教導和辛勞，使基督的信仰在世上廣傳，教會一直延續到今天。將你的目光投向自然界，你會發現沒有什麼是閒散的 … 如果你現在不利用時間和力量來勞動，將來有一天你會徒勞地尋找不到這些當下的機會。」

 Your voice matters! Join the conversation by submitting a Letter to the Editor here. 

Read more from this series: