Meditation XXIV. On Sloth

POINT I.

THE vice which we commonly call by the name of sloth, is an inordinate heaviness and fastidious disgust for virtuous exertion. In this we may sin in many ways, through the many vices which accompany it.

i. The first is an over-great apprehension of the labour and the difficulty of virtue, flying from it for that reason; from which proceed faintness and weariness in the exercises of it, so that one performs them with disgust.

ii. The second is pusillanimity and cowardice in undertaking difficult things in God's service, hiding for that reason the talents that Almighty God has given, and not using them when the law of justice or charity obliges me.

iii. The third is sloth and negligence in fulfilling and observing the law of God, the evangelical counsels, the statutes and rules of my state of life and office. So that I do the things by fits, with delays and repugnance, out of fear, and, when I cannot otherwise leave them undone, with base and servile ends and sinister intentions.

iv. The fourth is inconstancy in prosecuting the acts of virtue, and carrying them on to the end with unsteadiness in them; hastily quitting one for another to get rid of tediousness, until I leave off the good I have begun, returning back like a dog to his vomit.

v. The fifth is timidity and distrust of succeeding in endeavours for virtue, or of becoming victorious against temptations, until we fall into the pit of despair.

vi. The sixth is rancour and jealousy of spiritual persons on account of their virtues and good example, which upbraid me; or because I am offended with the advice and correction I receive from them.

vii. The seventh is idleness in losing that precious time which Almighty God has given me to labour; as also overmuch sleep and drowsiness in good works, especially in the spiritual works of prayer, reading, mass, sermons, and discourse concerning Almighty God, through the small delight I take in it.

viii. The eighth is wandering amid divers unlawful and vain things to entertain myself; as are voluntary distractions of thought and imagination, gossiping and looseness of tongue in idle words, vain sports, witnessing profane spectacles, curiosity of the senses, lounging of the body, walking up and down the public places here and there for pastime and recreation, and desiring change, being constant in nothing but inconstancy.

ix. Finally, to this vice belong all sins of omission and negligence in God's service, which are innumerable. Nor will you easily find a good work but it has some of these defects, either at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. Wherefore I should greatly accuse myself before our Lord, saying to Him, Colloquy.—I confess, O my God, that in this vice alone I have sinned so often that my sins are numberless, and therefore I throw them altogether into the numberless multitude of Thy infinite mercies, that Thou mayest remedy the numberless multitude of my miseries. Amen.

POINT II.

Secondly, I am to consider the most grievous injuries proceeding from sloth, some that spring from itself, others added by the just chastisement of Almighty God, both in this life and in the other.

1. The first are the most grievous. For lukewarmness is painful, perilous, the shadow of death and near neighbour to hell. It empties the heart of spiritual consolations, fills it with heaviness, and opens the gate to innumerable temptations of the devil, who comes to dwell and settle himself in that soul which he finds idle and vacant, bringing "with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself," which are the multitude of sins; for all gather themselves to the slothful and idle soul, which, as Solomon says, like a "vineyard" or farm which is not cultivated and has no trench nor inclosure, is filled with the "nettles" of sins and the "thorns" of passions and bitterness. It is trodden and trampled upon by the devils and by divers unquiet thoughts, which, like passengers, enter in and issue out by it. Thence proceed a wonderful poverty of spiritual goods and an unprofitable beggary; for he that has not in the winter of this life "ploughed" nor laboured "shall beg in the summer" of death, and shall find none to give him what he begs, like "the five foolish virgins" who, through sloth, falling asleep, begged oil for their lamps, and none would be given to them.

2. Besides this, the just sustain very great loss by this lukewarmness, which is, as it were, the canker of virtues, the moth of good works, the ruin of consciences, the banisher of divine consolations, the diminisher of merits, and the augmentor of their labours; for the lukewarm in virtue walk full of fear and desires. "Fear casteth down the slothful" and "desires kill" them. They labour much and thrive but little; for "the burden" of God's laws lies heavy upon them, and they merit but little in bearing it, because of the great repugnance and disgust with which they bear it; so that they live in danger of forsaking it, and of falling into the malediction of Jeremias, which says, "Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully;" and into that most terrible one with which our Lord threatened a tepid bishop, saying to him, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth;" and cast him both from Himself and out of the mystical body of His Church.

3. Finally, as the "slothful servant," who "hid the talent" of his Lord, lost what he had, and was "cast" "into the exterior darkness," where there is perpetual "weeping and gnashing of teeth;" so the slothful shall be punished in torment proportioned to his sloth, taking from him "the talent" of faith and hope which he had buried. And because he lived in idleness and trembled at labour, he shall live in perpetual darkness, not working, but suffering, trembling, and gnashing his teeth for the dreadfulness of the torments which he suffers.

Colloquy.—O eternal God, by whose sentence the fainthearted and slothful perished in the desert without entering into "the land" which Thou hadst promised them, I confess that for my sloth I deserve to be cast out of Thy house, to be excluded from Thy kingdom, and being bound hand and foot, to be cast into "exterior" darkness. I am grieved, O Lord, for my former remissness, deliver me from it for Thy mercy, that I may merit to enter into "the land" of eternal promise! Amen.

POINT III.

Thirdly, I will consider the great benefits that I shall obtain by vanquishing my sloth, and embracing spiritual alacrity and fervour in the service of God.

1. For the works of virtue will be easy and sweet to me; I shall labour little and thrive much in a little time, like those workmen who, coming late into the vineyard, laboured so fervently that they deserved as much in "one hour" as the remiss did that had laboured many hours, bearing "the burden of the day, and the heat," which they would not have felt if they had fervently laboured; for the fervour of the spirit makes the burden of the law easy, and the yoke of it very sweet. And, besides this, it augments merit, it doubles the talents received, it causes great peace in the soul, and much confirms perseverance to the obtaining of glory.

2. I may also consider how God our Lord exceedingly delights in being served with zeal and readiness, for as He is essentially alacrity itself, and as all the works He does and the rewards He gives us are done with great joy and fervour, rejoicing to do us good, most justly does He command me to serve Him, and give Him what He requires, not with disgust and sadness, not by force and with repugnance, but with fervency and "exceeding great joy" of heart. "Hilarem enim datorem diligit Deus;" "For God loveth a cheerful giver." To such an one He does great favours, and hears the petitions and "requests" of his "heart." And finally He gives him a taste of that alacrity that is enjoyed in heaven, because he fulfils God's will upon earth. And therefore I will most earnestly beg of God our Lord this most noble spirit of joyful fervour in His service, saying to Him with David, Colloquy.—"Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation," and "take not Thy Holy Spirit from me," O Saviour of the world, that rejoicedst as "a giant to run" Thy "way," though it was very rough, grant me that health and alacrity of spirit that Thou gainedst for me, that I may in such manner run my way as to merit to gain an eternal crown! Amen.