Pints With Aquinas - 48: What is sloth? When does it become a mortal sin?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Pints with Aquinas, episode 48. I'm Matt Fradd. If you could sit down with St. Thomas Aquinas over a pint of beer and ask him any one question, well, what would it be? Today we will ask St. Thomas, what is the sin of sloth and when does it become a mortal sin. G'day guys, good to have you back with us at Pints with Aquinas, the show where you and I pull up a bar stool next to the angelic doctor to discuss theology and philosophy. Please know that this show depends on your support. Big thanks to everyone who's begun supporting the show. If you're listening, if the show has helped you, if you want to see it keep going, go to pintswithaquinas.com and you can click

Starting point is 00:00:56 the Patreon banner and learn how you can donate as little as $2 a month and a bit about the thank you gifts that I will give you in return. Today, we will be discussing one of the seven deadly sins. Since we're well into Lent by now, or the Great Fast, as we call it in the East, it's probably important, what's always really important, isn't it? That we reflect upon sin and our own sinfulness, and that we repent of it. sin and our own sinfulness and that we repent of it. So what about sloth? Acedia, what about it? It's sometimes called acedia. That's another word for it. Sometimes people think that sloth is just when you're lazy. And that is partly true, but sloth is a sorrow in the presence of spiritual good. So, sloth is sorrow in the presence of spiritual good. We're going to talk about what it is and when it becomes a mortal sin. Just so you know, I will be reading from the second part of the Summa Theologiae,

Starting point is 00:02:05 question 35, article 1 and article 3, and maybe I'll also read from article 4. So, I've got four little kids, and they're amazing. And one of the things that always impresses me is how interested they are in things. When I drive my car to the gym, I usually bring my children with me because I have a little daycare there. And it's a good way for my wife to get a break as well. So I'll bring my two-year-old son, Peter, with me and I'll pick him up out of the car and I'll walk him towards the gym. But without fail, he always says, walk, I walk, I walk. Okay, come on, walk. So I put the beautiful boy down and we start walking towards the gym. And he always becomes fascinated with everything other than walking to the gym.

Starting point is 00:02:53 So he'll look at a window and notice that it's like shiny. Or this happened this morning, okay? We were walking towards the gym. He tripped over like on his face. You know how kids do that and you're like, oh my goodness. Well, he tripped over like on his face. You know how kids do that and you're like, oh my goodness. Well, he tripped over in front of a drain. So, one of those, you know, the drains that come off the gutter from the roof. And so, instead of being like, oh, I fell over, he tripped and then got fascinated with this drain and started looking

Starting point is 00:03:18 up inside of it. And sometimes I can get a little frustrated with my kids, you know, like, come on, let's get going. And then I remind myself, no, actually, like, my kids are teaching me something. Children are like philosophers and poets in that they are driven by wonder. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who said, you know, the only sin is to call a green leaf brown or a green leaf gray. I forget exactly how it went. But the point was this. When you and I begin to find creation, situations, people, whatever, uninteresting, right? we have a sort of sadness in the face of goods, including spiritual goods, this is something like sloth. It also occurred to me, you know, sometimes we'll watch a movie and maybe it's, you know, of a very poor family or a family that's being persecuted in the second world war or something.

Starting point is 00:04:26 a family that's being persecuted in the Second World War or something. And they tend to have tremendous respect for certain items that you and I take for granted. For example, perhaps they have a Bible, and maybe it's the only book that they have in the house, and they treat, they revere it. or maybe they are longing to discover what St. Paul means when he says, pray at all times. And they just become fascinated with it and begin asking intently people more knowledgeable than they as to what this might mean. But then I look at me and I look at our culture and I see that we are surrounded by so many things that it's like, we don't care about any of them. You know, like, yeah, I like my Bible, but if I lose it, you know, well, it'll kind of be annoying because I have

Starting point is 00:05:16 some like, you know, underlying things here and there and I've written in the margins, but whatever, I'll just get another one, you know. I'm not captivated by good things in the way that I should be and in the way that I see others being captivated by them. It happens too, doesn't it, when maybe I'm from Australia. So having a friend who is from another country come and visit us. And all of a sudden, we get to see our country anew through their eyes. Because we see them and we see the tremendous wonder they have at all that is around them. And we realize that we've been taking all of this for granted. And just being next to them helps us appreciate what we so often take for granted. All right. So, this is all sort of what we mean by sloth. And my point is that in our comfortable technological paradise, we often don't have passion, right? If we do have passion, what is it for? Comfort, security, pleasure.

Starting point is 00:06:30 Comfort, security, pleasure. Notice something. If you meet somebody who is passionate about something other than these three things, comfort, pleasure, and security, you might say, well, what about money? Well, the only reason we're passionate about money is so that we can have comfort, pleasure, and security. But if someone you meet or I meet is passionate about anything else, what do we call them? We call them a fanatic. We shut them down. We see this as a negative thing because it's odd to us that anyone would be passionate about anything that doesn't bring wealth or comfort or pleasure. When I came back from Rome when I was 17 years old, I was extremely passionate about my newfound faith in Jesus Christ and my love for Him. And to be fair, I did go overboard. There were times that I would, you know, okay, I'm going to give you one specific time that I just thought of. And maybe I've told this in a previous podcast.

Starting point is 00:07:25 I forget. We had this big day at school where even though it was a private school, people could wear casual clothes to school. And so everyone was really excited because they could dress really fancy. And I was like part of the Metallica group. I was really big into heavy metal. So people called us the Metallicas. I'm not sure if that was an insult or not. But we were all wearing our black, you know black heavy metal. I had my Ride the Lightning

Starting point is 00:07:48 t-shirt on or something. Anyway, so during that day, there was fundraisers to raise money for this third world country. And one of the things they were doing was painting faces. Well, I went there and I sat down and I said to the lady, could you write Jesus across my face in gold? And she went, you want me to write Jesus across your face in gold? I went, yep, that's right. You heard me. Write Jesus across my face in gold. And she just sort of looked at me with a sort of resignation and went, okay. Now, I admit that that's a little odd, but notice that if I had have said, paint my face the colors of this football team, people wouldn't have thought I was a fanatic. We tend to get really passionate about things that don't matter, but whenever someone gets passionate about things that do, we call them a fanatic. fanatic. All right. So to bring it back to this question of sloth, Aquinas calls it an oppressive sorrow. Let's read a little bit directly from Aquinas. Again, second part of the second part,

Starting point is 00:08:52 question 35, article one. He says, sloth, according to Damascene, is an oppressive sorrow, which is always evil. For sorrow is evil in itself when it is about that which is good in reality, even as pleasure is evil if it is about that which is in truth evil. Since then, spiritual good is a good in very truth. Sorrow about spiritual good is evil. Aquinas continues, they deserve praise insofar as they are applied to something good. Wherefore, sorrow in itself calls neither for praise nor for blame. Whereas, moderate sorrow for evil calls for praise, while sorrow for good and immoderate sorrow for evil call for blame. So, passions aren't evil, but if we feel good in the face of evil, if we take pleasure over something which is evil, such as pornography, well, this is an evil. And likewise, if we feel sorrow in the face of good, this is an evil. And this is what we mean by sloth. And this is what we mean by sloth.

Starting point is 00:10:27 So sloth, again, is more than laziness. When someone is lazy, they can be lazy in one of three ways. They can be lazy due to physical laziness. I've met people in my life, I'm sure you have too, maybe people in your own family, who it seems like they're just wired that way. When I grew up, my brother, who I'm not saying was lazy, but he never took any interest in playing sports. I think I played like 500 and then lost interest in them. But some people just seem to be wired that way where they're okay just sort of laying around or whatever. Okay, so that's one way. The second way is we can be lazy kind of emotionally, right? We want to relax all the time. We don't like exerting ourselves. And thirdly, we can be lazy in a way that's in duty to exert ourselves. That is when it becomes slothful and is a sin. I want to read a quote here to you from Peter Kreeft. He said,

Starting point is 00:11:47 sloth is a sin of omission. Omission being the opposite of commission, where we sin by not doing something that we ought. So, Kraft says, it is the refusal to exert oneself, to rouse oneself, to move toward the good, even when the good is present and recognized. And then he gives a couple of examples. Not jumping in the pool to save a baby from drowning. That would be the sin of sloth. You would be an absolute awful human being. But maybe here's one that Kreeft offers this suggestion. Maybe this is more likely to happen to you or to me. Maybe it's a cold winter's night and you wake up and you don't really want to get out from under the covers, even though you are obliged to, in order to attend the

Starting point is 00:12:33 divine liturgy, to attend Holy Mass. Well, that would certainly be the sin of sloth. You know, another thing we could think of when it comes to sloth is not inquiring about what God wants me to do. Not interested. Maybe God has a plan for my life. Maybe I should pray about it, but who cares? Whatever. I don't care. Well, that would be the sin of sloth.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Not only that, but not caring to inquire as to whether or not God exists. So, you know, one thing to not care about what God wants you to do, which is awful, but it's another thing that's awful to a different degree if you're not even interested in caring about God's existence. You know, you're not even interested enough to inquire. One of my favorite philosophers is a man by the name of Blaise Pascal. And in his work, The Pensees, which is a French word for thoughts. Basically, Pascal was writing a work on apologetics, but ended up dying before he was able to publish it. And so, some of those who are close to him gathered those notes together and put it in one book called The Thoughts. But Pascal says there are three types of people in the world.

Starting point is 00:13:52 There are those who seek the truth about God and find it. Secondly, there are those who seek the truth about God and have not yet found it. And third, there are those who neither seek nor find. Now, the first group, he says, are wise and happy. Wise because they knew to seek and happy because they had now found. The second group, he says, are wise and unhappy. Wise because they know to seek, unhappy because they haven't yet found. And this is what he says about the third group. And this is what I mean when I talk about people not even being interested in the question of God's existence. He says, in my translation here, interested in the question of God's existence. He says, in my translation here, I have no words to describe such pitiful a creature. So, that will do it. Speaking of Pascal, I just opened up my

Starting point is 00:14:37 book here on the Pensees, and he's got an incredible section here on distraction, you know. And the reason we distract ourselves is why. We distract ourselves, I don't know, here's a suggestion by me for what it's worth. We divert our attention. We distract ourselves because we don't like ourselves. We don't like being confronted by our own poverty in one sense or another. And so we distract ourselves from ourselves. And that way we don't have to sort of think of our poverty, about our coming demise, death, etc.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Again, I think this all speaks to and feeds into sloth. If I am distracting myself in a million different ways, then I'm going to be shutting down my heart and shutting down the wonder that I ought to have over simple, good, beautiful things. And it will lead me to lack interest in what I should be interested in. Let me read to you a little bit from Aquinas. Not Aquinas, sorry. I'm so used to saying that. Let me read to you a little bit from Pascal. He says this, what people want, and by the way, people is you, okay? So let's not make the mistake of thinking you and I are great and it's those other people out there. So when I say people, insert your name. Ready? What you want is not the easy, peaceful life that allows us to think of our unhappy condition,

Starting point is 00:16:24 nor the dangers of war, nor the burdens of office, but the agitation. Did you hear what he said? We want agitation. What on earth could he mean? Here's what he says. We want the agitation that takes our mind off of it and diverts it. That is why we prefer the hunt to the capture. That is why we prefer the hunt to the capture. Interesting, isn't it? We've all had that experience where we really want something and then we get it and we don't care about it anymore. It's like we were distracting ourselves. Like, if I get this, then I'll be happy, then I'll be happy,

Starting point is 00:16:53 then I'll be happy, and you get it and you're not happy. And so you hunt again, you hunt again, you get it and you're not happy. And so you hunt again, we're distracting ourselves from ourselves. Okay, a little bit more here from Aquinas. Now, this is from Article 3, Question 35, whether or not it's a mortal sin. He says, and it's good to recap what mortal sin is and does. Aquinas says, mortal sin is so-called because it destroys the spiritual life, which is the effect of charity, whereby God dwells in us. Wherefore, any sin which by its very nature is contrary to charity, what is charity? Charity is the life of

Starting point is 00:17:34 God in us, right? Aquinas says, wherefore, any sin which by its very nature is contrary to charity is a mortal sin by reason of its genus, and such is sloth, because the proper effect of charity is joy in God, while sloth is sorrow about spiritual good inasmuch as it is a divine good. Therefore, sloth is a mortal sin in its genus. mortal sin in its genus. Aquinas goes on to say, the movement of sloth is sometimes in the sensuality alone by reason of the opposition of the flesh to the spirit, and in that case, it's a venial sin. Whereas sometimes it reaches to the reason which consents in the dislike, horror, and detestation of the divine good. And in this case, it is evident that sloth is a mortal sin. You know, sometimes we think of mortal sins as just being huge sins, like really, really big sins. And that's not always the case, as we see today. You know, there's nothing at all interesting or spectacular about sloth, which is a sin of

Starting point is 00:18:46 omission, and yet it is a mortal sin. So, it can kill that life of God within us. I like this idea. I like what he says here, dislike, horror, and detestation of the divine good is a mortal sin. That's what hell is going to be like. Just this dislike, despondency, detestation in face of what is truly good. It leads us to say, in the face of what is good, I don't care. Like, I just don't care. So, to recap, Acedia, which is, as I said in the beginning, another name for sloth, has two parts. It is sadness about a spiritual good.

Starting point is 00:19:45 So, God is requiring something of me and I feel an oppressive sadness in regards to it. And the second part is that it is a sluggishness in bringing goods to their fulfillment, a sluggishness in bringing goods to their fulfillment. I like this quotation from Proverbs 13.4, the soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. What I'd like to do now is suggest three things you and I can begin doing to combat sloth. But before that, a quick break. My name is Gomer, and I'm the co-host of Catching Foxes. But before that, a quick break. Aquinas. Matt Fradd actually wrote a book on 50 plus deep thoughts from the angelic doctor. Pints with Aquinas. Here's the deal. Beer is easily lovable, but medieval monastic philosophers, they can be quite intimidating. Yet in this short pithy book, and I don't use that word often. In fact, I never use the word pithy, but I'm going to use it here and you're going to agree with me.

Starting point is 00:21:01 Matt Fradd made the greatest mind in the history of the church as easily accessible as your favorite beer. You'll laugh, you'll cry, well you won't cry, but you'll laugh and you'll discover that this old school philosopher's wisdom is just as relevant today as it was back then. So do yourself a favor. Get a copy of this enlightening, pithy

Starting point is 00:21:20 little book from Amazon right now. And when it arrives, pour yourself a frothy pint and dig in. You'll be glad you did. Okay, welcome back to Pints with Aquinas. Let's have a look at three things that you and I can begin doing to combat sloth. Now, first thing that has to be said is that since we are not Pelagians, all right, that is, we don't think we can heal spiritual ills in themselves, we have to rely on God's grace. So we should turn to Him and beg Him to heal us of this sin. We should also say that sloth is something different to the psychological disorder of depression. heal us of a psychological impairment when maybe what is required of us isn't prayer to overcome

Starting point is 00:22:29 it, but maybe therapy, maybe drugs. So those could be perhaps the two pitfalls on either side. Okay, so here are the three things I'd like to suggest. Number one, stop distracting yourself. Now that's easy to say, so let's get really practical about what we mean. Because you and I would agree, I think, that the person who is massively distracted by a million different novelties is really uninterested and uninteresting. I'll prove it to you. We all know of children who are spoiled. They get everything. Well, are these children who are grateful?

Starting point is 00:23:14 Or are these children who are entitled and just really annoying? I think we would all say, you know, entitled and really annoying. Let me give you an example. I'm not putting myself up on a pedestal and saying I'm a fantastic parent or anything, but my kids rarely watch television. They certainly don't have iPhones or iPads. My eldest is nine. Very rarely, maybe once every two weeks or maybe once a week, we might sit down as a family and watch a movie. So I see within my children, because I've never introduced them to iPhones or iPads or computers at an early age, they don't even ask for it. It

Starting point is 00:23:50 was funny. Someone actually gave us a Nintendo Wii. This was last year. My eldest son was eight. We set it up and we played it, but then he kind of lost interest in it because he wasn't sort of like conditioned to it. Now, I'm not saying video games are bad or anything like that. I happen to like video games and certainly did when I was a child. But when one is using them compulsively, one begins to lose interest in other things like playing with their siblings or laughing or, you know, you know what I'm talking about. I've met kids who've come in, you know, from the neighborhood and they'll say things like, I'm bored or this is boring. And I'm like, you know, from the neighborhood and they'll say things like, I'm bored or this is boring. And I'm like, you know, you're boring. You are bored. This is not boring. My little child, my little friend, you know, my, my son's friend, you are the one who is boring. Listen to me. There are no boring things, only boring people. So I'm not pretending my children don't complain about being bored, but they don't do it

Starting point is 00:24:46 much, right? It's sloth which leads us to be bored. And I don't mean bored with activities. I mean a boredom that is like the sky spread out over everything. So how do we stop distracting ourselves? Let me suggest three ways. Give up social media for a time. Give it up for the weekend. Give up Netflix. If you're not already giving it up for Lent, you might decide to give it up now or give it up later. Give up the things that you use to distract yourself. There is a qualitative difference. Not just a qualitative difference. Maybe I should have said a complete difference.

Starting point is 00:25:31 Between leisure and vegging, let me confess something to you. I've done it. You probably have too. There's been times where I'm like bored, right? And so what do I do? I turn on Netflix. And while I'm watching like some repeat of The Office or something, I start checking my social media on my phone. I'm not even engaging in the media, right? Like the Netflix. It's like, it's all a distraction. And there's been times where

Starting point is 00:25:57 I've been watching Netflix as I'm falling asleep and I had the laptop on my chest. What kind of human being am I becoming? Now, I'm not afraid to share that with you because I know you're probably the same. So fast from distractions. One thing I have been doing regularly is I give my computer and phone away to a friend for the weekend and I tell him, don't give it back to me till Monday. And what I find is this. In the beginning, I'm really agitated, irritated that I can't turn to my phone for a podcast or see what people liked on Twitter or Instagram or what have you. See if someone's written to me over email, if someone tried to call me. Like that bothers me,

Starting point is 00:26:35 you know what I mean? Because I'm always in that state. So I give it away and I feel agitated. And then there's this sort of calmness. I know it's not an option to turn to my phone. And so I begin to take interest in my children and what they're doing more. And the days are longer. The days become longer. It's really beautiful. So that's my first suggestion for you. Fast from social media, fast from Netflix and fast from your phone. media, fast from Netflix, and fast from your phone. Okay. The second thing I want to say is be faithful to what is in front of you now, right? God is calling you to do something right now. What is it? Be faithful to that one thing and be attentive. We love to tell people that we can multitask well. The truth is no one multitasks well, right? Instead, be faithful

Starting point is 00:27:27 to what the Lord has put in front of you. So it might be, let's say, maybe tonight, maybe there's a holy mass is being celebrated at a local church, but maybe that means your wife is putting the kids to bed. Well, guess what? Don't be so selfish as to go to holy mass. Well, guess what? Don't be so selfish as to go to Holy Mass. Do the duty of the moment, which is to help your wife put the kids to bed. Now, of course, there can be exceptions. Maybe your wife said by doing spiritual things. So, one thing at a time and be faithful to them. That means do the laundry well. By the way, brothers and sisters, I know I'm kind of shouting at you. I'm shouting at me. I'm not just talking at you. I need to turn this podcast off and go to the laundry upstairs. Be faithful to what the good Lord has called you to. If you are married, you better bloody well be faithful to your spouse. If you don't, God will be your judge. But I don't find her interesting

Starting point is 00:28:39 anymore. I don't care who, you are boring. You are boring and you will be held accountable, right? It bothers me. We got those Tinder apps and things, you know, people like Tinder, I think is the app for those who, you know, want a prostitute, but don't want to pay. Let's be honest. And you see people getting bored with their wife, bored with their kids. And I've heard people say, well, the Lord was really calling me out of this marriage to this different relationship. I just felt him. I say, no, you didn't, brother. You are a lazy, gluttonous sloth. That's what you are. And it was

Starting point is 00:29:17 not Christ that called you away from your marriage. It was Satan and your weakness. Repent. So if you're listening to me and you're that person, repent before Almighty God. Now, if you're not married, maybe you're engaged, be faithful to her or him in the way you ought to be. If you live with your parents, be faithful to them in the way that you ought to be. Again, I'm talking to myself here. Be faithful to my wife. Be faithful to my kids. Final thing I wish to say as we wrap up here today.

Starting point is 00:29:46 Meditate on death. Meditate on your death. Every day, stop and ask yourself, if I died right now, where would I go? Heaven or hell? You might even go one step further and buy a coffin to put in your office, if you have a home office or something. You are going to die, right? And for the most part, sooner than you think. And when you die, all of your plans will come to nothing. Once you and I recognize this, we begin to take tremendous interest in God, in God's will, and our purpose in this life. Meditate on your death. Back to Pascal. He has this crazy thought experiment. It's pretty violent, and here we go. He said, imagine you're sitting in a chair, blindfolded. He said, imagine you're sitting in a chair, blindfolded.

Starting point is 00:30:49 Actually, imagine a room full of people sitting in chairs that are blindfolded. Each is being executed one at a time, and no one knows when their time will be next. That's life, he says. That is life. When we meditate upon our death, again, it makes us tremendously interested as we ought to be in God, in what he's calling us to do, and our state of life. If you think that you are suffering from sloth, if that's one of your sins, beg God for the gift of tears so that you may weep and repent before Almighty God. And then begin uncluttering your life from distractions, taking interest in that which you should take interest in. And thank God daily that He allowed you to live another day, that He allowed me to live another day.

Starting point is 00:31:38 This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad. To carry you, to carry you, to carry you, to carry you, to carry you. I took you in Too many grains of salt and juice Lest we be frauds or worse, accused Hollow me to deepen the news Whose wolves am I feeding myself to? Hollow me to deepen you. Whose wolves am I feeding myself to? Who's gonna survive?

Starting point is 00:32:39 Who's gonna survive? Who's gonna survive

Pints With Aquinas - 48: What is sloth? When does it become a mortal sin?

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