THE CAPITAL SINS 83 



ceed the bounds of reason, nor nurse grievances. 52 St. 

 James says : "Let every man be swift to hear, but slow 

 to speak, and slow to anger ; for the anger of man worketh 

 not the justice of God." 53 



VII. Sloth. — Sloth (acedia) is frequently 

 caused by an abnormal condition of the body. It 

 may be defined as a sluggishness of the soul that 

 makes it dread physical and mental labor in the 

 exercise of virtue. Sloth, as a vice, may be ac- 

 companied by great energy of mind and body in 

 matters not pertaining to the spiritual domain. 

 Sloth usually begins with lukewarmness, espe- 

 cially neglect of prayer and religious exercises. 

 It manifests itself: 



(1) As indifference to virtue and spiritual 

 things (desidia, inertia), accompanied by distrac- 

 tion and neglect of duty and by pleasure in senti- 

 mentalities and day-dreaming. The ordinary 

 symptoms of this form of sloth are: mental un- 

 rest, frequent change of work or profession, shift- 

 lessness, inconstancy, etc. 



(2) As disgust (taedium) for the moral and 

 religious duties which every man is bound to per- 

 form. This disgust may develop into positive 

 aversion for Catholic principles and practices and 



52 Cfr. St. Augustine, Enarr. in fieri pridiana. Eiice Mam [iraw] 



Ps., 25, s. 2, n. 3 (Migne, P. L., de corde, antequam occidat lux ista 



XXXVI, 189): "Etsi ex ipsa hu- visibilis, ne te deserat lux ilia in- 



mana conditione et iniirmitate mor- visibilis." (Migne, P. L., XXXVI, 



talitatis, quam portamus, subrepit ira 189). 



christiano, non debet diu teneri et 63 Jas. I, 19 sq. 



