need help with sloth

[He is Risen!]

I was wondering if anyone here had any special prayers, tips, or best practices for battling the vice of sloth.  I know that the opposite virtue is diligence and St Monica comes to mind as a patron of that, but this is something I've been trying to work on and would really appreciate any advice.  Thanks!

[BarbTherese]

Are you confident that it is sloth with which you are dealing?  I have my own patron saints, and I include St Anthony as he is the patron of what is lost......and it seems to me whatever might be lost.  This is a bit of read but not too long and a quick glance through it seems to indicate it might be a worthwhile read Sin of Sloth (Catholic Answers Magazine)

I must say that I once absolutely loathed schedules.  But then I woke up one day that I really needed one......to suit my needs, not some other.  Some of what I have to say might assist, or give you clues to what will assist.  I hope so.

Pray daily for The Lord's help and Heaven's prayers to be what The Lord wants you to be - and this is where spiritual direction can be a treasure of gold. This is very important since we only have one lifetime's span to be what The Lord wants one to be. What I had to battle with was the image I had in my mind of what I should be - as against the person I was being called to be. Spiritual direction...........invaluable! Priceless!

  I write a list daily of what I really have to get done that cannot be avoided.  That list is minimal - another list is the things that need to get done when I have the time.  I have also worked out that the mid to late afternoons are when I seem to have the most energy and motivation, while some things I can get done in the morning when it is more difficult and I need to push myself somewhat.  At 7.30pm or roundabout I pray Evening Prayer and then the rest of the evening is mine.  At 9.30pm Night Prayer and medication and then an hour after that is bedtime.

My major problem is probably that my computer, Catholic Discussion sites as well as research on the internet can be overly appealing to me and I all so easily wander.......go astray.  I use my mobile or cell phone with the alarm to organise my day.  Not in great detail but sufficient for my needs and use.  I think it very important to recognise that we are all a one off, absolutely unique..........never to be repeated.

Don't begrudge oneself relaxation period(s) during the day.  One day might ask more than another.  This is time given to God just as are our duties.  The human being is constructed - and by God - to need relaxation to recharge and we are all different and unique.

I think the important thing when trying to change a habit is not to aim too high immediately.  Set small goals certainly initially and work out how one's day usually flows.  I am in the position of now being retired and plenty of time on my hands - and since I am a volunteer with St Vinnies in the parish, I am undertaking more duties than previously.  Leaving volunteer work outside the parish (bus trips) was a major move for me and I have been able to put in place one day weekly (bus trip) to attend Mass and I am looking at more days.  But I am not attempting more days all at once.   I also have a spiritual director I can talk things over with roughly every six weeks or so.  The thing about habits it seems to me is that just as it took time to develop a bad habit, it will take time to undo it as one strives to put in its' place a good habit.  Patience with oneself.  Failure is not a failure at all (with the right attitude) just as success is not necessarily success at all (with a 'gloating type' of attitude towards it).  All glory and thanksgiving due to God in the small and the great.  My problem was that given a success, I thought I had reached some sort of stable goal.  Not necessarily so at all!  I soon learnt that a success can be just a one off only - and then back to the battle with failures and striving to not be discouraged with any failure.  If I 'fall off my horse', get straight back on it again without discouragement.  Prayerful persistence.

Obviously during some days and even on unexpected days there will be calls of some kind that might interrupt the schedule one sets for oneself.  My challenge here was not to be overly frustrated and give up the whole quest.  Each day is a completely new day.  Going to sleep for me is a sort of death to the past and one is reborn in the morning.   Obviously, if one is in the workforce an entirely different type of schedule would be asked.

My alarm has just gone off to remind me of something I must get done before nightfall.............just as well or I might have written far more !!!! ............knowing me.

God's blessing on your quest, HIR!

.......one other thing that just occurred to me.  I read somewhere "saints are sinners who don't give up".  I read too that "The Church is not a club for saints, it is a hospital for sinners".  One person might battle with this failing but there are virtues too..........while another person battles with a failing while I have the opposite as one of my virtues.  And their virtues are my failings.  Viva la difference!

I hope that made sense.

[PhuturePriest]

I actually learned recently that the deadly sin of sloth does not refer to laziness, but spiritual laziness. Of course, it's very difficult to be spiritually vigilant and physically lazy at the same time, but that's what sloth is really meant to be understood as. Essentially, it is going "I know I should pray right now, but I don't feel like it, so I won't." It stands to reason that if you work on one, you're working on the other, however.

[Nihil Obstat]

45 minutes ago, PhuturePriest said:

I actually learned recently that the deadly sin of sloth does not refer to laziness, but spiritual laziness. Of course, it's very difficult to be spiritually vigilant and physically lazy at the same time, but that's what sloth is really meant to be understood as. Essentially, it is going "I know I should pray right now, but I don't feel like it, so I won't." It stands to reason that if you work on one, you're working on the other, however.

As they say, the interior reflects the exterior.

[He is Risen!]

Thanks for the tips guys!  BarbaraTherese, that was a great article, he gave a great definition and it was interesting how he compared it to work-a-holism, that the remedy for sloth is not being a busy body.  Makes me think about a priest I know who says "We are human beings, not human doings"  I think that being more structured with my non-working time would also be helpful.  I live alone so it's easy to slip into having zero structure.  I also picked up some spiritual reading that has really lit a spark in my prayer life. (Transformation in Christ by Detrich von Hildebrand, wow) and is helping me combat having the spiritual blahs.

[Era Might]

Sloth/Acedia is a sadness, not just laziness. The Rich Young Man in the Gospel goes away sad...I think we could say he was experiencing acedia, sadness at what was required of him. And what was Jesus requiring of him? Literally, nothing...he was not requiring him to do anything, but to renounce everything. He says he followed all the commandments since his youth...in other words, he was a sort of religious busybody, but "doing stuff" (even good stuff) is not the opposite of sloth. Doing good his whole life had blinded him to what God really wanted of him, which was to give himself up entirely.