The Pope Emeritus refers to purification in this section from Spe Salvi, an encyclical to which I shall refer again tomorrow.
Here are a few paragraphs for consideration and, as usual, my comments are in blue.
I. Prayer as a school of hope
32. A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me[25]. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone. The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, a prisoner for thirteen years, nine of them spent in solitary confinement, has left us a precious little book: Prayers of Hope. During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope—to that great hope which does not wane even in the nights of solitude.
In my limited experience, it is only in prayer and solitude where one can truly find hope. Suffering, as the Pope Emeritus will note later in this work, also helps one learn hope. But to perceive God's gift of hope to us, and to hone the virtue given in baptism, solitude, silence, prayer are necessary.
33. Saint Augustine, in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. “By delaying [his gift], God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul and by expanding it he increases its capacity [for receiving him]”. Augustine refers to Saint Paul, who speaks of himself as straining forward to the things that are to come (cf. Phil 3:13). He then uses a very beautiful image to describe this process of enlargement and preparation of the human heart. “Suppose that God wishes to fill you with honey [a symbol of God's tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined[26]. Even if Augustine speaks directly only of our capacity for God, it is nevertheless clear that through this effort by which we are freed from vinegar and the taste of vinegar, not only are we made free for God, but we also become open to others.
Some of this is repetition as I have referred to the Doctors of the Church on the enlargement of the heart. One must not be stingy with God, but generous in time and thought. Of course, the way is painful. One desires God, but God withholds Himself, as noted here many times. Waiting for God, as experienced by the saints, and other writers, such as Simone Weil, must be part of the growing of the yearning for God alone. For those who are more generous of heart, the process may be short. Benedict here relates the same process of purification as Garrigou-Lagrange and others. One cannot take shortcuts or detours in the spiritual life. Many spiritual commentators state that sloth is the worst vice, the hardest one to break out of for those caught up in this.
Remember in the retreat in March I attended, Father Xavier taught us about the aversion to spiritual things. The aversion comes from the vice of sloth. Hagiosthenia follows the vice of sloth. One can read the posts from that retreat under the tag "retreat March 2015", about 13 posts.
The opposite of sloth is diligence and hard work. Sloth also forms the basis for mediocrity or lukewarmness-
The opposite of sloth is diligence and hard work. Sloth also forms the basis for mediocrity or lukewarmness-
Revelation 3:15-17Douay-Rheims
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot.
16 But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest: I am rich, and made wealthy, and have need of nothing: and knowest not, that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
I post some of my articles on sloth at the end of this section.
It is only by becoming children of God, that we can be with our common Father. To pray is not to step outside history and withdraw to our own private corner of happiness. When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well. In prayer we must learn what we can truly ask of God—what is worthy of God. We must learn that we cannot pray against others. We must learn that we cannot ask for the superficial and comfortable things that we desire at this moment—that meagre, misplaced hope that leads us away from God. We must learn to purify our desires and our hopes. We must free ourselves from the hidden lies with which we deceive ourselves. God sees through them, and when we come before God, we too are forced to recognize them. “But who can discern his errors? Clear me from hidden faults” prays the Psalmist (Ps 19:12 [18:13]).
Those of us who pray the Monastic Diurnal repeat this verse from Psalm 19 frequently. For me to be saying this prayer of being freed from my hidden, or in some translations, "secret" faults, is my prayer for purgation. Once one has passed on from seeking superficial comforts, one can see one's desires being purified, until one only wants God and His Will.
Failure to recognize my guilt, the illusion of my innocence, does not justify me and does not save me, because I am culpable for the numbness of my conscience and my incapacity to recognize the evil in me for what it is.
Self-deceit seems to be one of the most common of faults today. Lies surround us, in the culture of advertising, manipulation and narcissism.
If God does not exist, perhaps I have to seek refuge in these lies, because there is no one who can forgive me; no one who is the true criterion. Yet my encounter with God awakens my conscience in such a way that it no longer aims at self-justification, and is no longer a mere reflection of me and those of my contemporaries who shape my thinking, but it becomes a capacity for listening to the Good itself.
Another good prayer is that of St. John the Baptist. He prayed that he may decrease and Christ increase.
Now, the Pope Emeritus examines further purification.
34. For prayer to develop this power of purification, it must on the one hand be something very personal, an encounter between my intimate self and God, the living God. On the other hand it must be constantly guided and enlightened by the great prayers of the Church and of the saints, by liturgical prayer, in which the Lord teaches us again and again how to pray properly. Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, in his book of spiritual exercises, tells us that during his life there were long periods when he was unable to pray and that he would hold fast to the texts of the Church's prayer: the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the prayers of the liturgy[27]. Praying must always involve this intermingling of public and personal prayer. This is how we can speak to God and how God speaks to us. In this way we undergo those purifications by which we become open to God and are prepared for the service of our fellow human beings.
Note that the Pope Emeritus agrees with the great spiritual mentors, like Garrigou-Lagrange, on the fact that we cannot serve others until we allow God to get rid of egotism. I have many posts on this in the perfection and dark night series. Hope follows. But, we cannot give what we have not merited through grace and perseverance. To be continued....
We become capable of the great hope, and thus we become ministers of hope for others. Hope in a Christian sense is always hope for others as well. It is an active hope, in which we struggle to prevent things moving towards the “perverse end”. It is an active hope also in the sense that we keep the world open to God. Only in this way does it continue to be a truly human hope.
23 Jun 2013
The antidote to Sloth, according to Prudentius, is the virtue called Diligence, which may be seen as connected to Justice, Prudence and Temperance. Diligence is zeal for the Faith and industry-hard work, in other words.
12 Sep 2014
(1) There are temperaments inclined to effeminacy, indolence, sloth, gluttony, and sensuality. Others are inclined especially to anger and pride. We do not all climb the same slope toward the summit of perfection: those who are ...
22 Jul 2012
Lust and Sloth (who has beads) point to the need for deep, persistent prayer, as do all the other Deadly Sins. Garrigou-Lagrange writes that we must ask God, seek Him, for enlightenment as to one's predominant fault.
15 Nov 2014
The great sin of men who are refusing the call is one of sloth. It is too easy to just be single, go with the flow, live a completely self-centered life. Those who are answering the call understand that the day of the comfortable ...
21 Aug 2013
For others, the cause could be sloth, not cultivating a prayer life, or not receiving the sacraments frequently. A habit of sin can destroy faith. One of the greatest enemies of faith is materialism, the belief that the life on earth is ...
14 Sep 2014
This causes sorrow, but only for the person who has not put the nail in the predominant faults of vainglory, pride, presumption. sloth, gluttony, anger, and so on. When one is made holy, one is no longer upset about people ...
19 Nov 2014
Yesterday, I wrote about sloth in daily life. But, after pondering overnight on this huge phenomenon, I have come to some conclusions about the fact that many, many Catholics refuse to study and instead rely on private ...
10 Feb 2014
Perseverance is not easy: a struggle must be carried on against self, against spiritual sloth, against the devil, who inclines us to discouragement. Many souls, on being deprived of the first consolations which they received, turn ...
25 Jul 2012
Under Pride and Self, these are listed: vainglory, disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, contention, rivalry, discord,, singularity, stubbornness, sloth (acedia), hatred of spiritual things, malice, rancor, pusillanimity, discouragement, ...
23 Jun 2013
And, I state that sloppiness is Sloth. In the past 30 months, I have had the sad experience of meeting some priests who are anti-intellectual and think it a virtue. These priests, and they number four, are into private revelations, ...
25 Jan 2013
I do not mind liberals having good arguments but if they refuse to read or study, I have no time for such laziness of mind. The sin of sloth is a deadly sin. We forget that this sin applies to the mind as well as the body.
27 Nov 2013
(1) There are temperaments inclined to effeminacy, indolence, sloth, gluttony, and sensuality. Others are inclined especially to anger and pride. We do not all climb the same slope toward the summit of perfection: those who are ...
15 Jul 2014
The Seven Deadly Sins are Pride, Lust, Anger, Covetousness, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth. The Four Sins Which Cry Out to God for Vengeance are Willful Murder, Sodomy, Oppression of the Poor, Defrauding Laborers of Their ...
13 Aug 2014
The list of this pre-saint's sin is staggering: lust, pride, curiosity, wastefulness of time, spiritual sloth, anger, heresy, and so on. I have actually, heard from the mouths of priests, that St. Augustine was too hard on himself.
19 Oct 2014
Twice I started theses on Newman and have not, for good reasons, not sloth, not been able to finish these. I have been studying him off and on for over 30 years, but only really read this phrase today. Amazing how when one ...
15 Sep 2014
They live in shadow-lands of fear or depression, sloth or lukewarmness. None of us want to be forgotten after death. Some can imagine a spouse or children remembering one with fondness. For some, there is no one to ...
04 Apr 2015
Leisure? Money or shopping? These thoughts could indicate Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Avarice and so on without one even sinning except in thought. Such preoccupations most likely point to the predominant fault. Ask your mum.
18 Sep 2013
If the predominant fault is sloth, one will not study the Catholic teachings, but want others, like seers, to tell them truths. Of course, this is a laziness. Garrigou-Lagrange states that sloth is the hardest fault of all to destroy as a ...
28 Jan 2013
The necessity of this purification, as the saint shows in the same book,(3) arises from the defects of beginners, which may be reduced to three: spiritual pride, spiritual sensuality, and spiritual sloth. St. John of the Cross teaches ...
27 Jul 2012
According to St. Gregory and St. Thomas,(12) pride or arrogance is more than a capital sin; it is the root from which proceed especially four capital sins: vanity or vainglory, spiritual sloth or wicked sadness which embitters, ...
24 Jun 2013
UPDATE: see Michael Voris' video on the Angel of Death, who is Gabriel, according to the Judaic tradition. His video overlaps on these posts on sloth and greed (that one to come). When I hear priests say they do not like the ...
26 Mar 2014
Could be a sign of spiritual sloth. Posted by Supertradmum. Lay people are in the world to make the world holy. We are called to convert, to evangelize those who are falling away. We are the salt of the world. Christ said this of ...
25 Sep 2013
Sloth leads to abdication of roles, a nine to five attitude towards duty, a curtailing of personal growth. That sloth can be found in some who are priests is a tragedy for the laity. Without leadership, the ship of the Church crashes ...
06 Aug 2012
According to St. Gregory and St. Thomas,(12) pride or arrogance is more than a capital sin; it is the root from which proceed especially four capital sins: vanity or vainglory, spiritual sloth or wicked sadness which embitters, ...
24 Jul 2012
Under Pride and Self, these are listed: vainglory, disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, contention, rivalry, discord,, singularity, stubbornness, sloth (acedia), hatred of spiritual things, malice, rancor, pusillanimity, discouragement, ...
19 Dec 2014
The first is the lack of study, (see post last week on the virtue of studiosity), and the second is sloth. Sloth must be one of the most common evils among Catholics, both laity and clergy alike. To not study the Faith, to ignore the ...
13 Aug 2014
(1) There are temperaments inclined to effeminacy, indolence, sloth, gluttony, and sensuality. Others are inclined especially to anger and pride. We do not all climb the same slope toward the summit of perfection: those who are ...
21 Dec 2013
Those adult Catholics, who do not study their faith and persist in ignorance fall into intellectual sloth, leading to ignorance, for which one is culpable. In America and in Europe, I do not believe there is such a thing as invincible ...
01 Feb 2014
These are reviews of repeats this past week and long ago, but someone mentioned sloth to me and I guess I wanted to encourage this person on the way to perfection. Most Americans are work-alcoholics. We have the ...
21 Jun 2013
I have noted that anti-intellectualism is not only dividing the Church into groupings, but weakening the Church's ability to evangelize. Sloth is behind this anti-intellectualism, as sloth is not only a sin of the body but of the mind.
21 Jun 2013
Hence sloth implies a certain weariness of work, as appears from a gloss on Psalm 106:18, "Their soul abhorred all manner of meat," and from the definition of some who say that sloth is a "sluggishness of the mind which ...
