Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Sloth is sluggishness of mind which neglects to begingood. It is a kind of oppressive sorrow (for what is, in itself,good) which so weighs on a person's mind that he chooses to donothing. Sloth is spiritual laziness. It is a sin, and a capitalsin.
2. Sloth is sorrow for spiritual good. It is a specialvice opposed to charity. For charity rejoices in the good whichsloth finds the occasion for sadness.
3. Sloth is, therefore, by its nature, contrary tocharity, and, by that fact, it is a mortal sin in its genus orgeneral essential kind. Yet, like all sins that are mortal in theirgenus, sloth is not mortal in fact, unless it be fully accepted bythe deliberate will.
4. Sloth is rightly listed among the capital (or source)sins-from which many other sins flow.
"This is the greatest wisdom -- to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. "
Thomas á Kempis
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"Men should often renew their good resolutions, and not lose heart because they are tempted against them."
St Philip Neri
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"When the devil has failed in making a man fall, he puts forward all his energies to create distrust between the penitent and the confessor, and so by little and little he gains his end at last."
St Philip Neri
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