The ancients called it “sloth”; For the church it is a capital vice: “Today this evil of the soul” is a great reminder of the descriptions… Already a subscriber? Login here!
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The ancients called it “sloth”; For the Church it is a capital vice: “Today this evil of the soul” is very reminiscent of the descriptions of the sphere of depression: a progressive letting go, the feeling of being crushed by the longing for impending death, and in fact is Acedia “a little bit.” like dying early. Continuing his catechesis on the mortal sins, Pope Francis returns this morning to a theme that has often arisen in these ten years of the pontificate: the slow collapse of many Christians towards indifference to everything, aloofness, disinterest in what surrounds us, to…even weakening our own faith. A kind of “depression”, both from a psychological and philosophical point of view. In fact, for those gripped by indolence, life loses its meaning, prayer becomes boring, every struggle seems meaningless, he explained. If we had passions in our youth, now they seem illogical to us, dreams that did not make us happy. So we let ourselves go and distraction, not thinking, seems like the only way out: we want to be numb, to have our minds completely empty. It's a bit like dying early. And it is a dangerous temptation.
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The desire for death becomes more urgent in these contexts and those who fall victim to it end up becoming ill and feeling disgust for life itself. “One begins to regret the passage of time and the youth that is irretrievably behind us lies. Sloth is defined as a “midday demon: it catches us in the middle of the day, when fatigue is at its peak and the hours ahead seem monotonous and impossible to live,” the Pope preaches to thousands of faithful in the Paul VI Hall.
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Francis proposes as a remedy what he calls “the patience of faith,” which consists of “having the courage to remain and accept the presence of God in my “here and now,” in my situation as it is (. ..) How many people, in the grip of inertia, driven by a faceless restlessness, have foolishly left the path of goodness that they had chosen!». A path of meditation and spirituality.
On other occasions, Pope Francis has pointed to faith and spirituality as an antidote to depression, anxiety crises, dangerous self-devaluation and low self-esteem. Almost a therapeutic journey. Bergoglio always paid attention to psychology and introspection, or how to deal with people's dark evils. He himself, he said at the beginning of his pontificate many years ago, when he was a young priest, had to resort for a certain time to a few sessions with a Freudian psychoanalyst of the Jewish faith, who helped him get out of a complicated period.
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