Countering Acedia with the Patience of Faith and Baby-Steps

Pope Francis is currently offering a series of short and helpful catecheses during his Wednesday Audience on Virtues and Vices. You can find them on the Vatican website by searching, “Cycles of Catechesis: Vices and Virtues.” On Ash Wednesday he offered a teaching on the Vice of Acedia that is simple yet offers fresh insight to this often confusing, medieval sounding word.

Acedia is a capital sin, meaning it engenders other sin, thus making it more problematic. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, entry 2094 mentions the facet of acedia or “spiritual sloth” that, “goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and (is) repelled by divine goodness.” Later, in paragraph 2733 acedia is described in relation to presumption: “The spiritual writers understand by (acedia) a form of depression due to lax ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of heart. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.””

The Greek translation of acedia is, “lack of care”. Once this vice has a hold of our way of life, we cease to find joy in what is joyful, cease to find beauty in what is beautiful, cease to find much point in anything at all. The word “care” is related to the word “caritas” or love. We see here the connection between acedia and the cardinal virtue of Love. The opposite of Love is not hate, but indifference. The danger of the vice of acedia is thus exposed. It attacks our very Love of life, of others, of God.

The catechism does not offer a simple, pat definition of acedia, testifying to the slipperiness, the complexity of this vice, and perhaps, as implied in Pope Francis’ teaching, the slipperiness of the demon associated with it. Pope Francis speaks of a “battle”, of “ugliness” of a danger, “which one must not joke about.” He further says, “Acedia is defined as the “noonday devil”: it grips us in the middle of the day, when fatigue is at its peak and the hours ahead of us seem monotonous, impossible to live.”

This personification of the vice of acedia has been considered literal, especially by monastics, throughout Church history. In our time it is often considered symbolic. From reading Pope Francis’ teaching, and knowing of his other teachings on demonic activity, the reader could conclude that he wishes to teach us to acknowledge all factors behind any vice, including acedia, not only psychological and personal factors, but the very real realm of the spiritual as well. Knowing the enemy is a significant part of the battle.

Pope Francis offers a simple, gentle, two-fold method of opposing the vice of Acedia: the patience of faith and setting smaller goals. This simple duo offers a more human approach, which also allows for God’s grace, rather than assuming that we can entirely control our battles against vice. This gentleness, combined with knowledge of the enemy, is a method which asks us to be firm with that enemy while still being gentle with ourselves, and helps us not to fall into the trap of, “what’s the USE!”.

In classical theology each vice is taught as having one main opposing virtue the practice of which will help the Christian to “conquer” that vice. Acedia’s classical opposing virtue is taught as diligence. This is indeed an excellent virtue for anyone from an athlete, a student, a professional to a Christian hoping to progress away from vice, deeper into a life of virtue. However, the mere word “diligence” is a challenge because it seems to leave little room for grace. It is an overwhelming word that suggests the battle is mine alone, and whether I succeed or fail will be a testament to my love for God.

Patient in Faith and Smaller Goals are more encouraging for weak, little ones like me, who need to be always totally surrendered to God’s will in the present moment. I know that I am not capable, in my own strength, of trying to work my way out of anything, least of all an opponent as formidable as the “noonday devil”. It is much more manageable for me to think, “What can I do today or even right now to continue on the path of faith, hope and love, according to the dictates of my state in life?” Prayerfully discerning the answer to that question and then doing the next, right thing, with God’s grace is a bite-sized way of opposing the vice of acedia.

“Patient Faith” is like utilizing baby-steps in the spiritual life.  Rather than making a herculean effort, followed by an almost inevitable crash-and-burn, taking baby-steps has the dual benefit of aiding humility and slowly, creating real forward progress in countering the vice of acedia, or any other vice. Being Patient in Faith means I do not hope for overnight eradication of a vice like Acedia, nor expect to never fall. When a baby takes steps, he often falls. Patiently he gets up again and tries to continue his progress, especially if he is hearing the encouragement of a loving parent. God is the most loving parent and will always encourage us to keep trying, to take another baby-step, and not to worry about the pace of progress. Placing one baby-foot in front of another, prayer and trust, prayer and trust, God can make great progress in us against acedia, while keeping us humble and helping us to grow in patience, faith and all manner of virtue.

Further in Catechism paragraph 2733 the writers continue, “The greater the height, the harder the fall. Painful as discouragement is, it is the reverse of presumption. The humble are not surprised by their distress; it leads them to trust more, to hold fast in constancy”. If we are spiritually little, and taking baby-steps, we won’t have far to fall. This will help us to more quickly get up again, and thus be more constant in our efforts. We remember that we are little, and though our enemy is big, our Abba is WAY bigger, and He has good, patient plans for us to overcome acedia, together.

Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes each week to read Pope Francis’ short, helpful teachings on vice, virtue and living this Christian life. The advice is both timely and timeless. The brevity makes the teachings easy to integrate (with a little prayer) into thought. And the grace of listening to our Papa is a bonus.

Lord, we long to serve you in love and constancy, but we are little. Please help, guide and encourage us as we make baby-steps in the patience of faith, towards You, who are Love itself, and away from acedia and all vice.