12/12/2021

Monday evening at 5:30 PM we will have our Advent Penance Service. There will be a Soup Supper in the Parish Hall as usual, but we will not wait until everyone is done to have soup. As soon as you finish with confession, and perhaps your penance, you may go through the line and get soup or go on home if you wish. In the Parish Hall you may sit alone or with others, as you prefer. I encourage all to come and celebrate this sacrament. We will have 5 confessors, so it should not take a long time.
The last “deadly thought” is acedia. It comes from a weariness about life and especially commitments we make in life. One can become discouraged with lack of progress in the spiritual life, or question the point of one’s central life commitment or vocation, and then begin to waver in the practices which support that commitment. Some of the manifestations are a desire to leave the routine of life, to get out of our commitments (marriage or religious vows, for example) and a tendency to be distracted. In monastic life, it is known as the “Noon Day Devil” which tempts the hermit in the desert to leave his cell, which physically represents stability in his way of life, and do something more practical and productive. One often trades the “boring routine” of one’s commitment for a busy-ness about many things, some of which may be good in themselves, but in this context serve to distract one. Ironically enough, some of the “many things” may also involve the other seven “deadly thoughts.” For monks or priests, acedia often takes the form of neglecting the prayer life which is central to such a vocation. For a married couple, it takes the form of temptations to infidelity and a lack of trust which manifests itself in distractions from the marital communion and a turning in on him/herself and away from the gift of self which characterizes healthy marital relationships. In all forms of life, there is a disdain for the familiar and a growing doubt which causes a desire to give up. It can look a lot like a mid-life crisis.
The remedy for acedia is perseverance. It is to redouble one’s efforts to feed the spiritual life, to read, pray, to give generously of oneself, to dive more deeply into the spiritual commitment which is central to one’s life. We need to live deeply in the present moment. Acedia will lead us to idle curiosity, gossip, envy, anger – any activity which will distract us from our central commitment. These activities drown out the spiritual desire to live a life faithful to one’s commitments. They must be resisted by sustained and disciplined prayer which support our interior life, which acedia tells us does not exist.
I believe that it is commonplace to see the effects of acedia in our culture. The incredible busy-ness of our culture provides ample distractions from developing a deeper interior life. Ironically, acedia was dropped from the list of sins when they become the “Seven Capital Sins.” The “forgotten” eighth deadly thought may have been dropped from the list, but it still exists and manifests its fruit in our culture today. In a culture rife with people suffering from acedia, where our “busy-ness” does not allow us to be in touch with our spiritual longings, the quiet waiting of Advent gives way to the celebrations of Christmas. But if we are not in touch with our spiritual longings, then the full import of Christmas and the incarnation has less impact on us and our culture. Let us immerse ourselves in the mystery of the incarnation as we approach Christmas, seeking peace through forgiveness and an appreciation of our spiritual lives.
May we open our hearts to God’s grace as this Advent!

Father Albert, O.S.B.