In a world with so much pain, suffering and sin, what good is it to hope?

Growing up, I saw a few movies that depicted a pretty miserable situation: a destitute character was frightfully stuck in quicksand, helplessly sinking to a certain death. Only the likes of Batman, the Lone Ranger or another superhero could save the day and rob death of its victim. One comedian to throw a bit of levity upon his childhood memories of these movies quipped: “Growing up, I always thought quicksand would be a bigger problem than it turned out to be!” 

I have to agree, thankfully I’ve never had to deal with quicksand, nor have I known it to be a major source of worry for very many. But, spiritually speaking, the experience of sinking and losing hope is quite common and can become extremely devastating.

Many people struggle with the quicksand of depression, despair, scrupulosity and helplessness. Political unrest, injustices, sickness, family ruptures and insidious addictions are just some of the realities that ensnare us leaving us with an overwhelming sense of sorrow. Amid this, a soul can easily become convinced in its weakness that there is no hope, no reason to struggle, no reason to persevere.  But, what superhero can rescue us from sinking into immense sorrow?

The superheroes we need might not be wearing a cape, but rather are good friends who communicate well: a loving family member, a good Catholic counselor, the merciful listening ear of priests in the sacrament of confession. In addition to these good friends, sinking souls may gain great spiritual strength when they realize we are fighting the sleeping demon, sloth (one of the seven deadly sins). 

In his writings in the Summa Theologica concerning sloth, St. Thomas Aquinas explains that this deadly sin is “…sorrow in the Divine  good about which  charity rejoices”—in other words, sloth is being sad about the things of God. Sloth subtly convinces us that God’s not working, and that our only option is to sin against hope through presumption or despair.

In the midst of sinking in the storm, the disciples yelled at Jesus (who was sleeping), “Lord, do you not care that we are sinking!” (cf. Mk 4:38). Yet, in His slumber, Jesus was more awake than the wide-eyed apostles… He calmed their fears and the storm. Laziness, and the sweet sadness that creeps into our hearts when we lose our devotion and fervor, manifest the subtle power of this demon sloth. It can make us think many foolish things like “Why should I pray, what difference does it make?” Or, “Why should I carefully vote following my Catholic faith, it doesn’t matter.” And, “I’m just going to sit and indulge myself right now because nobody is perfect.” Or, “I am justified sulking in my anger because I don’t see things getting any better.” These attitudes Jesus detests in His words to the Church in Laodecia “you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (cf. Rev 3:16). Yikes!
 
Amidst sloth’s hideous temptation to immense sorrows, we must not fail to persevere in prayer. St. Ignatius of Loyola’s Rule for Discernment #5 is crucial here… “amidst spiritual desolation (sinking) do not change your spiritual practices” (keep praying).

We can do no better than to look upon our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Sorrows, and see how she alone, above all else, followed Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, faithfully to the foot of the Cross and did not despair, did not lose hope. While she wept and witnessed such horrors, she did not flinch for a second or wallow in sorrows. Instead, she crushed the evil head of the demon sloth by standing stronger than any woman at the foot of the Cross. We, too, can easily remain steadfast in our faith by faithfully reciting the Holy Rosary with Our Blessed Mother each day.

Fr. John Paul Gardner is parochial vicar at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck.  If you have a question you were afraid to ask, now is the time to ask it! Simply email your question to [email protected] with the “Question Afraid to Ask” in the subject line.