Is sloth always a mortal sin?

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Hello.

Yesterday was the last day of school for me.

Anyways, from waking up early for 180 days, I decided to sleep in, because I was tired from waking up early the last week.

I would say I slept for a good 11 hours.

What exactly IS sloth?

We must also remember that a mortal sin is the total destruction of Gods grace. How can sleeping an extra 3-4 hours be a total destruction of Gods grace? (Unless constantly)

Opinions?
Thank you!
 
The sin was not in sleeping in, especially if you had a sleep deficit to make up which I strongly suspect you did if you slept 11 hours. This sin was in skipping school. I don’t imagine it would have been mortal.
 
I’m pretty sure that sloth is a sin only when the laizyness gets in the way of your spiritual good, that is, when you start to love leisure more than God.
 
Like many things, I think the intention of the act is important. If you are finished with school, and have no other obligations that would be interrupted, then I think sleeping in is fine.

God bless,
Bryan
 
If you’re referring to how sloth is one of the cardinal sins then you have to keep in mind that the cardinal sins aren’t really meant to be taken in the sense of individual acts. They can be individual acts, but they’re called cardinal (or hinge) sins because they’re deeply rooted tendencies and attitudes that can even become spiritualized as we progress in holiness. i.e. You can go from being proud about your socioeconomic status to being proud about your religious status. They’re more along the lines of what the East terms “passions”. That being said, in the East they use the terms listlessness, despondency, or acedia to refer to sloth. It’s not just an act of laziness, but more-so a form of suffering engrained in the soul that makes a person feel empty and/or apathetic. A person can actually be afflicted with sloth and be the busiest freaking person you know.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, *“Acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by diving goodness” *(CCC 2094).
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the sin of sloth can lead to other terrible sins, such as despair, lust, and gluttony.

Sloth is laziness, and there are 2 types of laziness. One type, for example, is being too lazy to do your homework, to wash the car, to do your chores, etc… This is usually a venial sin. It gets more serious when you refuse to work and money problems set in, you can’t feed your family, etc. It becomes mortal when it starts getting in the way of your worship of God. The mortal sin of sloth is refusing to work at our heavenly task. This is “spiritual laziness.” An example that I can think of is being too lazy to go to Sunday Mass, being too lazy to do charitable works, etc… This type of Sloth violates the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

The Lord does not want us to be lazy. Laziness can bring about poverty (not working), can affect your health (too lazy to go to the doctor, to go to the gym), relationship problems (too lazy to do something nice for my wife and kids), etc… Laziness can certainly bring about bad in the end result. This affects our relationship with God.
The Lord gave us special gifts, talents, blessings, and so on. He expects us to use these gifts to do good, be charitable, and to strive for Heaven.
 
JD27076 said:
Schools over for me, though. …
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I thought you were saying you skipped your last day of school yesterday. I guess your original post could be interpreted either way, now that I look over it again.

If it’s today, not yesterday, that you slept in and you didn’t have any responsibilities that you were neglecting, why would catching up on your sleep be a sin at all?

Just be sure to get to bed at a reasonable time tonight to avoid developing a wacky sleep pattern.
 
JD27076 said:
Hello.

Yesterday was the last day of school for me.

Anyways, from waking up early for 180 days, I decided to sleep in, because I was tired from waking up early the last week.

I would say I slept for a good 11 hours.

What exactly IS sloth?

We must also remember that a mortal sin is the total destruction of Gods grace. How can sleeping an extra 3-4 hours be a total destruction of Gods grace? (Unless constantly)

Opinions?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Modern Catholic Dictionary:

SLOTH. Sluggishness of soul or boredom because of the exertion necessary for the performance of a good work. The good work may be a corporal task, such as walking; or a mental exercise, such as writing; or a spiritual duty, such as prayer. Implicit in sloth is the unwillingness to exert oneself in the performance of duty because of the sacrifice and the effort required. As a sin, it is not to be confused with mere sadness over the inconvenience involved in fulfilling one’s obligations, nor with the indeliberate feelings of repugnance when faced with unpleasant work. It becomes sinful when the reluctance is allowed to influence the will and, as a result, what should have been done is either, left undone or performed less well than a person is responsible for doing. Sloth may also mean a repugnance to divine inspirations or the friendship of God due to the self-sacrifice and labor needed to co-operate with actual grace or to remain in the state of grace. This kind of laziness is directly opposed to the love of God and is one of the main reasons why some people, perhaps after years of virtuous living, give up in the pursuit of holiness or even become estranged from God. (Etym. Middle-English slowthe, slow.)
 
Personally I think it is rarely a mortal sin. Unless someone hangs around doing nothing every day, I think we are entitled to time off every once in a while.

Most people work hard for a living or while in school or with daily chores. I do not see anything sinful in relaxing and catching up on some much needed R and R.

And if leisure is a mortal sin, then what about all the retired folks. After 30 or 40 years of working and 12 to 20 years of study, are not folks entitled to a more laid back pace.
 
JD27076 said:
Hello.

Yesterday was the last day of school for me.

Anyways, from waking up early for 180 days, I decided to sleep in, because I was tired from waking up early the last week.

I would say I slept for a good 11 hours.

What exactly IS sloth?

We must also remember that a mortal sin is the total destruction of Gods grace. How can sleeping an extra 3-4 hours be a total destruction of Gods grace? (Unless constantly)

Opinions?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
I am a college student and the semester just wrapped up for me a few days ago ! I am so so happy !!! You have no idea !!! HAHAHAH !!! 😃 You know I was up till 11:30 am typing up a paper for my film class…I do not know if you stay up late to do homework/studying but I do it all the time!!! It is pretty normal for me to be in bed by 4-5 am because I am doing homework or just goofing off on the internet like I always do
 
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