When does one consent to acedia?

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I still pray, but my 100% happiness is not from God, I still have a particular attachment to material things. I’ll be honest, I try to get happiness from both: God and my hobbies. And Acedia was defined as ‘‘refusing joy that comes from God’’ did I succumb to acedia?
 
ResoluteSheep said:
I still pray, but my 100% happiness is not from God, I still have a particular attachment to material things. I’ll be honest, I try to get happiness from both: God and my hobbies. And Acedia was defined as ‘‘refusing joy that comes from God’’ did I succumb to acedia?
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Simply having hobbies or enjoying material things does* not *mean one has committed “acedia”.

Enjoying a hobby is not per se refusing the joy that comes from God.

(now if you say refused to go to Sunday Mass …and maybe even said …I do not need God I have my hobby…well that would be bad).

Hobbies and material things - are gifts* from God.*

God does not will that that you never enjoy his gifts.
 
Bookcat said:
Simply having hobbies or enjoying material things does* not *mean one has committed “acedia”.

Enjoying a hobby is not per se refusing the joy that comes from God.

(now if you say refused to go to Sunday Mass …and maybe even said …I do not need God I have my hobby…well that would be bad).

Hobbies and material things - are gifts* from God.*

God does not will that that you never enjoy his gifts.
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Would it count if I found praying long prayers boring sometimes? I mean when praying the Rosary at times my mind wanders and I can’t seem to focus on the mysteries. Then I get all restless and have feelings of ‘‘irritation’’ and stuff like that (but it could be due to my anxiety though)

I won’t skip mass just for some hobby, but I’m just worried as I don’t feel ‘‘on fire’’ when serving God
 
Bookcat said:
Simply having hobbies or enjoying material things does* not *mean one has committed “acedia”.

Enjoying a hobby is not per se refusing the joy that comes from God.

(now if you say refused to go to Sunday Mass …and maybe even said …I do not need God I have my hobby…well that would be bad).

Hobbies and material things - are gifts* from God.*

God does not will that that you never enjoy his gifts.
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Also in addition to that, I don’t think I can ever choose my hobby over God as if my love for God and desire for Heaven isn’t strong, the fear of hell is still barring me from making such grave decisions haha. But still feel bad as I’m more worried about myself than how God feels
 
ResoluteSheep said:
Would it count if I found praying long prayers boring sometimes? I mean when praying the Rosary at times my mind wanders and I can’t seem to focus on the mysteries. Then I get all restless and have feelings of ‘‘irritation’’ and stuff like that (but it could be due to my anxiety though)

I won’t skip mass just for some hobby, but I’m just worried as I don’t feel ‘‘on fire’’ when serving God
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Long things …can yes bring that feeling and ones mind can wander.

Does not mean one has committed acedia.

It means your mind wondered and you felt tired from the long prayer or got restless etc.

You do not have to “feel on fire” in serving God!

Such is not the measure.
 
Man does not have a despotic control over his emotions…(and even spiritual experiences that spill over into the emotions are not given constantly).

Ones “feelings” is not measure of the spiritual life or any life of love.

A father may not feel love for their child at a tired moment of the day …or a husband may not feel love for his wife here and now.

(feelings come and go…)

He still loves them and does what he does from love.
 
ResoluteSheep said:
Also in addition to that, I don’t think I can ever choose my hobby over God as if my love for God and desire for Heaven isn’t strong, the fear of hell is still barring me from making such grave decisions haha.
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Seek to find God in ordinary life. One can love God and offer him the good hobby even that one is doing and enjoy. Seek a “unity of life”. Meaning live ones Christian life without separating that of God and that of ordinary life - God is present and one can offer all ones ordinary life to him and find him there…not only in Church and in times set aside for Prayer.

God the Father is your loving Father…think of him analogy the way a human Father enjoys watching his children play. He loves them when they come and want to be with him directly and also when they are simply playing in his presence.
 
Live in God. Live in the loving presence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Who are present everywhere and hold all things in existence.

Furthermore God dwell in us …in our Soul. We are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Indeed the Holy Trinity dwells in us.

Remind yourself of this loving presence. Make little acts of love or of faith or of hope…or other little prayers often during the day. The name of Jesus. Or Lord I love you. etc. Be though simple and without anxiety about it. A little short aspiration of love…a little prayer of trust etc from time to time.

A glance at a crucifix etc.too is helpful or a medal one wears etc to can be helpful.
 
ResoluteSheep said:
I still pray, but my 100% happiness is not from God, I still have a particular attachment to material things. I’ll be honest, I try to get happiness from both: God and my hobbies. And Acedia was defined as ‘‘refusing joy that comes from God’’ did I succumb to acedia?
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Who made that definition? I have never heard of sloth described in that way. You say you don’t feel “on fire.” I never do. Feelings are a poor criterion to judge our spiritual state. You’re not sinful just because you feel you’re sinful. You’re not righteous just because you feel you’re righteous. Moreover, deriving happiness from some innocuous thing or activity in this world is not sinful at all. If it were, then we’d all be doomed for admiring and appreciating spring flowers or beautiful music.

Rest assured that what you mention is not sin. More likely than not, it is merely the anxiety you described elsewhere.
 
Bookcat said:
The Church:

“- acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness.”

(Catechism of the Catholic Church).
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OK, thanks for the citation. However, this doesn’t seem so much a definition as it does an extent. Doing a little research, a better definition seems to be found in paragraph 2733, concerning difficulties in prayer: “Another temptation, to which presumption opens the gate, is acedia. The spiritual writers understand by this a form of depression due to lax ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of heart.”

Looking here – and at other writers like St Thomas Aquinas and John Cassian – we have a fuller definition of acedia or sloth. What the OP is suffering is surely not acedia.
 
ResoluteSheep said:
I still pray, but my 100% happiness is not from God, I still have a particular attachment to material things. I’ll be honest, I try to get happiness from both: God and my hobbies. And Acedia was defined as ‘‘refusing joy that comes from God’’ did I succumb to acedia?
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Modern Catholic Dictionary:

ACCIDIE (acedia). One of the seven capital sins. Sloth or laziness as a state of mind that finds the practice of virtue troublesome. It is not so much a repugnance of conviction as of indifference to God and to the practice of one’s religion.
 
thistle said:
Modern Catholic Dictionary:

ACCIDIE (acedia). One of the seven capital sins. Sloth or laziness as a state of mind that finds the practice of virtue troublesome. It is not so much a repugnance of conviction as of indifference to God and to the practice of one’s religion.
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Thanks Thistle, I don’t really get the last part though? It is not so much a repugnance of conviction as of indifference to God
 
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