Sloth 11 - Dissed
Today we are taking a look at the passions of discouragement and self-pity and all the other disses.
Lord, we praise and worship you. Please remove from us all negative influences, keep us from sharing negativity with others and bless us with a peace that emits a positive and hopeful demeanor that others will find appealing and contagious. Guide us to see the good, the true, and beautiful in all that surrounds us; nature, people, situations, and more. Give us the strength to counter the culture of canceling others. Instead, grant us the virtue and characteristics of building others up and steering them towards heaven. Amen
Discouragement is the devil’s main uncreative and predictable tactic used against the serious faith-filled fighter. Satan knows that God is more powerful than he is and that Christians fight with God’s strength. He knows that in a straight-out battle, he loses. So, his only chance of having success is if he can seduce us into outright rebellion. To get us to put down our weapons, and our defenses and to stop fighting. He uses every possible discouraging weapon. He tells us that we are spiritual failures, too sinful, annoying, and/or forgotten by God and that the journey to holiness is too long, too hard.
A person who struggles with sloth will be easily discouraged. They are looking for a reason to give up. They often do not persevere in difficult tasks, and they are easily paralyzed by insults.
Feeling disliked or criticized is another tactic. It leads to self-pity. How can we be open to criticism, and invite it in, without feeling emotionally attacked? If we know that we need direction and we have a growth mindset, then why do we feel offended when others offer correction, question us, or offer advice. It's an issue of pride. It is likely rooted in childhood insecurity when were we publicly corrected and embarrassed or humiliated. Yet, if we know the correction is meant for good, and there is always a nugget of truth and goodness in correction, even bad and negative or ill-willed correction, why is it so hard to accept, embrace and receive it? Especially when this comes from someone that loves us and that we love.
Contemplating Joseph and Jesus’ relationship and knowing that in those times fathers taught their sons the family trade, Joseph must have had to receive correction, and criticism and been discouraged as an apprentice. Then on top of that, he has Jesus as his son and although we know Jesus was obedient to Joseph, there may have been moments when Joseph also learned from his son. This is why Joseph is a pillar for families, a model of workers, a lover of poverty, and most prudent. I have no doubts Joseph was a passionate man, sensitive, and caring, so in him, we see a model of how to be imperfect, yet always in relationship and courageously defending Christ and providing an example of true selflessness, charity, and humility.
It may be that when we find out someone dislikes us or is critical of our work, we collapse inside and self-doubt and self-pity rise up within us. It is a form of self-preservation, a defense mechanism. It’s the devil’s ploy to keep us from developing and growing in selflessness, charity, and humility.
When we have courage and humble ourselves like Joseph to receive being dissed because we begin to know what we are truly capable of, we find our strength, and we trust others and ourselves to recognize our gifts. We are not dissuaded easily.
Satan crafts his attack on each of our unique personal vulnerabilities. The temptation is always the same: to stop fighting the spiritual battle.
We need to keep our minds strong and alert knowing that discouragement never comes from God. Christ always imparts courage even when he is correcting us. The devil always robs us of courage even when he is flattering us. Refuse to listen to the devil’s lies and cast away quickly any lingering feelings of dejection or sadness in God’s sight. Remember we are beloved sons of our Father. Recall God's constant presence and care for us.
Other disses are disillusionment, distraction, discontent, disdain, distortion, disregard, and disrespect. Dis as a Latin prefix means: lack of, opposite of, apart, asunder, away, having a negative or reversing force. These are the tools of the devil to keep us in lust, greedy, unsatisfied, longing, bored, threatened, joyless, and anxious. In a state opposite of what God wants, in reverse of His desire for us.
Disrespect can creep in when we allow a kind of numbness of our soul and we fail to regard others. We can use them. Men particularly struggle to regard the dignity of women. We can easily objectify women and use them for our own purposes. We refrain from thinking about who she is as a person; only about how her body interests us.
Sloth, like all sin, manifests itself in disorder, in disorganized lives, in wrong priorities, and in moral ambiguity or equivalency. When we marginalize our sin, we may manifest disdain for authority or hold on to others’ sins while minimizing our own. We treat others with disrespect and are disillusioned. Satan wants us to have a distorted view of God and His love for us.
No matter what difficulties we may face, let’s keep our minds strong and refuse to be drawn into a fruitless net of self-pity, and treat others with dignity and charity. As we do so, the Lord will aid us with his grace and foil the enemy’s plans to distract and defeat us.
God, thank you for the example of St. Joseph. Help us to imitate his patience, charity, and humility, and to treat others with respect and dignity as fellow beloved sons and daughters of yours. Grant us the mindset to learn from others even when the information is communicated in a way that offends us. Guide us in finding the good, the true,
and the beautiful in all correction and to be able to correct others in a positive way that is well received. Amen
