The need for prayer …

… Evelyn Waugh in the Light of Eternity| National Catholic Register. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… we need to be very precise about the provenance of such ailments as boredom, sloth or ennui,because it is deeply and inescapably theological. Sloth, for example, is among the Seven Deadly Sins, sometimes called Capital Sins, because they have the capacity to beget still other sins. Just as, for example, anger can lead to acts of brutishness and murder, so too can sloth lead to despair and suicide. It is the sin against the Holy Spirit, the taxonomists of sin tell us, which cannot be forgiven so long as one remains in that forlorn state. Not until, that is, one is actually moved to ask God for forgiveness can one overcome its particular malice.