What is acedia? How to fight spiritual laxity [Video]

During this long period of Ordinary Time we may slack on our spiritual life or be bored right away as my granddaughter was on her first full day without school. A little of that is to be expected but what if it becomes a problem? What if we begin to avoid prayer and the practice of our faith? If we develop an aversion to our daily duties, become bored and drawn mostly to distractions, what’s going on? St. Evagrius, who lived in the Egyptian desert as an early monastic, wrote about something called acedia.

What is acedia? The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2733) calls it a form of depression caused by giving in to spiritual laxity or presumption. The Desert Fathers thought of it as a spiritual condition people can fall into with a complex set of symptoms, a spiritual malady, or even as a demon.

“[Acedia is] a …