Today, let’s gently contrast the sin of laziness with the virtue of zeal. Zeal refers to eagerness and energy for glorifying God and serving others. In the Gospel for the Vigil Mass, Jesus accepts the fact St. Peter loves Him only as a friend, and yet Jesus tries to elevate him towards a love that is zealous. In the same way, Jesus loves us even when we struggle with laziness. So, let’s resist any discouragement because discouragement never comes from God.
St. John of the Cross says that, when we have the sin of sloth, which is laziness in spiritual things, we avoid spiritual practices because we get bored and don’t find satisfaction—this may be why we avoid long times in prayer, and, even on days off or on vacation, we don’t spend much time in prayer. He says, “Beginners [in the spiritual life] also become bored when told to do something unpleasant. Because they look for spiritual gratifications and delights, they are extremely lax in the fortitude and labor perfection demands. Like those who are reared in luxury, they run sadly from everything rough, and they are scandalized by the cross” (The Dark Night, 1,7,4).
There are two key words here: perfection and the cross. We’re called to perfection, to love perfectly, to love like Jesus. Perfect love is expressed on the Cross—that’s zeal.
Because we’re made for zeal, instinctively, none of us likes laziness. We’re not happy with ourselves. No young woman ever says, ‘I just met an amazing guy. He’s so lazy!’ No coach or athlete ever wants on the team that guy who doesn’t work hard. We want people who aim for perfection, people who are zealous and generous.
When we meditate on the Gospel of the Vigil Mass, we see St. Peter is called to perfection through the Cross, through self-giving. “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ [The Greek word Jesus uses here is agape, meaning, ‘Do you love me to the point of sacrifice?’] He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ [Peter replies using a different word for love, philia, that is, ‘I love you with the love of friendship,’ not sacrifice.] Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ [In other words, ‘If you love me, then take care of the Christian people.’] A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me [sacrificially]?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you [only as a friend].’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ [This is what we say to each other, ‘If you love me, then tell me, show me.’ We say to someone in our family, ‘If you love me, why don’t you hug me? Spend time with me, help me with the kids, with my homework, around the house. I need your help.’] He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me [as a friend? Here, Jesus switches to the word for friendship-love and accepts that Peter is weak. Peter knows he failed Jesus already; he tried to be faithful when Jesus was arrested but was unfaithful. But, the redeeming virtue of Peter is that he’s trying to be faithful—there is zeal here. This is why it says…]?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. [And here comes Jesus to the rescue: He’s going to help Peter reach perfection and show him the way to perfection] Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger [spiritually immature], you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God)” (Jn 21:15-19).
This painting by Caravaggio shows the tradition that St. Peter was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to be crucified like Christ.
Peter’s death glorified God because he gave all that he had. He loved Jesus the way Jesus loved him. Laziness forgets Jesus’ love. And it’s not true love of self; it’s selfishness.
So, let’s make a connection: There’s a connection between laziness and lust. They both focus us on ourselves to the harm of others. Deliberate sexual thoughts and pornography use other people for our sexual gratification. This is where zeal can help! Zeal asks the question, ‘How can I authentically love this person? How can I serve him or her?’ Service is part of the solution Jesus gives us for the sin of lust.
Some of us know this saying, ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.’ When we’re bored, temptation to lust comes. Keeping busy is important to avoiding temptation.
And we need to know what’s a normal level of busyness. Matthew Kelly suggests that, when we’re single and working, that’s the time when we should volunteer the most. In my opinion, we should be serving someone every day and volunteering multiple times a week. I learned this when I got to the seminary. At one point, I thought, ‘Thank God, the day is over,’ but it was only 2 p.m.! The monks and senior seminarians showed me that a normal day of following Christ is generous, sacrificial, and busier than I imagined.
Fr. Simon Lobo, CC, when assistant pastor at St. Benedict’s in Halifax, shared how seven young couples were part of the Baptismal Preparation team but many stepped down because they found it overwhelming. In comparison, he couldn’t remember a time when his own parents weren’t leading multiple ministries at the same time with three young children (Divine Renovation Apprentice, 122, 125).
There are different levels of health, capacity, and workload. So, if we suffer from laziness, we should err on the side of sacrifice rather than ease. We should get to the point that we’re so zealous that someone else must remind us to take it easy.
St. John of the Cross says, “They [People struggling with sloth] feel an aversion toward adapting their will to God’s… They frequently believe… that which brings them no satisfaction is not God’s will… They measure God by themselves and not themselves by God” (7,2). They think God only asks us to do what is comfortable; their comfort zone is the standard by which generosity is measured. But our measure should be what St. Paul writes in the Second Reading, “I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:6-7).
Today, let’s ask Jesus for His love. When we realize and accept how loved we are, that heals our hearts and gives us spiritual energy and zeal! And then we know that our strength comes from Jesus.
Jesus accepts that we’re weak. But we’re trying—and that’s precious to Him! And so, He gives us all we need, leads us to the Cross so that we can reach perfection.