The Seven
...if you find yourself obsessing on someone, on some physical injury, or on some painful conversation, you risk becoming a bitter person obsessed with revenge, which is the sin of anger. If you let your soul feel total contempt and loathing for someone, and if you're always insulting and censuring them in your mind, you're living with envy. If you give in to a feeling of malaise and exhaustion, that's laziness. On the other hand, if you find yourself entertaining ideas so pleasant that you could rest in them forever, only to realize that these thoughts are all about your own natural goodness, accomplishments, intelligence, talents, position, or beauty, this is pride. And if you dwell on your wealth and what you own (or want to own), then that's greed. If you're preoccupied with lots and lots of food and drink and only the best will do, you know gluttony. And if you're seduced by an inordinate love for giving or receiving flattery and by a deep-seated need to be liked, or by sexual pleasure, this is lust.
- from Chapter 10, The Cloud of Unknowing
My parish is near a rather large assortment of destination places - national parks and the like - so we get a lot of out of town visitors. It's obvious who they are since we are very small.
ReplyDeleteWhen there is a large number of visitors, Father will begin by introducing himself and then he'll say "We like to invite our visitors to come to the front and share with us which of the seven deadly sins they are struggling with."
It's really very funny. But no one has taken him up on it yet...
That's very funny. I'm contemplating asking my painting students if they can name the seven deadly sins, just to confuse them. A few weeks ago I found a stack of copies of Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find, brought them in the studio, announced that any student who reads the story would get extra credit. They thought I was serious!
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