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This week we are continuing our Lenten series using the prayer of Saint Ephrem. If you missed last week’s episode, go back and listen and get up to speed on what we’re doing. This prayer goes back about 1800 years. It is used around the time of Lent. Here is how it goes:
The Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephrem
O Lord and Master of my life!
Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust for power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Your servant.
Yes, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother; For You are blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.
A. Today I want to focus on the first two negative parts of the prayer. Sloth and Faint-heartedness.
- Acedia: “The demon of acedia, also called the ‘noonday devil,’ is the most oppressive of all demons.” Evagrius of Pontus
B. The basic disease is Sloth
- It is that strange laziness and passivity that pushes us down, not up.
- Procrastination is one of its manifestations
- Sloth constantly convinces us that not changing is desirable.
- It is in fact a deeply rooted cynicism, which to every spiritual challenge responds “what for?” and makes our life one tremendous spiritual waste.
- Sloth “It is the root of all sin because it poisons the spiritual energy at its very source.” [Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent, p. 34]
- “Carelessness is the initial phase of sin.”
- “I fear that we in the mass media are creating such a market for mediocrity that we’ve diminished the incentive for excellence. We celebrate notoriety as though it were an achievement. Fame has come to mean being recognized by more people who don’t know anything about you. In politics, we have encouraged the displacement of thoughtfulness by the artful cliché.” [Citation: Ted Koppel, on receiving the “Broadcaster of the Year” award. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 3.]
- Prov. 12:24, Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave.
- Prov. 15:19, A lazy person has trouble all through life; the path of the upright is easy! (NLT)
- Prov. 18:9, A lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things.
- Prov. 19:24, The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
- Prov. 21:25, The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work;
C. The result of Sloth is faint-heartedness
- It is the state of the soul, which the Church Fathers considered the greatest danger to the soul.
- Despondency makes it impossible to see the good or the positive; it is the reduction of everything to pessimism.
- It is a demonic power because the Devil is fundamentally a liar.
- He lies about God and about the world;
- Satan fills life with darkness.
- Faint-heartedness (despondency) is the suicide of the soul because when one is possessed by it he is absolutely unable to see the light and to desire it.
Practical Lessons Learned in Dealing with Sloth and Faintheartedness (Acedia)
- See it, but Don’t Feed it.
- Submit it to God in Prayer
- Overcome Evil with Good
- Feed on Scripture, Prayer, and Worship until restored
- With Reflection/Contemplation
- With Obedience: Do the next right thing
Daily Practice:
- Prayer and Devotional Reading using The Book of Common Prayer (or whatever you use)
- The Lenten Prayer of St Ephrem
- Journaling can be helpful
- During prayer, a “little seed” or thought may come to the surface, follow it.
Recommended Resources
- Book of Common Prayer App
- Acedia and its Discontents: Metaphysical Boredom in an Empire of Desire by R.J. Snell
- The Noonday Devil: Acedia, the Unnamed Evil of Our Times by Jean-Charles Nault
- Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer’s Life by Kathleen Norris
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I am among the more than two dozen missionaries supported by the Foursquare Missions International Global Missions Fund. To support our global missions efforts, visit The Global Missions Fund.
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Debbie and I serve as the FMI Global Associate Director for MENACA and Europe. We focus on cultivating disciples, leaders, and church planting movements.
