Stress and Sloth

“Stress, overwork, stretching our mental and physical resources too thinly, too fast, or too often is a common characteristic of modern life. It is also an easy way of avoiding doing what we should be doing. Doing too much can be a form of sloth. If stress could be measured, it would be by the distance we have allowed to develop between our selves and ourselves, between body and mind, grace and nature, our work and God’s work…. It is often also related to a sense that what we are doing in the world, even successful and acclaimed work, is useless and meaningless. If we are not doing what we love, what we should be doing, everything we do will feel compromised or guilty.”

Laurence Freeman, O.S.B.