Presumption as a Form of Laxity unto Spiritual Sloth

For many years it has been noticeable to me as a Roman Catholic layman that the deadly sin of presumption and the related sin of sloth are seldom mentioned, much less more deeply and even individually discussed. Consequently, neither is there much discussion of the largely unexpected interrelationship between prideful presumption and spiritual sloth: the former being one of the two sins against hope and the Holy Ghost, and the latter being the root of despair and a preparation for final despair.

Therefore, I have decided now to attempt presenting with clarity some of those important things I have harvested (or gleaned) over the years from my teachers concerning presumption and sloth as deadly sins. To honor more adequately some of my own formative teachers, I thus propose especially to consider the insights and the writings of men such as Evelyn Waugh, G.K. Chesterton, and Josef Pieper. Some of these insights I have already presented above in the three introductory Epigraphs to this essay; and I encourage the reader to read and savor them, also sequentially and even more than once, during any reading of this intentionally challenging essay.

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