Sloth can be a difficult sin to identify. The other capital sins are “active” sins: we consciously choose to do something evil. Sloth is a sin of omission: we fail to do something good. It is easy to dismiss because we’re not actively doing any harm—or so we think.
You might be familiar with the parable of the three servants entrusted with different numbers of talents. The classic interpretation of this parable says that the talents represent our different gifts and abilities. Some people have more, some less, but we’re all called to use our gifts for God. Recently I heard an alternative interpretation…
We’ve already talked about the Catholic view of work and reasons why we perform work for God, others, and ourselves. But schoolwork presents different challenges and opportunities. Here are five deeper reasons why we work and study in school, beyond grades and college applications.