"Malice, rancor, pusillanimity, discouragement,
sluggishness, and dissipation of spirit."
"The soul began to set out on the way of the spirit,
... wherein God Himself teaches and refreshes the soul without meditation or any active efforts that itself may deliberately make."
Nevertheless the soul continues to struggle to remove the obstacles to this grace and to be faithful to it.
Hence, the necessity of purification
arises from the defects of beginners, which may be reduced to three:
spiritual pride, spiritual sensuality, and spiritual sloth.
Yet the mystical doctor considers only the disorder that results from them in our relations with God; he does not speak of all that taints our dealings with our neighbor and the apostolate which may be under our care.
Spiritual sensuality... spiritual gluttony, consists in being immoderately attached to sensible consolations ... The soul seeks these consolations for themselves, forgetting that they are not an end, but a means; In others, this selfseeking is in the exterior apostolate,
in some form or other of activity.
Spiritual sloth comes as a rule from the fact that, when spiritual gluttony or some other form of selfishness is not satisfied, one falls into impatience and a certain disgust for the work of sanctification as soon as it is a question of advancing by the "narrow way."
[It's] called acedia.
[It] leads to malice, rancor, pusillanimity, discouragement, sluggishness, and dissipation of spirit ... in regard to forbidden things.
Spiritual pride manifests itself quite frequently when spiritual gluttony or some other self-seeking is satisfied, when things go as one wishes; then a man boasts of his perfection, judges others severely, sets himself up as a master ...
To the defects of spiritual gluttony, spiritual sloth, and spiritual pride, are added many others:
curiosity, which decreases love of the truth;
sufficiency, which leads us to exaggerate our personal worth, to become irritated when it is not recognized;
jealousy and envy, which lead to disparagement, intrigues, and unhappy conflicts, which more or less seriously injure the general good.
Likewise in the apostolate, the defect rather frequent at this time is natural eagerness in self-seeking,
in making oneself a center,
in drawing souls to oneself or to the group to which one belongs instead of leading them to our Lord.
Finally, let trial, a rebuff, a disgrace come, and one is, in consequence, inclined to discouragement, discontent, sulkiness, pusillanimity, which seeks more or less to assume the external appearances of humility.
However ...
That's a good thing.Rancor ... the critical spirit ... often gives us away. - Adapted from Three Ages
Art: St. John imprisoned in the conventual jail in Toledo, incarcerated by his own brothers of the Ancient Observance. Teresa wrote to the king for his release, exclaiming: “I would rather see (him) among the Moors, for (he) might well show (him) more pity.” The king did not intervene.
