A book I am currently reading is Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us About Living, written by Peter Jones. 

While not explicitly religious or spiritual, the book explores the medieval articulation, usage, and influence of the Seven Deadly Sins as a help to embracing a moral and holy life.  

The book cover states, “Never in history . . . has so much energy and talent gone into studying how the mind works as in the medieval centuries. Although today we think of the Seven Deadly Sins as a catalog of forbidden behavior, in the Middle Ages, at the height of their currency, they were a path to self-knowledge and self-forgiveness.” 

When we think of pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust, we see how these seven categories are fundamental attitudes, thought patterns, and recurrent temptations before they become sinful actions. Indeed, all our sins are extensions of one of these deadly roots. 

If we do not make a valiant and prayerful effort to root out the power of these deadly sins in our lives, like a returning destructive weed, they will control our thoughts and actions and choke off the grace which the Lord offers us.

Pride, the premier deadly sin

Pride is the principal deadly sin, extending its reach all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when the serpent tempted Eve and Adam to throw off their relationship with God and to be their own gods, making their own autonomous decisions about what is good and bad, true and false, right and wrong. 

Pride is the root of all sin because it is an arrogant declaration of independence from God. 

All our sinful actions flow from a fundamental desire to exalt ourselves, to do our own thing, to turn freedom into license.  

The antidote to pride is humility, which is to live as a child of God: Grateful, docile, and obedient to His loving will.

I reflect and speak often about humility because it truly is the basis of the spiritual life, yet is often misunderstood. 

It is not self-hatred or a disingenuous denial of our dignity and gifts. Rather, humility is self-knowledge, simultaneously embracing our greatness as children of God destined for eternal life, and our abject poverty, for without God, we fall into nothingness. 

Etymologically, “humility” comes from the Latin “humus” which means “earth.” 

Humble people fly low to the ground, so that when they fall and fail, they do not have far to go. 

Humility not only saves us from pride, but also inoculates us against the other deadly sins, especially envy, greed, and anger.

Envy, anger, and lust

While the sins of pride are fundamentally against God, the sins of envy, anger, and lust are primarily against other people. 

 We resent what another possesses, we refuse to forgive what another has done against us, or we objectify another person through disordered desire.  

When we can understand both others and ourselves as children of God, created in His image and likeness, all equally loved by the Lord, we hopefully find it easier to stop sinning against our brothers and sisters. 

We do not need to possess, control, objectify, or resent others, because we live, move, and breathe in the sacred mystery of divine love. 

The saints beautifully exemplify such freedom.

Sloth, greed, and gluttony

The sins of sloth, greed, and gluttony are truly damaging to ourselves. 

Sloth blocks us from fulfilling God’s will and reaching our spiritual potential. 

Greed weighs us down with the deadly accumulation of created things, and gluttony dulls our inner sensitivities by sating ourselves with empty pleasures. 

If I am slothful, greedy, and gluttonous, I will probably also be more envious, angry, and lustful because I am so self-centered and self-absorbed, which of course leads us back to pride as the source of all our human trouble.

Growing in virtues

When we do our examination of conscience, either at the end of the day or in preparation for Confession, one possible template to guide our reflective introspection is the Seven Deadly Sins. 

In such a way, we can carefully examine our relationship with God, other people, and ourselves, seeking to ask forgiveness for our sins and seeking grace to make needed corrections. 

Another way to look at our growth in moral perfection is to realize which of the Seven Deadly Sins has the most hold and power in my life, and to seek to inculcate its opposite virtue. 

If my greatest sin is pride, I need to grow in humility; if it is greed, then generosity; if lust, then purity. 

In this fashion, we can slowly but surely root out the biggest sins that bring us down, cultivate a garden of virtue, and produce greater fruit for the Kingdom of God.