Sloth is not a sin of youth. It is the noonday devil, a temptation that befalls a man in the middle of his life, in the situation when he has to decide on a “second conversion.” It is a temptation of the spirit that has been disillusioned by life, so much so, that its full significance was recognized first among educated men, in the cells of the monks.

But for Christians, there is so much for which we can and must hope, and so little time.