Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/283

 vi. The sixth is rancour and jealousy of spiritual persons on account of their virtues and good example, which upbraid me; or because I am offended with the advice and correction I receive from them.

vii. The seventh is idleness in losing that precious time which Almighty God has given me to labour; as also overmuch sleep and drowsiness in good works, especially in the spiritual works of prayer, reading, mass, sermons, and discourse concerning Almighty God, through the small delight I take in it

viii. The eighth is wandering amid divers unlawful and vain things to entertain myself; as are voluntary distractions of thought and imagination, gossiping and looseness of tongue in idle words, vain sports, witnessing profane spectacles, curiosity of the senses, lounging of the body, walking up and down the public places here and there for pastime and recreation, and desiring change, being constant in nothing but inconstancy.

ix. Finally, to this vice belong all sins of omission and negligence in God's service, which are innumerable. Nor will you easily find a good work but it has some of these defects, either at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end. Wherefore I should greatly accuse myself before our Lord, saying to Him,

Colloquy. — I confess, O my God, that in this vice alone I have sinned so often that my sins are numberless, and therefore I throw them altogether into the numberless multitude of Thy infinite mercies, that Thou mayest remedy the numberless multitude of my miseries. Amen.

Secondly, I am to consider the most grievous injuries proceeding from sloth, some that spring from itself, others