I started reading Father Josh Johnson’s Pocket Guide to Overcoming the Seven Deadly Sins in anticipation of the Lenten season. Father Josh is the Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, as well as an author, podcaster, and presenter with Ascension Press.
Father Josh’s goal in writing this pocket guide is to gently help readers recognize the ways that sin might be affecting their lives and offer them guidance and accompaniment, all while bringing them back into the merciful Heart of Jesus and surrendering their weaknesses to Him.
One of my favorite parts of the book is how Father Josh includes a specific patron Saint to intercede to in overcoming each specific deadly sin. It is comforting to learn about some lesser-known Saints who struggled just like we do when it comes to winning the battle of virtue over vice. A few of these Saints had some pretty messy pasts, but even they were redeemed through their humility, contrition, and surrender to the Lord.
There is a proposed seven-day plan for overcoming each of the deadly sins that revolves around the framework of “The Three R’s”: resolving to grow in virtue, renouncing lies from the devil, and remembering God’s love.
What are the Seven Deadly Sins?
The seven deadly sins are the principal sins under which all of our sins fall into categories. For example, I might confess losing my temper with my children as “losing my temper,” but it falls under the broader category of wrath. I might also exhibit wrath in other sins, such as through resentment and slander, etc. Father Josh helps us to identify these categories in a broad way through biblical scholar Brant Pitre’s definitions of the deadly sins.
Wrath // “An irrational reaction to a perceived offense. It desires to injure the offender and to harm for the sake of vengeance [. . .] it overreacts and punishes excessively” (p. 23-24).
Sloth // “A disordered inclination to apathy or laziness in fulfilling one’s duties” (p. 44). When one’s spiritual duties and prayer life are neglected, this is known as “acedia.”
Gluttony // “A disordered or immoderate desire for pleasure of food or drink” (p. 67). This can also take place when our physical pleasure takes precedence over our care for other people and our love for God. For example, being overly picky in what we eat or even through overconsuming media.
Lust // “The Catechism defines the vice of lust as ‘a disordered desire or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure’” (p. 87).
Greed // “Irrational or immoderate desire to acquire money or possessions” (p. 107).
Envy // “Irrational sadness over someone else’s good fortune and a covetous desire to possess what rightly belongs to someone else [. . .] We think that another’s happiness is a threat to ours” (p. 125).
Pride // “A disordered self-love or irrational desire for self-exaltation” (p. 147).
When we understand the general category of each of the deadly sins, we can look more specifically at where our habitual sins fall into these categories.
Resolve to Grow in Virtue
Father Josh invites his readers to pray lectio divina with a different daily Scripture passage that relates to that chapter’s deadly sin. For example, he focuses on the sin of pride during the last week: “Pride is the queen of all sins because it is the sin the devil himself committed before he was cast out of heaven” (page 148).
The patron Saint proposed for the sin of pride is Saint Charles de Foucauld. As a child he renounced the Catholic faith and became an agnostic. Later, as a teenager, he would be kicked out of school and be forced to leave the military academy because of his refusal to submit to his authorities and his preference to live with his mistress. Over time, his admiration of the Muslim faith would lead him back to Catholicism, and eventually, the priesthood.
Day one of this week is meant to focus on resolving to grow in humility through praying Isaiah 43:1-4 and inserting your name specifically after each time the scripture passage says the word “you.” For example, this is what verses three and four would look like:
“I give Egypt as a ransom for [your name], Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for [your name]. Because [your name] [is] precious in my eyes and honored, and I love [your name].”
How powerful is that? Inserting my name into those verses was profound. God gave Egypt as a ransom for me!
Renounce Lies From the Devil
To claim even more of God’s grace over your life, Father Josh has written a prayer to daily renounce the devil’s lies, giving us hope over discouragement in overcoming temptation. For example, perhaps we frequently fall into the sin of gossip and think we can never overcome this vice. Or maybe we lack confidence in the importance of our vocation as a wife or mother, which discourages us from our daily tasks, which sometimes seem so mundane. Father Josh offers us a prayer for this:
“Jesus, I renounce the lie that I will never find freedom from the sin of pride. Holy Spirit, I proclaim the truth that nothing is impossible with God. Heavenly Father, give me the grace to grow in humility. St. Charles de Foucauld, pray for us” (p. 151).
Remember God’s Love
Father Josh’s intention here is that we would remember to focus on God’s love for us more than we focus on our sins. During each day of the seven-day plan he offers practical meditations in order to do just that. Even if we never find total freedom from our sin, we are still capable of becoming a saint. Sainthood involves getting back up after falling down. It means never giving up on fighting the good fight.
This May, in the month of our Blessed Mother Mary, let us implore her intercession as we resolve to grow in virtue, renounce the evil one’s lies, and first and foremost, remember God’s deep and merciful love for us.
Susanna Parent is a regular contributor to the BIS blog, speaker and a freelance writer. While a Wisconsin native, she now begins her mornings brewing French press coffee in the home she shares with her husband and children in the Twin Cities. When the sun sets, you’ll find her with friends enjoying a glass of red wine, preferably outside underneath twinkly lights. When not exploring all that the Twin Cities has to offer, she is indulging her wanderlust spirit by brainstorming their family's next new adventure. You can find out more about her here. Read all of Susanna's posts here.
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