and turns God’s gifts into a means of offending Him.  If a father, he neglects the children and wife for whom he has promised to provide; leaves them cold and hungry while he commits sin with the means that would make them comfortable.  Drunkenness therefore is a sin accompanied by many deplorable evils.  There are three great sins you should always be on your guard against during your whole lives, namely, drunkenness, dishonesty, and impurity.  If you avoid these you will almost surely avoid all other sins; for nearly all sins can be traced back to these three.  They are the most dangerous, first, because they have most followers, and secondly, because they grow upon us almost without our knowing it.  The drunkard begins perhaps as a boy by taking a little, even very little; the second time he takes a little more; the next time still more, then he begins to be fond of strong drink and can scarcely do without it; finally he becomes the slave of intemperance and sells his soul and body for it.  The passions of dishonesty and impurity grow by degrees in the same manner.  Therefore avoid them in the beginning and resist them while they are under your power.  If you find yourself inclined to any of these sins in your youth, stop them at once.

“Envy” is the desire to see another meet with misfortune that we may be benefited by it.  We are glad when he does not succeed in his business, we are sorry when anyone speaks well of him, etc.  Envy comes under the Eighth Commandment.

“Sloth” is committed when we idle our time, and are lazy; when we are indifferent about serving God; when we do anything slowly and poorly and in a way that shows we would rather not do it.  They are slothful who lie in bed late in the morning and neglect their duty.  Slothful people are often untidy in their personal appearance; and they are nearly always in misery and want, unless somebody else takes care of them.  Sloth comes under the First Commandment, because it has reference in a special manner to the way in which we serve God.  How, then, shall we best destroy sin in our souls?  By finding out our chief capital sin and rooting it out.  If a strong oak tree is deeply rooted in the ground, how will you best destroy its life?  By cutting off the branches?  No.  For with each returning spring new branches will grow.  How then?  By cutting the root and then the great oak with all its branches will die.  In the same way our capital sin is the root, and as long as we leave it in our souls other sins will grow out of it.  While we are trying to destroy our sins without touching our capital sin—­our chief sin—­we are only cutting off branches that will grow again.  Indeed a great many people are only cutting off branches all the time and that is why they are not benefited as much as they could be by the prayers they say, Masses they hear, Sacraments they receive, and sermons they listen to.  But do not imagine that because you are not becoming better, when you pray, hear Mass,