Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called "capital" because they engender other sins, other vices. 138 They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and Sloth or acedia.

One can sin against God's love in various ways: - indifference neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power. - ingratitude fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him love for love. - lukewarmness is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity. - acedia or spiritual Sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from God and to be repelled by divine goodness. - hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and inflicts punishments.

Another temptation, to which presumption opens the gate, is acedia. the spiritual writers understand by this a form of depression due to lax ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of heart. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 21 The greater the height, the harder the fall. Painful as discouragement is, it is the reverse of presumption. the humble are not surprised by their distress; it leads them to trust more, to hold fast in constancy.