Dear Patrick:

The Seven Deadly Sins are deadly because all other sins begin with one or more of these seven: Pride, avarice (greed), gluttony, lust, sloth (accidia), envy, wrath (anger).

These sins run counter to the seven virtues: Humility (cures pride), Generosity (cures greed), Temperance (cures gluttony), chastity (cures lust), Diligence (cures sloth), Brotherly Love and kindness (cures envy), and Meekness/Patience (cures anger).

In your question you are focused on the wrong thing. We should not be focused as much on how to avoid the seven deadly sins, as we are to, rather, focus on living a virtuous life. As we seek to behave with humility, generosity, temperance (self-restraint), chastity (of mind, body, and eyes), diligence (in prayer and spiritual growth), brotherly love (kindness and charity), and patience with our self and others, the deadly sins will be automatically avoided. When we do fall into sin, Confession cures that.

Here are the brief definitions from Fr. Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary unless otherwise stated:

Pride: An inordinate esteem of oneself. It is inordinate because it is contrary to the truth. It is essentially an act or disposition of the will desiring to be considered better than a person really is. Pride may be expressed in different ways: by taking personal credit for gifts or possessions, as if they had not been received from God; by glorying in achievements, as if they were not primarily the result of divine goodness and grace; by minimizing one's defects or claiming qualities that are not actually possessed; by holding oneself superior to others or disdaining them because they lack what the proud person has; by magnifying the defects of others or dwelling on them. When pride is carried to the extent that a person is unwilling to acknowledge dependence on God and refuses to submit his or her will to God or lawful authority, it is a grave sin. The gravity arises from the fact that a person shows contempt for God or of those who take his place. Otherwise, pride is said to be imperfect and venially wrong.

While not all sins are pride, it can lead to all sorts of sins, notably presumption, ambition, vainglory, boasting, hypocrisy, strife, and disobedience. Pride strives for perverse excellence. It despises others and, depending on its perversity, even looks down upon God. The remedies for pride are a sincere knowledge of oneself, the acceptance of daily humiliations, avoidance of even the least self-complacency, humble acknowledgement of ones' faults, and prayerful communion with God.

My Note: Yes, getting mad at a coworker because he annoyed you is Pride and also Wrath. Getting even, or revenge, is also related to pride and wrath. Gossiping usually includes the three sins against charity: Calumny (tell a lie about someone), rash judgement (jumping to conclusions about someone) and Detraction (telling to the truth about someone but telling it to people who do not need to know, or, telling that truth for malicious reasons.

Getting mad at a chair because you stubbed your toe, is pride (how dare that chair be in "my" way. We have a pamphlet on the issue of Pride entitled, "Dealing with Pride" (pdf file) that you should read for more details.

Avarice (greed): An excessive or insatiable desire for money or material things. In its strict sense, avarice is the inordinate holding on to possessions or riches instead of using these material things for some worthwhile purpose. Reluctance to let go of what a person owns is also avarice.

Of itself, avarice is venially sinful. But it may become mortal when a person is ready to use gravely unlawful means to acquire or hold on to his possessions, or when because of his cupidity he seriously violates his duty of justice or charity. (Etym. Latin avaritia, greediness, covetousness, avarice.)

Gluttony: An inordinate desire for the pleasure connected with food or drink. This desire may become sinful in various ways: by eating or drinking far more than a person needs to maintain bodily strength; by glutting one's taste for certain kinds of food with known detriment to health; by indulging the appetite for exquisite food or drink, especially when these are beyond one's ability to afford a luxurious diet; by eating or drinking too avidly, i.e., ravenously; by consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of losing full control on one's reasoning powers. Intoxication that ends in complete loss of reason is a mortal sin if brought on without justification, e.g., for medical reasons. (Etym. Latin glutire, to devour.)

My Note: Gluttony is one that needs further explanation. What is sin is Gluttony? Gluttons can be skinny, normal, or fat. Gluttony is no respecter of persons, it is an equal opportunity sin. Gluttony is the "inordinate desire for the pleasure connected with food or drink" (Catholic Dictionary). The operative word here is "inordinate."

The sin of Gluttony was originally described in the early Church as a sin of people who eat well in lieu of helping the poor and starving. Thus, it was a sin of selfishness in not sharing one's wealth with the poor. St. Thomas Aquinas, who was very fat, in the 13th century, expanded the definition to include an obsessive anticipation of meals and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods. The operative words here are "constantly" and "excessively."

The Catholic Encyclopedia is instructive:

Gluttony: (From Lat. gluttire, to swallow, to gulp down), the excessive indulgence in food and drink. The moral deformity discernible in this vice lies in its defiance of the order postulated by reason, which prescribes necessity as the measure of indulgence in eating and drinking.

This deordination, according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor (St. Thomas Aquinas), may happen in five ways which are set forth in the scholastic verse:

"Prae-propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose" or, according to the apt rendering of Father Joseph Rickably:

• too soon,
• too expensively,
• too much,
• too eagerly,
• too daintily. (meaning fastidious, finicky about food perpare just so to be the most pleasing to the taste; eating for pleasure).

Clearly one who uses food or drink in such a way as to injure his health or impair the mental equipment needed for the discharge of his duties, is guilty of the sin of gluttony. It is incontrovertible that to eat or drink for the mere pleasure of the experience, and for that exclusively, is likewise to commit the sin of gluttony...

Gluttony is in general a venial sin in so far forth as it is an undue indulgence in a thing which is in itself neither good nor bad. Of course it is obvious that a different estimate would have to be given of one so wedded to the pleasures of the table as to absolutely and without qualification live merely to eat and drink, so minded as to be of the number of those, described by the Apostle St. Paul, "whose god is their belly" (Philippians 3:19). Such a one would be guilty of mortal sin.

Likewise a person who, by excesses in eating and drinking, would have greatly impaired his health, or unfitted himself for duties for the performance of which he has a grave obligation, would be justly chargeable with mortal sin...

Gluttony consists of excessive eating habits and a love of food in an inordinate way.

Lust: An inordinate desire for or enjoyment of sexual pleasure. The desires or acts are inordinate when they do not confirm to the divinely ordained purpose of sexual pleasure, which is to foster the mutual love of husband and wife and, according to the dispositions of providence, to procreate and educate their children. (Etym. Anglo-Saxon lut, pleasure.)

My Note: One does not "lust" after one's own wife as the sexual desire for her is proper and good. In fact, the marital embrace is a holy act as it is a sublime image the relationship between Christ and His Bride, the Church.

Sloth (accidia): (from the Catholic Encyclopedia) St. Thomas Aquinas calls [sloth a] sadness in the face of some spiritual good which one has to achieve. Father Rickaby aptly translates its Latin equivalent acedia (Gr. akedia) by saying that it means the "don't-care feeling." A man apprehends the practice of virtue to be beset with difficulties and chafes under the restraints imposed by the service of God. The narrow way stretches wearily before him and his soul grows sluggish and torpid at the thought of the painful life journey. The idea of right living inspires not joy but disgust, because of its laboriousness.

My Note: Depression or laziness in general is a sister to Sloth. In the context of the spiritual and faith life, sloth is the "I don't-care feeling," as Father Rickaby described it, concerning the things of God and the mandates and efforts of living the proper Christ-life, such as the lack diligence to pray, go to Mass, read the Bible, etc.

Envy: Sadness or discontent at the excellence, good fortune, or success of another person. It implies that one considers oneself somehow deprived by what one envies in another or even that an injustice has been done. Essential to envy is this sense of deprivation. consequently it is not merely sadness that someone else has some desirable talent or possession, nor certainly the ambition to equal or surpass another person, which can be laudable emulation. It is not the same as jealousy, which implies an unwillingness to share one's own possessions.

Envy is a sin against charity and, though serious in itself, allows of degrees of gravity depending on whether fully consented to and how important is the object envied. The most serious sin of envy is sadness at the supernatural gifts or graces that another has received from God, i.e., to envy sanctity. (Etym. Latin invidia; from invidere, to look askance.)

Wrath (anger):  (from the Catechism) Anger is a desire for revenge. ‘To desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is illicit,’ but it is praiseworthy to impose restitution ‘to correct vices and maintain justice.’ If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity’ it is a mortal sin. The Lord says, ‘Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment’” (CCC 2302). 

My Note: Wrath also relates to impatience. This impatience can lead to anger toward someone that festers into a desire for revenge. Impatience and anger can also manifest itself in uncharitable behavior toward someone.

To combat these sins, be aware of them, reflect upon your own behavior, and work to avoid the sins. Identify the things you do that are sinful, and choose to do corresponding virtue.

Ultimately, to combat these sins by living a virtuous life as best as you can.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary